There are some days I hate the phone......

[poltr1]

Last week, someone from moveon.org called me and asked me to participate in their phone calling session. I was about to leave for my mens' group, but I took the call anyway. After hearing his spiel for a couple of minutes, I told him I wasn't interested in participating.

Today, someone from a mortgage company in Cleveland called and offered to refinance my home mortgage. I told him I didn't think I was eligible, in several different ways and reasons. He finally said something to the effect that I wasn't the expert on refinancing, but that he finally got the message. (I forgot that I had signed up for the Do-Not-Call Registry, and didn't think to tell him.)

I really hate the phone at times. Some days it's an instrument of torture.

I also hate myself for not having the balls to tell these people to back off, go away, and leave me alone. And I hate that my brain doesn't think of what to say until a few hours later, well after the moment has passed.

I'm so paranoid and distrustful about telephone solicitations that I won't do business with anyone who initiates the contact via telephone with me. I have no way of proving that the people at the other end of the line are who they say they are -- caller ID or not. I also won't give my full Social Security number over the phone even if I'm the one making the call. (Unless I'm on a secure telephone, like a STU-III or newer.) The telephone is one of the most insecure communications devices out there.

Comments

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Anyone who programs or orders a subordinate to program a robot to call a person with an unwanted advertising message (whether it's for a commercial product, a charity, or a political candidate) should be impaled on the National Mall. When a human calls me because they want something from me when I have no reason to want to hear from them, it annoys me, but when a machine does it, it *really* burns my ass.