Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: campbell@redsox.bsw.com (Larry Campbell) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Can We Outlaw Junk Calls? Message-ID: Date: 17 Sep 89 00:04:53 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: campbell@redsox.UUCP (Larry Campbell) Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc. Lines: 30 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 380, message 3 of 5 I said I hate to jump off the pot to answer phone calls from salespeople, and Our Moderator recommended: -[Moderator's Note: Well Mr. Campbell, why don't you install a pot next to -your phone, er, uh, I mean a phone next to your pot. Then put the pending -call on hold ... Why should I spend MY time and money to rewire MY house just to reduce the hassle level from assholes who invade MY personal space to sell me crap I neither want nor need? It is just as rude for total strangers to call me at home to sell me stuff as it would be for them to stop me on the street to sell me stuff. Or to knock on my door. Fortunately, door-to-door salesmen seem to have gone the way of the dodo. What we need for telephones are the moral equivalent of the "No soliciting" signs many apartment complexes have. Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc. campbell@bsw.com 120 Fulton Street wjh12!redsox!campbell Boston, MA 02146 [Moderator's Note: But strangers do stop passers-by on the street; if not to sell something, then just to beg for money or cigarettes, etc. And the Jehovah Witness people still come to my door every week without fail. Have you ever had to get off the pot to answer to the door for them? It is true that door-to-door salesmen for the larger commercial organizations have pretty much gone the way of the California Condor, but we still have many intinerant sales people, ala Fuller Brush salesmen coming around. What is your response to the innocent wrong number caller when you jump off the pot for them? As a purely pragmatic thing, it just makes sense to have a phone in a place where you don't want to be subject to a quick, untimely exit. Either that, or an answering machine. PT]