Charles Curley's Weblog

So You Want To Phone Me, Eh?

So you want to call me on the phone, eh? That's not easy unless you meet certain criteria. Assuming I'm in (a dubious assumption these days) and I even feel like looking at the caller ID or answering the phone, I'll pick up if…

• I recognize your phone number. That means you have your caller ID set up correctly.
• Or you identify yourself correctly in your caller ID. I.e. the name of your company. Not the name of the holding company that owns your company; there is no reason I should know that.
• Or your phone number is local, and, no, I'm not going to define that here.
• And you aren't a robodialer who has given me a dead call before.

By "dead call" I mean a call where the phone rings, the recipient picks up the phone, and gets silence. There are few things a company that wants my donation can do to better ensure that I won't donate to their cause than to give me a dead call. It's an insult, pure and simple.

And, given the above, I want to talk to you. Then I might pick up.

Yes, I'm very selective about who I pick up for. Doh. With robocallers and computer generated sales pitches, pollsters, snoops and other time wasters around, consider yourself honored I even look at the caller ID display on the phone when it rings. There is simply too much telephone spam these days. And the problem will get worse as the next election approaches.

If you really want to get my attention, spend the money for some paper, some ink, and for some postage. I may still toss your missive in the round file. But it has a better chance than telephone spam.

Of course, this policy does mean I miss golden opportunities to confound telemarketers or posllsters. But it's just too easy.

Oh, and for those bottom feeders who depend on such obnoxious techniques to sell their products or otherwise acquire a living, a bit of advice: get a more honorable job, like become a congressslime or something.