I've been at home since Friday, thanks to the flu epidemic which has gripped my house. First I had it, then Austin came down with it and then it was Ryan's turn. And even though I'm feeling mostly better now, I'm still at home because Ryan's too sick to look after Austin who is too sick to go to the sitters.
So three business days at home. This post isn't to gripe about missing work, because that's life. It's to gripe about something that I forgot about even though I stayed at home for a whole year (and am about to do so again).
Telemarketers.
Telemarketing calls are annoying enough in the evening when you're trying to eat dinner or watch a show -- but they're even more annoying when it's two in the afternoon and you're trying to take a nap. Because that ringing phone, that annoying sell and the time it takes to give the quick 'I'm not interested' line means you're now awake.
Most of the time, it's that long distance ring that fools you. And if you don't get to it fast enough, there isn't even anyone on the other end -- because thanks to autodialers, someone else picked up first. Great, no polite 'piss off ' needed this time, but the interuption will likely come again the next time the autodialer picks your number.
Eventually, you end up with a live person at the other end trying to get you to sign up for more credit cards, add insurance to your bank account, offer their services when you're moving, ask you if you want to buy new windows and doors, guilt you into donating to some charity event that benefits kids or tell you you won a free vacation to Vegas from some contest you never entered and all you have to do to get it is sit through a umpteen-hour session from a condo seller.
Someone once told me that if I get call display, I'll at least know which phone calls I don't want to answer. But call display only shows me who is at the other end of the ringing phone -- it doesn't stop the damn phone from ringing when I'm trying to take a nap, take a bath, do some laundry, shush a baby to sleep or maybe just take two minutes to myself.
Do 'no call' lists actually exist in Canada? And do they work? Because if they do, I'm signing myself up -- and fast.
In the meantime, I'll just keep telling callers to piss off. Well, in the politest of ways of course!
2 comments:
Could be worse. Here, not only do I not understand what they're saying, but the telemarketers are all recordings that won't hang up until two minutes after they finish their spiel. We've actually missed real calls because of these clowns.
There is a do not call list in Canada - it's registered through the CMA (Canadian Marketing Association) and all reputable telemarketers wipe their list against this one to ensure they do not call those numbers signed up to the list. It's not mandatory by law though I don't believe, just business practice. You can access it here - just register you info (and trust me, it works!): http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47|K=224217
But Bell Canada is apparently building a federal list that will be legally binding - so be sure to add yourself to that list as well when it becomes available.
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