the corner office

The poor Americans are tied up in their usual legal wrangles over their National Do Not Call Registry thingummy, but I think it's a great idea.

For whatever reason, I've always flown under the telemarketing radar, but these sharks now have my phone number. When we moved into our current flat/duplex/townhouse/home/spot/pozzie we took over the phone line from the landlady. Now when I work from home I get at least one or two calls a day. Would you like to sell your flat? No, I'm renting. Would you like a complimentary carpet shampoo? No, we're tiled. Are you interested in a timeshare holiday? What's a holiday? You have won a great prize! Thanks, when can I collect it? Well, there's a ceremony first, and a draw...

What really sucks is that it creates a moral dilemma for me. Spam email you just delete. But when some poor soul who's just trying to make ends meet calls me up, I can't be rude. I want to tell 'em to get knotted, but I can't bring myself to do that. I empathise with them. I try to end the call as quickly as possible but I can imagine how soul-destroying it must be to get rejected time and again, and I spend the next 5 minutes pitying the poor voice which dejectedly said goodbye to me. I resent the companies who employ these poor buggers even more, because they're the real culprits, not the sad voices.

But we all reach an empathy breaking point and I think I'm reaching mine. I need to do something to vent the frustration, to feel like I'm taking a stand. Perhaps I should just answer all calls from 2 - 6 (their hunting hours) with a hoarse 'Sataaaaaaaaaaaaan', and take things from there.

I probably wouldn't have the guts to do it. I'm such a softie.