I wouldn't have thought there was such a thing as being too polite, but...

I got one of those letters from Capital One saying that their interest rates are going up to 22% and 24% and whatnot, unless it was a promotional rate, in which case it wouldn't change. They offered one of those options where you can close the account and continue paying on it if you don't like the terms, but you have to write to them and decline the change in terms. I was pretty sure that my loan was a promotional rate, but wanted to be sure.

I called the number to ask about this. The person who answered the phone said, and I kid you not, "Thank you so much for calling to verify the terms of your balance with us. We very much appreciate you having taken the time to call and inquire about that." Everything I said was followed by some remark about how the operator was "delighted to assist with that," and/or "sincerely hope that your concerns have been fully addressed," and so forth.

I started to feel like I was Rudey McRuderson for just appending a simple "please" or "thanks" to my replies. It was actually kind of weird feeling so focused on wanting to be super friendly to this employee, in contrast to my usually feeling like I want to punch someone when I call customer service people. This employee could have been all shades of incompetent, and I would have remained a docile, polite little robot.

The strangest thing was that it all felt absolutely sincere, where usually I am so turned off by customer service people who feel the need to thank me for having asked them a question (see "wanting to reach through the phone and punch someone" op cit). This person seemed to actually feel gratitude for the gift of spending time answering credit card questions. No, really. I felt like I would have been a ogre, had I done anything that might have rained on this person's clear love of answering the Capital One toll-free number.

Seriously, if you're having a bad day, I recommend calling Capital One and asking about loan terms. Even if you don't have an account with them. I'm pretty sure the person in the phone would be simply delighted to explain the terms to you anyway. This employee is far from the type to discriminate in sharing the joys that are the Capital One loan terms.

And no, do not even try to tell me that there are other people there who might answer the calls as well. I won't believe it. My relationship with Capital One Operator Extraordinaire goes even deeper than my love for Julie at Amtrak, who I sometimes feel is the only one who truly understands me. Or at least who doesn't mind phone calls at 3:00am.

(For the record, Capital One is really pretty awesome. I know they have a reputation as being sort of a subprime credit card company, if there is such a thing, but they're actually great for people like me who don't make a lot of money and have a good chunk of debt, but have steady working-class income and don't have any derogatory credit history. Every few months they send me e-mails saying they've increased my credit limit on my loan and my credit card. The credit card started out as one of those $200-limit credit cards that I got when I was like 20. The limit is now $18,500. I could like buy a freakin' car with that. And pay way more interest than a car loan charges, but that's not the point!)