Friday, May 25, 2007

More Don't Call...

Oh, this guy is priceless. After my first rant (which has garnered praise from several other commenters), this kid goes on to come up with even MORE reasons why I should take his unsolicited telemarketing calls. "What if your grandmother was buying meatloaf and dropped dead?!!" "What if I'm calling with an investment opportunity - and it is GOOGLE's IPO!!!?" "What if your stockbroker quit and the guy who took his place you don't recognize in caller ID?" "What if your bank is going under and I need to tell you to get your money out quick?!!" "Lots of KIDS can do this job, and it's good for them, so answer and LISTEN to them and dont be rude!!"

My Response
You chose your job, you live with it. Just don't EVER call me.

I don't want to talk to you. Ever. Period. End of story.

If my grandmother (who has been dead for over 30 years) is found dead in the supermarket, it will be the 2nd coming of Christ and the press will be all over it, I'll hear it on the news. By the way - you don't "Buy" meatloaf - you make it.

I don't want to hear about your stupid investment scams. I don't care if it IS going to be the "next Google" - you don't know that NOW either. I'll take my chances.

My stockbroker's number is registered with the name of his agency, so THAT is what shows up in my caller-ID. Don't call me. I know you're a scam artist.

Anyone who would call to tell me that an investment was failing and that I better get my funds out right away would be telling me to divest my portfolio based on "insider trading information" which is highly illegal. I will not join you in prison, Snookiedimples - don't call me.

You chose your career - you knew it was possible someone might be rude. You could instead have chosen McDonalds or WalMart for your childish job. I have no sympathy. Don't EVER call me.


This just gets him going further. He just refuses to "get it". He now tells me that LOTS of companies call their customers to "service" them after the sale. Excuse me????? Ahem. If I'm getting "serviced" by a company they better quit that fast, because the only companies that I know that "service" their customers are ones that engage in the "Worlds Oldest Profession" - and I'm NOT a customer, nor am I in the market, TYVM FOAD.

I try again to explain it to him:
If Folgers gave me a call to ask how the coffee was -and I had not previously agreed to taste-test for them for FREE, doing their job for NO MONEY - then I'd be one very, very rude woman to the caller.

Folgers should have a quality control department that handles taste-testing. I'm NOT their FREE CONSULTANT - got that, little boy? I'm a professional and my time both at work and at home is worth a lot of money. You want me to taste test your product - you're going to pay rather substantially.

I'm sorry, but there is not ONE SINGLE instance that you have (or will be able to) come up with that would justify you disturbing MY peace and quiet with your unsolicited telephone crap calls.

Don't call me. Ever.

Not all companies call me for "servicing" after I do business with them.

My local grocery market never calls me.
My local hardware store never calls me.
K-mart has never called me.
I've never gotten a call from Windex, Pepsi, Dave & Busters, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond....

I don't care WHAT your supervisor at work is telling you - telemarketing is a bottom-of-the-gene-pool kind of job and NOBODY wants your call. NOBODY. EVER.

Now, you asked why YOU, the corporation, should have to accept my calls. That is what I referred to when saying that's a risk you have to take as a business owner.

If you want my business - if you want MY money, then you have to accept my phone calls (on those rare occasions I call). Most often I do not conduct business over the phone. When I was looking to buy my house, I just walked into my real-estate agent's office. He had a sign up advertising his agency.

My broker had an ad in the newspaper advertising his services and asking for phone calls - an INVITATION to call him.

You have no invitation to call me. Don't EVER call me.

605 days

OH!! and PS: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN III is in theaters today!!!!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Don't Call Me

Someone in another forum asked the question "Why are Americans so rude on the telephone? I work in the telephone industry and get rude people all the time when I call them. Why can't people be nice?" This is my response:


Don't call me.
Period.

If you aren't a close friend or relative - don't call me. I don't want to talk to you.

You are wasting my time, you are possibly blocking a call from someone to whom I DO want to talk.

If there are fraudulent charges on my credit card, I'll be able to find them when I reconcile my statement - and I can call you then - and it won't cost me a DIME more than it would if you pestered me about "seemingly fraudulent" charges that just happen to be legitimate changes in my purchasing habits.

Don't call me. I don't care about your political stance. I won't vote for you or your candidate if you pester me by phone.

Don't call me. If I want to donate to your charity, I will donate. If you want me to know about your cause - snail-mail still works fine. Don't call me. Calling me will do nothing but guarantee that I will NEVER donate to your charity.

Don't call me. I don't care about your religion. I've probably already considered and rejected its theology over 20 years ago.

Don't call me. I'm on the National Do-Not Call list, and I WILL report you if you call pretending to take a survey so you can tout your product.

Don't call me. Yes, I bought a car from your dealership 10 years ago. It sucked. Total lemon. I will never purchase another vehicle from you again. Die in a fire.

Don't call me. I already know that my payment is late, you vulture. You're only contributing to my medical distress and delaying your payment more due to increased medical bills. Don't call me.

My doctors office often calls me with updates on tests, or reminders about appointments - I'm NEEDING to talk to them - I don't NEED to talk to asshats with no life who make rude obtrusive phone calls for a "job". Don't call me.

Don't call me.
Ever.

Do-Overs

I seriously need a do-over today.

I've screwed up or been messed up with on absolutely everything I've done so far. I need a do-over and a long nap.

606 days

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Where were you? (Remember When?)

Where were you when Katrina pounded NOLA?

Where were you when the towers fell?

Where were you when the Space Shuttle exploded?

Where were you when the DC10 went down on takeoff from Chicago O'Hare?

Where were you when Andrew pounded the Carolinas?

Where were you when Ronald Reagan was shot?

Where were you when Martin Luther King was shot?

Where were you when John F. Kennedy was assassinated?

Where were you when the National Guard murdered four students at Kent State?

Where were you when Richard M. Nixon resigned?

Where were you when OJ Simpson was arrested?

Where were you when Three-Mile Island's nuclear reactor malfunctioned?

Old rants, new habits

Ok, I started this post yesterday at lunch, but then I got sidetracked by this little annoyance called "work" and put the beginning of a nice rant to the side. I've since forgotten what I was gonna rant about other than this bit:

Stupid Yahoo Headlines - aka "Things that make you yell "NO SHIT, Sherlock!!!" at your computer:

"Probe finds VA gunman "well prepared""
"Casualties reported after explosion rocks Turkish capital"
"Summer Drink Shocker - Fat-filled frozen drinks will sink your diet"
"Thousands attend funeral for Jerry Falwell"

As for the last one? Well, my guess is they all wanted to make sure he really WAS dead - and that he STAYED dead.

So that's all the rant you get. Except for this picture:



Cigarettes, however, are still only 35 bucks a carton... My goddess. I remember when I quit smoking they were only 8.50 a carton... I save a LOT of money now.

New habits - I've been trying to break a few really annoying bad habits I have, like leaving shoes all over the house, not making the bed in the morning and stuff like that. Little things that I WOULD do if I had a "significant other" living with me. (Currently not an option)

Well, I've had to add another thing to my list. Putting my keys and glasses in the EXACT SAME PLACE every time I come home or take them off. I'm tired of spending 20 minutes tearing around the house frantically searching for keys or glasses - especially glasses. Although - Keys are an issue too, since it costs so damn much to have these stupid "chip" keys from the dealership.

Oh. I have to rant about one last thing. Blogger has apparently decided that I'm stupid and need them to "save" my work for me. Which is darn nice of them, but couldn't they just do it kind of sneaky in the background, instead of flashing a blue/grey/blue/grey button to me every time they do it? Annoying and breaks the fragile train-of-thought process in us old decrepit folks!

607 days.

Monday, May 21, 2007

I'm getting tired of "Lib'ruls"




You know what? I'm getting tired of the Liberal Democrat types. Not that I don't still believe in many of their causes (we tend to disagree most on things like illegal immigration and fiscal policy) but because I'm sick of seeing the same racist and hypocritical bullshit from them that I see from the Republics from different angles.

Take for example... Donnie McDaniel. Donnie is a big left-wing supporter, big into the peace movement, loving, caring, being kind to all... and yet he deliberately seeks out and says nasty things about BBC on other people's blogs. Now, don't get me wrong. I know that BBC is quite capable of 1) pissing off people to a point of slavering insanity with his rather blunt rhetoric and 2) fighting his own battles.

The thing is, Donnie - you're just making yourself look like an idiot. You attack someone who's only made a comment on someone's blog. I'm sure that if the blog owners didn't want his comments, they would be smart enough to remove them all on their own. Making comments about someone's physical appearance is reprehensible, Donnie.

It's no better than denigrating someone for being black, or "brown". It's a form of racism, actually. You may not agree with what this person says, or how he says it - but to make snotty comments about his appearance just to show your disapproval of his words is childish, and makes YOU look bad. I don't know if that picture of a marine is really you, or if you're ripping off the photo of some fine member of our armed services, but you do that uniform no justice by acting without honor in this way. BBC may not say things that are to your liking, but for you to attempt to silence him is for you to be no better than those Republics who would like to silence all the "Lib'ruls". Think about it, hypocrite.

My next example comes from a place I usually respect - Firedoglake.

The blog there, which is a multiple-entity blog, has done some truly wonderful work with regard to covering the Gonzalez hearings, the Libby trial and other important things that the MSM seems to be most interested in hiding under a Paris Hilton rock.

The place they seem to fall off the turnip truck is with illegal immigration. They suddenly have no respect for the 1st amendment - if the people who are using it aren't going to babble the party-line. In fact, at least one of their "regulars" has asked that someone with a dissenting opinion be censored - so that he doesn't have to read their comments. Interesting, no?

And here's their late-nite contributor, Trex, who idolizes the Air America personality "Laura Flanders" and seems to think Ms. Flanders has scored some sort of point by being deliberately obtuse about knowing the meaning of the term "Illegal Alien".

Apparently Trex and Ms. Flanders both do not understand that the PRIMARY MEANING of the word "Alien" is not "Little green man from Mars", but is instead: (courtesy of Mirriam Webster)
"a:belonging or relating to another person, place, or thing : STRANGE
b : relating, belonging, or owing allegiance to another country or government : FOREIGN
c : EXOTIC "


Well... gollly. I don't see anything in that definition that says anything about different planets or spaceships.... And it is, therefore, proper usage for Illegal Criminal Trespassers. In fact, it's damn nicer than my version.

Amazing how they can just pick and choose what they want to believe in order to make it fit into their little narrow world-view.

They also seem to get a bug up their asses if someone says they're against this illegal criminal trespassing. They then try to tar those persons with the "They must hate "brown" people" argument - thus showing their own racism, since nobody that I know of who opposes illegal immigration is stupid enough to believe that the ONLY illegal immigrants in this country are from hispanic countries. As a matter of fact, a very LARGE number of illegals come from Ukraine and Armenia.

You know - Armenia? The place where the Caucasus Mountains are? The Caucasus mountains that give their name to the racial characteristic known as... *drum roll* CAUCASIANS???

I'm getting very. very. sick. of this bullshit.

Just sayin'.

Jimmy - Ya Got it Right the First Time!

President Carter apparently dissed Bush and his crap administration, but unfortunately went and backpedaled when the faux administration with its usual lack of honor and/or civility rudely referred to the aging former President as "increasingly irrelevant".

You got it right the first time, Jimmy. His IS the worst presidency in the history of the country, bar none, including Nixon. There are NO redeeming qualities to the Bush Regime, and quite frankly, not only should he be impeached, convicted, removed from office and imprisoned along with his entire staff, the VP and any and all political appointees, I also think he should be expunged from the country's history - in the grand tradition of the Egyptian "Heretic Pharoah" Akhenaton - his icons and name and image stricken from any and all records, all his lands and chattels reverting to the Republic, his family disgraced and made homeless as well as those of his hirelings.

609 days