re: #218 makeitstop

I’ve got what I call the ‘3 second rule’ for incoming calls. Most robo-calls and telemarketer calls now aren’t even on the line when you pick up - they wait for a ‘hello,’ then it takes about three seconds to connect either to the robot or the pitch man.

I pick up and say hello, and they’ve got three seconds. If they don’t start talking as soon as I say hello, I’m gone. Click.

And spam calls have gotten so out of hand with their number-spoofing, my caller ID will show a local number when I answer and I have no idea whether the call is legit or some dude in India wanting to ‘fix’ my ‘broken’ computer. My office line is on the no-call list, but I think somewhere along the line they just gave up on enforcing that.

The no-call list isn’t properly penalized if you break it. It’s basically a slap on the wrist for a robo-call shop. As far as number-spoofing, I basically started call screening when I was at my previous job, since the only people who had need to call me were people who were contacts in my phone; new contacts would give me their numbers ahead of time.