bparrish@hprnd.hp.com (Bill Parrish) (11/30/89)
I thought I had heard it all about the various ways phone solicitors can cause grief by calling at inconvenient times, being obnoxious, not seeming to understand the meaning of "no", and so forth. Well, here's a new one. A couple of weeks ago, my wife was assisting in a birth at a local hospital. In the labor rooms, they have telephones, (since mothers- giving-birth aren't ALWAYS having contractions they can sometimes talk on the phone). Anyway, the phones are on CENTREX, and can receive incoming calls. The mother, in this case, didn't speak much English, and she answered the phone.... then got a confused look on her face and said something like "this guy says I can make a lot of money... but I can't understand what he's talking about". My wife took the phone, and heard the end of a recorded pitch selling investments. Apparently a recording machine then takes over and trys to get your name/number, etc. to call back later. My wife left some choice words on the machine and hung up. <Editorial on> My feeling is that this kind of thing is gettiing out-of-hand and will have to be dealt with just because of the volume of junk calls. If a woman in labor can't even be free of this kind of peskiness, something legislative is probably called for. <Editorial off> Bill Parrish / Hewlett Packard/ Roseville CA (Opinions expressed are my own, not my employers).
John Higdon <john@zygot.ati.com> (12/02/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0541m04@chinacat.lonestar.org>, bparrish@hprnd.hp.com (Bill Parrish) writes: > [Story of woman receiving junk call while giving birth, deleted.] > <Editorial on> > My feeling is that this kind of thing is gettiing out-of-hand and will > have to be dealt with just because of the volume of junk calls. If a > woman in labor can't even be free of this kind of peskiness, something > legislative is probably called for. > <Editorial off> Please do not feel the the following remarks indicate a lack of sympathy for a woman being harassed by junk call while having a baby. I would say the matter was handled very well on the spot, and without having our local, state, and federal legislators meddle in matters that they know nothing about. Any time something annoying happens there is that irresistable tendancy to say, "There ought to be a law..." But really, does everything need to be legislated? In the case of junk phone calls, for any legislation to be effective it would have to be at the federal level. States have absolutely no legal control over messages originating from outside their jurisdiction. And who is going to enforce all of these federal "phone etiquette" regulations and investigate violations? The FBI? Our police, courts, and other enforcement agencies are overloaded already. The best and cheapest way to handle junk calls? Utter a few choice words and hang up the phone. And remember, if all this phone soliciting doesn't utimately pay off for those engaged in it, they'll cut it out. It's the American way. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (12/02/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0541m04@chinacat.lonestar.org>, bparrish@hprnd.hp.com (Bill Parrish) writes: > [Story of woman receiving junk call while giving birth, deleted.] > <Editorial on> > My feeling is that this kind of thing is gettiing out-of-hand and will > have to be dealt with just because of the volume of junk calls. If a > woman in labor can't even be free of this kind of peskiness, something > legislative is probably called for. > <Editorial off> Please do not feel the the following remarks indicate a lack of sympathy for a woman being harassed by junk call while having a baby. I would say the matter was handled very well on the spot, and without having our local, state, and federal legislators meddle in matters that they know nothing about. Any time something annoying happens there is that irresistable tendancy to say, "There ought to be a law..." But really, does everything need to be legislated? In the case of junk phone calls, for any legislation to be effective it would have to be at the federal level. States have absolutely no legal control over messages originating from outside their jurisdiction. And who is going to enforce all of these federal "phone etiquette" regulations and investigate violations? The FBI? Our police, courts, and other enforcement agencies are overloaded already. The best and cheapest way to handle junk calls? Utter a few choice words and hang up the phone. And remember, if all this phone soliciting doesn't utimately pay off for those engaged in it, they'll cut it out. It's the American way. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !