Obnoxious Phone Solicitors

I rarely answer my own phone. Usually, I keep my computer online 24/7 and let the CallWave service screen my calls, so that I can either ignore them, or return at my leisure. This is mainly to avoid the endless parade of inane phone solicitations that come in each day. I have made it a firm policy to never buy anything over the phone, unless I am the one who has initiated the call.

Yesterday, however, my son was expecting a call he didn't want to miss. He went to take a shower and asked me to get the phone if it should ring. I said, OK, and after he'd been in the shower about five minutes, the phone rang.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the call he'd been expecting, but one of those obnoxious phone solicitors. And this particular solicitor did the one thing that sets me on fire quicker than anything -- when I answered they didn't tell me who they were or get to the point of their call. Rather, they demanded that I identify myself first.

I let them have it.

I said, "No, no, you've got it all wrong. You have invaded my privacy by calling me uninvited on the phone line that I pay for and you think I'm going to just identify myself just because some rude stranger calls and demands it? I think not."

Then I hung up on them.