Who’s Calling?

I felt a rant coming on tonight, and I just had to share it.    I am sure you all really  really want to know all about it.   It’s not often that I get as annoyed with others outside my family (other than education and people who make fun of my kids – but that’s another story)

So, what has got me into a frenzy of absolute rant hood.  Well, I think you might have guessed by the use of the picture of the telephone in this post.  

Yes, the telephone is my first love, and also my first hate.   From an early age, the telephone played an important part in my life.  I remember my grandmothers big, black old fashioned rental phone from BT.   And yes, before someone asks, almost everyone rented their equipment from BT in those days.  I even remember the telephone number we had for it, and that’s not bad, considering it was nearly 40 years ago.

From then, onto teenage pain years, and the main telephone in the hall, which was corded of course.  Everyone else who was anywhere else in the house could overhear your conversations.  Cue early romances and  calls with phone mouthpiece cupped in your hand, as you whispered as quietly as you could to talk.  That’s got nothing on the daily dash from upstairs to get to the one phone in the house downstairs when it rang.  Those were the days.  The days when the phone rang when it was from someone who wanted to speak to someone for any reason that didn’t involve selling you something.

Fast forward, through the mobile phone craze, and the budding cold sales caller.  I can’t remember exactly when I received my first one, but I think I was about 18, and it was from a kitchen company in the local area.    It was quite amusing at first, but quickly became the bane of my telephone life.  With only one phone in the house, and having reached serious dating age, it was a time where no call could go unanswered as there was no answer machine to record calls.    Being upstairs when the phone rang meant a breakneck speed jump down four stairs at a time, just to reach it before it rang off. 

“Good afternoon madame, we are in your area……..”

What bit about stop calling on the last 10 phone calls did they not understand.  It just got worse, and worse, and worse.  I managed to set telephone preference a couple of times, and that did work for a while, but you seen to need to repeat that often enough.  I gave up having name and address in the phone book to try and stop the flow of double glazing, kitchen, bathroom, conservatory, or driveway salespeople.

Oh but it doesn’t stop  there does it??  I’ve had some fun with some of the callers, and turned the tables on them.  There is nothing like asking them if they want to buy something to make them hang up.    Now I know they are only trying to make a living, so I try not to be rude to them, unless they are rude to me first. 

I do have to say though, that the most recent calls about the “government scheme to write off all your debts” annoys me more than all the rest have ever done.  THEY JUST NEVER GIVE UP.   

They call several times a day.  They usually call from International, and they always seem to know more about us than they should.    When I see international on the line, I now just wait for the answer machine to pick up.   It’s usually a morning and tea time call that arrives.  I’ve asked about, ohh, say 100 times for them to stop calling me, and they just keep on a calling.

If anyone has any tips on how to get them to stop calling, I am all ears…….