As many times as I have added my name to a “do not call list,” for some reason it seems to do absolutely no good. My phone rings constantly at the most inopportune times and I can just about tell by the sound on the other end of the phone that it is going to be a robocall or someone soliciting something.
I am not usually a rude person, but boy do these people get to me to the point where I sometimes find myself being exceptionally nasty. The ones that seem to threaten you are the worst. Every once in a while I get a call telling me that I’m being sued by someone and that they can help me if I call them immediately for assistance.
Somehow I think that if anyone was suing me I would hear from them by other than an anonymous telephone source. Occasionally they are more threatening than a simple lawsuit. I feel sorry for some —perhaps senior citizens — that are not as up-to-date as I am on these matters, being threatened and submitting their social security number, mother’s maiden name, and everything else that someone can use to steal their identity.
One trick that I have used on occasion is to tell the caller that I must go answer my doorbell after which I set the phone down and go about my business for the next 10 or 15 minutes. My hope is that this would discourage future callers. I am not sure whether it actually works but I admit that I do get some satisfaction out of harassing these people.
Some of the callers have semi-legitimate causes that they are soliciting for. I have been somewhat generous to a few veterans’ solicitations, but there are just too darn many of them now and I can’t support all of them. Another one is requesting help fighting cancer. Here, too, I try to be as generous as I can but I have learned that there are many, many forms of cancer, each one with its own solicitation group. Again, I cannot support all of them. Please get it together!
I absolutely dread opening my email each day for the several accounts that I maintain. I spend literally hours each week clicking the unsubscribe box or writing back saying please remove me from your list or unsubscribe or whatever yet I still seem to be receiving literally tons of junk email. This can become somewhat unnerving when you delete something that perhaps might be important as I did several months ago. American Express was attempting to advise me of a flight change for a trip that I was taking. Whenever I see emails from American Express or any other credit card company, I tend to delete them. This time it was a mistake I got to the airport, and the clerk said all this flight has been canceled. Didn’t you look at your boarding pass? Well I didn’t. I saw my name, the flight number and never paid any attention to any of the other details as to departure time, etc.
I guess this means that I have to carefully look at each of the several hundred emails I receive each day on each of my accounts. I honestly don’t know where they get my email address from. Of course I admit to being out there with my newspaper articles and other promotional things such as my personal website and my recently published book.
Does this allow just anyone to invade my mailbox with their junk when I have absolutely no interest in Viagra or any other sex enhancing drugs, or free seminars offering a free stay at a nearby hotel? Don’t get sucked into this one. You’ll receive many, many calls from vacation companies offering you a free vacation, which of course we all know doesn’t exist.
I used to look forward to my mail delivery every day thinking that I might be getting a card or a letter or something worth reading. Instead I get several huge brochures telling me that I can buy a mattress for no money down and no payments for “x” years, plus a lot of other useless junk that goes right to my recycle bin. Am I just getting old and crotchety as my grandkids say or do I have legitimate beefs with all of these people?
Visit my website at www.sochin.com and read about my latest book.
