Dear Crabby,
Nothing bothers me more than when my phone rings and I am in the middle of something and I find out it is a telemarketer on the other end asking me some dumb question about something I have no interest in! How can I get rid of these calls all together?
Sincerely, Due Notcall
Dear Due Notcall,
This is an age-old problem that has evolved over the decades thanks to technology. Back when phones were first coming on the market you pretty much answered the phone every time it rang. It was so expensive to get a phone call that only someone who really needed to talk would be calling you. Then the telemarketing industry started figuring out ways to invade everyone’s dinner hour and more. We had no
way of screening our calls, no caller ID or answering machines in those early years. I remember getting angry and wasting hours of my time per month arguing with these people on the other end of the line. I finally just resorted to silly antics, which I know must come as a complete surprise to you! Once I heard the other person and they started on their speech about some item I was not interested in, I would start shouting in another language. Other times I would tell them my real name was Oknard, and then every time someone called looking for Oknard I knew it was sales. This worked marginally, was mostly just fun for me and frustrating for everyone else. Then the answering machine came along and also caller ID. These telemarketers had a real tough time getting past these gatekeepers. Then they came up with robo-calls and other uses of technology to bother us almost anytime. I remember getting a cell phone finally and receiving a sales call on it too! They have no boundaries anymore! Then the government decided to regulate what they could with the National Do Not Call Registry. Now you can put all your numbers on this website and the telemarketers have 31 days to update their lists and stop calling you. It seems to slow down some calls, but many still come through.
I guess all I can tell you is that someone is funding these businesses and if you want to find out whom, then you could simply stop using their products or set-up a boycott to send a message. I am not one to fuss too much; it’s easier to just hang up the phone. The only time that backfired is when I hung up on my mother-in-law. I thought I got away with it, but I guess when I did it five times in a row it became a little too obvious. So good luck, happy phone calling, and let me know how it turns out for you.
Sincerely, Dear Crabby
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