The Unknown Caller
I got a call on my business phone the other day. The caller ID said “unknown”. This is usually synonymous for “annoying sales call”. Normally I would just let it go to voicemail, but my mail box is totally full and then I’d never know who really called. My mail box is full because I can’t stand getting messages off that phone. Before you can listen to a message the phone wants to slowly tell you the day and time of the call. Emphasis on SLOWLY. “Saturday… November… twelve… two… thousand… five… A… D… at… ten… fifty… nine… p… m… and… twenty… one… seconds…” There’s no way to skip it. So if I have 3 messages it takes about 30 minutes to listen to them. I think the phone is lonely and is trying to trick me into spending as much time with it as it can. But it’s backfiring, because I really want nothing to do with that clingy phone.
Anyhow, the point is that I got this really weird call. I picked up the phone and it was an operator telling me I was getting a relay call. She explained someone was typing stuff and she was going to read it out loud to me. OK, weird. So the operator relays “Hello”. “What electronics do you have for sale?” I say I don’t have any electronics for sale. And that’s the end of my relay call.
Am I being cased by some gang of electronics theives who don’t want me to be able to identify their voice? Or is there a deaf person out there just randomly calling people in the hopes of getting a hot deal on used electronics?
Weird, weird, weird.
September 3rd, 2005 at 7:58 am
Reverse telemarketing?
Actually, when I read “What electronics do you have for sale?” and your response, I half expected to continue reading “well, do you want to be selling electronics? You could be making quick big bucks all from the comfort of sitting at a phone.” A pitch to recruit new tele-marketers… it sounds like a telemarketing version of Pay it Forward, Pitch it Forward?
Or maybe someone’s advertising electronics with your business line number (whether by mistake or… a prank?)
I don’t know. Weird call though.
September 5th, 2005 at 1:37 am
i think, its just a plain ol normal prank call from a boring intellectual homosapien.
at least thats what i think =D
September 5th, 2005 at 1:44 am
i think, its just a plain ol normal prank call from a boring intellectual homosapien.
at least thats what i think =D
September 6th, 2005 at 12:52 am
Wait - why didn’t you say yes, then list off all of the items in your “outdated technology museum” at ridiculously high prices? If E-Bay doesn’t tell you that people are willing to buy just about anything, then I don’t know what will. I mean, you could have told them about the circa 50s butt massage/weight loss machine that you own available for the low low price of $10 K. Or the Atari, or any number of things in that closet in your back room that even the most curious are afraid to open.
Come on, Eli, you just missed your big opportunity at some big bucks!