“Don’t go postal!” That’s what someone told me on email today. I had no idea what they meant. I had to Google it, and I found this:
To be fair, I had just sent a slightly very frustrated email to her, and probably deserved the comment. It’s just as well she didn’t speak to me on Tuesday though….
I was working from home. It was a day I planned to get my head down in total silence and plough through a heap of work. By 9.30am I’d been called by recorded service offering me PPP compensation, and a window company:
“I don’t need new windows”
“That’s ok; I’m selling conservatories”
“I have a conservatory. How did you get my number?”
“You made an enquiry with us recently.”
“As I have had both windows replaced and conservatory built in the last few years, I don’t think so….”
Within an hour the phone rang again. I don’t know why I didn’t just do my usual thing of putting it to one side and leaving the person to talk to themself. I must have been feeling a bit grumpy. Instead, the conversation went like this:
“You have recently had a car crash.”
“I haven’t.”
“Well, maybe not recently, but you have reported one.”
“No.”
“You have. I have the details here.”
“My last car crash was about 20 years ago”
“So you have had one!”
“How did you get my number?”
“The insurance company gave it to me.”
“What company are you calling from, what is your name and what is your phone number?”
“Why?”
“Because I am going to report you.”
“Why?”
“Because what you are doing is morally wrong. If I were a vulnerable person you might have managed to confuse, or worse, scare me. It’s inexcusable.”
“Umm…. Thank you. Good bye”
I did go on for a bit longer. Quite a lot longer in fact. And I may have got a bit shouty. A bit postal, as it turns out. Oh, I do like using a new phrase the day I learn it :o)
On a serious note for a second, if you are in the UK, you can register with the telephone preference service (Google it) to reduce these sort of calls. It doesn’t stop the ones from foreign call centres as they are outside UK law, but it cuts them down a bit and reduces the chances of going postal. (Did you see what I did there? I used it again :o) )
the pog blog 
These calls really wind me up. I live in my grandparents house. Get this grandma died 8 years ago & grandpa died in 1988, those annoying guys that phone about computers have phoned for him about his computer.
The worst part about all this for me is these low life’s don’t understand the words dead, died , deceased, or anything else. For me the telephone preference service has & has not worked! We don’t personally get calls but they still do! Simply because their phone number is out there & poor grandma used to engage in conversation with them. The poor thing had dementia.
The worst experience was the one that laughed.
I don’t care if they have a degree or not they should just get a proper job.
That’s horrible :o( And it’s people like your grandma that I worry about. I started questioning whether I’d had an accident, and then thinking maybe someone in my family had. If I was a vulnerable person, I could have ended up in a right pickle! What I’ve found is that when I say the number is registered on the TPS and could I have their details to report them, the calls reduce…I can only assume that you’re taken off a list somewhere as ‘someone who might get them into trouble’. That does only work for UK based companies, but it might help. Alternatively, you could try just leaving the phone to one side – if I understand right, it ties the phone up at their end for about 10 minutes, even when they have ended the call, so at least it slows down how many calls they make that day.
Near enough all the calls are for them, so they are outside the UK. I’ve had a couple from the UK , mostly they will remove you from the list, without problems. It’s the ones outside the UK that are a problem, the ones that can only read a script. Some are apologetic, & horrified, it’s the ones that think it’s funny or then want to Cary on sell you what ever that really get me. My Nan when she was a live kept a whistle by the phone, for what she called time wasters , I believe it was very effective.
Personally I wish these people would just leave us all in peace.
Have a peaceful day
Your Nan was good :o)