544 Who's Calling?

544 Who's Calling?

What ever happened to the "do not call" list?  Seems people are finding work-arounds faster than you can hang up on the telemarketers, many of which are the newly infamous robo-callers.

Politicians are allowed to make those calls.  So there's some poetic justice in Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) who received one about the pending expiration of his car warranty by a company that appeared not to know whether he had a car in the first place.

Democrats in Pennsylvania recently received calls from both Democrats and Republicans about the switch from one party to another by the state's senior senator.  That's legal.  So is the pitch from the Mothers-for-Life and Patrolman's Benevolent Association, the NRA, the March of Dimes and the Loyal Order of the Antelope.

But the car warranty outfit? (And don't you wonder how they know, if they know -- and why they don't when the don't?)

The magazine subscriptions?  The cruise line?

The most engaging of them is when you get the guy on the line and the first words out of his mouth are "we're taking a survey, we're not trying to sell you anything."  Yeah, right.  You're a regular John Zogby.

Sometimes they call you and by the time you answer, they've hung up.  You have call waiting and you dial them back and get a recording that says "That mailbox is full.  Sorry.  Try again another time."  There must be some kind of mini industry that fills up voice mail boxes just for guys like these.  Sometimes it just rings and rings and rings. You can't win, so you give up.  But chances are, you'll hear from them again.  And again, and again.

Another variation:  the collection agency who's looking for someone, but not you and keeps calling you and you keep telling them you know no such person, you are not that person and please don't call again.  They're deaf to that demand.  Collection calls are legal.  But not if you don't owe anything to the collector.

So Schumer wants a new law cracking down on these yo-yos.  A wonderful idea.  Except there already is one.  And it doesn't work.  And as technology gets more sophisticated, so do the robo calling machines.

The next generation will feature a variety of heavy breathing sounds.  Perfect for the perv who wants to make a nuisance of himself.

The only way to stop these creeps is to find the heads of the companies that put 'em to work and give him a wakeup call at three in the morning.

Shrapnel:

--They now have margarita flavored Italian Ice.  And the point is?  See, you couldn't think of one, either.

--Better, though than flavored vodka.  That's REALLY useless.  Who drinks that stuff for taste?

--The mother of all axle-busting potholes was filled again this weekend for the umpteenth time.  By midweek it will have sunk again.  Probably the axle company is digging it out during the overnight hours so the recession business boom continues.

I'm Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2009