What Happened to the Do Not Call List?

Aren’t you glad that we have a Do Not Call List?

I’m being sarcastic, of course.  Like many of you, we signed up for that thing a few years ago and the naive expectation was that it would stop or at least curtail the many phone calls we were receiving from people who wanted to sell us something or vote for someone.

They always call at an inconvenient time, usually during dinner, and those callers are skilled at rattling on with their messages, never stopping to take a breath so we can’t get a word in edge-wise to tell them “no thanks and please don’t call me again.”

The do not call business seemed to work for awhile.  It might be my imagination, but there did seem to be fewer such calls for awhile.

Well, something has happened.  They’re back.  More frequent and more annoying than ever.  Now, there’s a twist.

There’s one caller I’m sure many of us are familiar with.  It’s the one clearly calling from a great distance. judging from the static.  He speaks English, but his strong accent clearly tells us he’s from another country or culture.  Yet, he always identifies himself with a typically American name such as Kevin, or Steve, or Josh.  He wants to talk to me about the problems with my computer relating to its Windows software.  You know the guy.  Usually, I hang up on this caller pretty quickly.  Most times I tell them I just don’t use Windows software.

But, when “Kevin” called recently, I decided to play along with him for awhile.  So,  I asked “Kevin” his last name.  “Jones,” he said, “My name is Kevin Jones.”

So, I told him I doubted that and urged him to tell me the truth.  He hung up.

But, what happened next is interesting.  “Kevin” apparently shared our phone number with his colleagues and told them about this wise-guy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  In a space of a couple of hours, we received five calls with callers with thick accents wanting to discuss problems with my computer and its Windows software.

I’m a marked man, now.

Whatever happened to that Do Not Call List?  Would someone out there please reinstate it so we can eat our dinner in peace?

 

— Raleigh Mann