Thursday, June 3, 2010

One Ringy Dingy... Two Ringy Dingy...

It's that time of year again.

Time for the endless computer generated politcal calls, whoring each candidate, extolling their "virtues" and stamping their opponents' names into the dirt. I get really tired of these calls each year, because by the time they begin I've pretty much made my decisions regarding who I plan to vote for.

And they always come at dinner time.

I know, I know. That's the best time to get an actual person to answer the phone. But still. I hate having my dinner interrupted. Especially when it's several times an evening.

I also just discovered that if you hang up on Steve Poizner's call, it'll call you back. Determined old bastard, isn't he?

Now, the average household probably gets two or three of these calls a day. But we are not the average household. I'm registered Republican, and she (for now) is registered Democrat. So we get TWICE the calls.

Welcome to Hell...

3 comments:

*Goddess* said...

We just went through this a few weeks ago in PA when they held the special election to fill Murtha's seat.

OMG, was it ever annoying!

Normally, I wouldn't answer the phone at all, but I had job applications put in at several places. Sometimes we got 8 to 10 calls a day. Every freaking union in the state was calling.

Upside was I got to hang up on Bill Clinton AND Franco Harris:)

Moose said...

There are technical ways around this. If they use caller ID you can block by number(s). If they don't, you can block all numbers that don't display or you can have them all immediately shunted to voicemail (or answering machine or whatever). Depending on who your phone service is from they may be able to do it for you for a small fee, there are devices, or you can run your phone line through a computer to do it.

Another option is the one I use. I have a Voice over IP account with Skype. Costs me about $30/yr for a number that I can hand out like candy to politicians, car salesgeeks and whomever, and never, ever have to hear ring. If someone leaves me voicemail I get an email message and there's no additional fee to download the message and listen to [or delete] it.

I know, I know, you're a cop not a computer geek. But something computerific can probably help you with this. :-)

If you'd like more help or advice you're welcome to contact me offline.

Anonymous said...

That's why I am in love with caller-id. If we don't recognize the number, we don't answer. If it's someone we know that really needs us, they call the cell when we don't answer at the house. :)

I understand your dilema about twice the calls. Same thing here. I'm Republican he's Socialist (registered democrat though i think)