 Donna
Gets it Right ----
6-19-03
I Don't Understand Caller ID
I know its purpose is for people to actively screen
their phone calls.
It’s really great for handling those pesky telemarketers.
But sometimes, what’s really going on is Screening
Your People. You call, the other party sees your number,
and doesn’t want to talk to you. So they let the
machine pick it up. I’ve seen people do it, right
in front of me. Oh, they look at me like “I never
do that to you”, but there they are, doing it
to their sister/brother/mother. Hmm, never do it to
me eh?
What really gets me about caller ID, is the businesses
that have it. I work for a small publishing company.
Our publications are niche, so we don’t really
make any cold calls, per se. Just calls to people within
the industry our magazines cater to. A salesman makes
his calls, no one is there, but there is no answering
machine, so he has to simply hang up. A few hours later,
I’ll get to take the call, where the first question
will be, “Hey someone from there called me, this
number showed up on my caller ID, what do you want?”
Great, I’m thinking, another idiot with caller
ID.
So I ask with underlying irritation, “What is
the name of your company?”
“Wha? Wha cha ya need that fer?”
“Well sir…..” I go on to try and explain
what our company does, so he’ll have an indication
of why someone called him. Gump doesn’t seem to
understand this.
“Uuh, aw-ight” , audible pause, “so
why did they call me?”
“Obviously we had the wrong number, sir, sorry
to bother you.” Geez. I guess I shouldn’t
assume that explaining in painstaking detail what our
company does means he’ll get it.
Someone I’m very close to has this problem. I
won’t mention his name, it’s not to protect
his innocence, it’s just that I have to live with
him and he doesn’t like being mentioned in my
columns....
Anyway, he has a cell phone. See one of my previous
rantings and you’ll know why I don’t have
one. He’ll get a call while we’re at the
movies or dinner. He sees the number and doesn’t
recognize it, so he ignores it. Later when he goes back
to check it, he wonders why they didn’t leave
a message.
Curious, he calls the number back. I’m begging
him not to call. Resist it, I say, hand it to me and
back slowly away from the cell phone. It doesn't work.
He then ends up in a verbal battle with the person who
just mistakenly dialed the wrong number, but won’t
admit it.
So now he’s yelling, “But your flippin number
is on MY phone!”
Well, I didn’t call you, it must have been someone
else”
How could it have been someone else, I don’t even
know who you are, how could I have gotten your number?!
And on and on and on. I’m standing there with
my face in my hands, hoping it will be over soon. He
finally gives up and hangs up on the person, mumbling
a few expletives. Although I believe he mumbled the
expletives BEFORE he hung up. Because now, thanks to
caller ID, they have his cell phone number safely tucked
away in their system. And every once in a while now,
late at night, his cell phone will ring. Guess whose
number it is.
Until next time
Donna
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