Phone Calls that Take Advantage

More than once a week my telephone rings and when I pick up an urgent recorded voice tells me that time is running out to make important and needed changes on my credit card (push #1 for assistance) or my car warranty. At other times I hear about the best deal for my mortgage (if I just press #5 or whatever…). Though our telephone number is on all of the “do not call lists” the calls come in steadily and they are irritating. Some calls are so urgent that I catch my breath. Something about the way these calls are structured allows disregard of the “do not call” registration.

Over the years we have watched as these calls cause more and more anxiety for our parents. As these accomplished and confident individuals have grown older, the realistic urgency, juxtaposed with their own mild anxiety about late retirement life issues, makes the phone inquiries frustrating at first and eventually frightening.

My husband and I offer frequent reminders to stop listening and hang up the phone, but given the urgency of the callers, it’s not so easy. I find that some people, at least, cannot imaging why a call would come into a home telephone if there was not a reason. Of course, this is exactly what the shysters, and they are shysters, want.