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- From: thogek@cco.caltech.edu (Thomas G. Kiefer)
- Newsgroups: misc.consumers
- Subject: Re: Revenge on a telemarketer!
- Message-ID: <1bne62INN75s@gap.caltech.edu>
- Date: 16 Oct 92 22:02:41 GMT
- References: <harris.65@ROTC.orst.edu> <oneil.719207596@cwis> <jnrpylj@dixie.com>
- Organization: uh, what number did I reach?
- Lines: 39
- NNTP-Posting-Host: globie.caltech.edu
-
- In article <jnrpylj@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
- >Sorry, dear, YOU'RE the one who invaded my privacy, interrupted my
- >sleep, supper, TV show or made me get out from under my car to
- >answer your telesleeze call. Even if I were doing nothing more than
- >contemplating my bellybutton, one second of that time is worth more to me
- >than your whole life as a teleslime. You are fair game for whatever trick
- >I can come up with to make your personal life miserable. It is YOU
- >who strapped on the headset and started dialing. It is YOU who
- >should be punished. I'm amazed to read such rationalizations
- >as yours for anti-social behavior. I suppose by your rationalization
- >that it would be OK to, say, steal in order to "survive?"
-
- I've gotten enough teleslimecalls to be generally annoyed by their existance.
- There must be real salespeople out there somewhere, but the only sales calls
- I've ever gotten have been teleslimes.
-
- But this claim is a little ridiculous...
-
- John, nobody MADE you answer your phone. You bought the phone, installed it,
- and decided to answer it when it rings. Since you have installed it, someone
- can dial your number and REQUEST (via ringing your phone) that you pick up
- your phone. They can only request: when it rings, you can CHOOSE to answer
- it or not to answer it. (You can even turn off that request announcer -- the
- ringer -- or unplug the phone if you wish.) When you do pick up the phone,
- you are ALLOWING it to interrupt your privacy, and accept the risk that some
- telesleeze might be calling to sell you something. Even if you do answer but
- don't like what you got, you can hang up anytime, or proceed to waste their
- time (IF the caller chooses to stay on while you waste), or whatever. But
- you cannot realistically accuse them of "stealing" the time you willingly
- gave to them.
-
- Just hadda be said. Now, back to your regular teleslime-bashing. (And/or
- bellybutton-contemplation.)
-
- --
- ------------------------+----------------------------------------
- Thomas Kiefer | Why sell cigarettes? Why not just
- thogek@cco.caltech.edu | sell phlegm and cut out the middleman?
- ------------------------+----------------------------------------
-