(no subject)

[cissalj]

I have turned off the ringer on the phone in the bedroom, because I am really sick of POLITICAL calls.

There is an election next Tuesday- I believe a primary to choose candidates to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate- and I am really sick of being harassed by these calls.

Steve P-something is the worst. (You can see how much I care by my inability to cite his name- that's because I hang up at that point.) Apparently he is veryveryrich, and is using lots of his money to buy frequent harassing robot phone calls. If I'd had any temptation to vote for him ever, that would have cured me.

Unfortunately, the person I had planned to vote for has also incurred my wrath. Only 1 robot call, which is something, and then one actual person-call. The latter happened after I had already been annoyed by a couple of robot calls for gook ol' Steve P, so I admit I was not nice.

The dude asked me if they could count on my vote for Coakley come Tuesday; I said "Well, you could have, but now I am not so sure because I am SO FUCKING SICK of these calls!" Dude actually took that pretty well, so I'm a bit sorry I hung up on him mid-apology. But only a bit sorry.

Anyway. The ringer on the bedroom phone is off till Tuesday night.

And I am drafting a nastygram to send to ALL the candidates pointing out that while the law allows them to ignore our preferences about being called, that does IN NO WAY mean that we APPRECIATE such calls, and offending people who you are wanting to do you a favor is generally Not A Good Thing, and perhaps they could consider VOLUNTARILY respecting people's preferences as depicted in the Do Not Call lists..!

Comments

DO NOT CALL

[domiobrien.livejournal.com]

Do political candidates actually have access to the Do Not Call lists?

Re: DO NOT CALL

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I think anyone who wants them has access. The politicians, like the charities, don't bother to look at them because they are legally allowed to call regardless.

I am apparently on a one-woman crusade to persuade these exempt entites that "legally allowed" does in no way equal "welcome", and that those os us who object may be perfectly willing to penalize anyone who ignores this distinction by NOT doing whatever they want- whether it's voting, or donating, or whatever.

Call me, and 95% you and your org will NOT get what you want from me for a year. Call me twice, and you will not get it, ever.

I have had people argue that since the phone call was legal, they wer, by definition, NOT BOTHERING ME. And see- *I* am the definition of whether or not I am bothered- and I WAS.

I have also had such people get upset because I was "mean" to them by saying I not only did not want to be called, but would not donate to their org BECAUSE they called. OK- I am clear I do not want to be called. You call me anyway? Honey, YOU are being mean to ME. And why the HELL do you think I will then do you a favor???

There are lots of Worthy Orgs in the world. I am perfectly happy to start working my way through the list, redlining any that CALL ME.

I'll add that Amnesty International has been exceptionally awful; they called a bunch of times when I was home and J wasn't, and REFUSED TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES to me. They are off our list forever. (and yeah, we should probably draft a letter to tell them that.) I agree they do good work... but we are simply not going to support an org that not only harasses me, but tries to be coy about avoiding the results of such harassment.

yes, I am a crank about this. (Mostly because I am fairly nocturnal, and so such calls tend to WAKE ME UP, and I find that pretty unforgivable, since I also have insomnia.)

[scifiphan.livejournal.com]

I'm with ya girl! The other thing I hate as much as robocalls are the signs. I don't know if it's as bad up there, but down in VA the road medians get PAVED with candidates' signs, and even more infuriating, the #$%#ers don't even always clean them up after the election! I feel the county should clean 'em up and BILL the candidate!

/rant ends. Ya know, after I retire I'm considering running for office (something local), and if I actually do it, I plan to spend MONTHS going door to door. I figure if I'm gonna bother someone at home, I should have the guts and respect to do it in person. Plus, this way people can actually ask questions instead of listening to some recording of vague promises and opponent attacks.

okay, really /rant ends now :-)

[cissa.livejournal.com]

OK, I will admit I am also often cranky about door-to-door. of course, this is usually minions of whatever- gods, politicians, magazines, etc.

I think I would be at least civil to an actual candidate who bothered to come to my door and discuss her/his positions, etc. In fact, it would be a welcome change.

I am mostly totally sick of having my life interrupted by robots, whether they be recorded messages or minions with talking points. They don't want to respect me? well, screw them.

At this point I am still debating whether or not to vote in the primary, given that who I'd wanted to vote for has bothered me. :P

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I hate political phone calls, especially the "robocalls"--the ones using an automated speed dial to ascertain who's home and who isn't--during election time, I let all calls roll over to the answering machine as the robocaller isn't programmed to leave messages.

Don't even get me started on negative political ads.