Starting A Movement

I signed up the ‘No Call List’ as soon as it came out and our dinners were no longer interrupted by people trying to sell me aluminum siding for my stucco house or other great offers that were just as useful. Telephone calls still came in, though. Caller ID helped to slow a lot of things down. I don’t pick up the phone for any 800 number or the callers whose identity is Unknown or Unavailable, though there is the inconvenience of getting up and walking to the telephone read the display. I figure that if the call is important they’ll leave a message. They never do.

Chris came up with an idea that seems to work fairly well and I thought I’d pass it along. Maybe we can start a Movement. When an unfamiliar number comes up now I run it through Google to see how many other people have been bothered by the caller. Usually there are quite a few. From there I tuck the number away and use it whenever someone wants a telephone number and I don’t want to give them mine. I use it a lot on the internet when I want more information on a web page and can’t get it without filling in the name, address, phone and email boxes. There are a few of the crank calls that have an address attached to the number and I write that down in the space provided. For email, I use the address of the folks that send me spam. It’s easy, it’s fun and all you need to get started is a pencil and paper, a telephone and an internet connection.

The goal here is to have all of the telemarketers and spammers call and email each other and leave the rest of us alone. Some night I hope to hear the Nightly News have a story that aluminum siding sales came to a standstill when all of the sales people were put on hold and told to wait for an important message. That’s a story I could eat dinner to.