Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Sun, 7 Apr 91 00:57 PST From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Mystery Solved (was: Strange Phone Calls) Reply-To: John Higdon Message-ID: Organization: Green Hills and Cows Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 273, Message 9 of 9 Lines: 51 "David E. Bernholdt" writes: > She reacted quite calmly when I said that I would hang up on future > calls which didn't identify the caller -- her only concern was to be > sure that I _would_ speak to a human if everything worked as it was > intended to. At the risk of sounding exceedingly arrogant (too late, Higdon, the time for that concern is long past), I usually give very short shrift to people whose SECRETARIES place calls for them. Nothing, but nothing, is more annoying than, "Mr. Higdon, please." "Speaking." "Mr. Smith is calling. Can you hold please? [thunk/elevator music]" In such cases I hang up as quickly as possible. In my work it is a fact of life that a number of very busy people on very tight schedules call me routinely and somehow manage to place the calls using their own fingers on their own dials. Sometimes they even use their own voices to leave messages. Using a secretary to waste the time of the CALLEE ranks up toward the top of the rudeness scale. I might accept such a call from the President of the United States. Short of that, my time is just as valuable as that of anyone else. And on a related note: David Lesher writes: > We got hit by the {Miami Herald's} Telesleeze dialer yesterday. > Once you're on the list, unsolicited telephone sales calls can not be > made to you except ... by a newspaper publisher or his agent or employee > in connection with his business. Since I called Pac*Bell, threatened the {San Jose Mercury} with legal action, and generally promised a stink that would not clear for a long time, there have been no more calls from Harassment Central. But you can believe that if one single call does come in, I will do everything I can think of (including a few things that may not be mentioned here) to put those people out of business. > John Hignon, I suggest that you do NOT move to Florida. While I did some communications work in Jacksonville and had a very pleasant time, there are a number of reasons I would not move to Florida. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !