Recently, I was stuck at home and unable to go to work for a few weeks due to health reasons. While to some people that may seem like a welcome respite from the drudgery of commuting to a 9 to 5 job, let me tell you it was not.
While Week 1 wasn't too bad, one can only watch so many episodes of Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit! What I would like to share with everyone is just how many calls we all get on our house landlines each day. When we're at work and don't answer, most callers don't leave messages so we have no idea of the volume of these calls each day. I can honestly say that 99 percent of these calls are cold calling sales people or scammers! Yes, there is the occasional call from Giant Food that "a prescription from someone in your household is due for pickup," but for the most part they are from strangers trying to separate you from your hard-earned cash.
Social Security scams, lower credit card interest rates, police benevolent association donations, hail damage inspection teams that are in my neighborhood and countless free vacations I've won where I only have to sit through a short two hour presentation, are just some of the calls I get every day!
Boredom forced me to pick up the phone and actually speak with these people. Civic duty caused me to engage in as long a conversation as I could so they would have less time to rip off my neighbors. They target the young and the old. Their metrics must show they succeed enough to make it profitable. And our number is registered with the "Do Not Call" list! Something must be done.
Bill Byrne
Oak Hill