We are (probably) one of the few oddballs that actually still have a land line home phone. I am seriously about to rip it out of the wall.......and bang DH over the head with it!
95% of the time it rings it is some sort of telemarketer - either a robo-call or a live person. We have caller ID - so know, most all the time, that the call is spam to begin with. The only people who call here are my mom and a couple of DH's friends, off and on. Maybe a doctors office to remind about an appointment.
DH HAS to answer these telemarketing calls......or rather, when I am home I HAVE to answer them. WHY?!! Well, according to him, if you don't answer it they will keep trying and trying every 5 minutes. I have not noticed that at all and in fact, everything I have read or seen on tv news reports about annoying telemarketing calls, not answering is better. If they don't get a pick up, they eventually take you off the list.
There really is no reason for this to be such a big issue! We just had 3 different calls in a few hour period here (while I'm working from home, so I have to get up each time and go into the kitchen to answer) and DH blows a gasket that it's the phone company's fault. We have an unlisted number. Put us on the do not call list. Blah blah blah. I am so sick of having this conversation.
We have been on the national do not call list since the beginning of time. Still doesn't stop all the calls. Just a fact of life. Doesn't matter if we have an unlisted number - these companies use computer generated lists of telephone numbers and use computers to dial and see if they get a hit. Being on the do not call list doesn't stop them, an unlisted number won't either.
It's such an easily fixed problem! Good Grief!
1) Just don't answer it
2) Turn the ringers off and then you don't even know they are calling. - REAL callers can either start calling our cell #'s or leave a message (I get an email that we have a voicemail), so I know right away from my phone notifications.
We tried method #2 last week after he threw a fit about me not answering it and just letting it go to voicemail (which they don't leave, of course). That only lasted a few hours because he then put in a call for the police sergeant to call him back and he didn't want to miss his call - so we had to turn the ringers back on. Just start giving your cell# as the call back #. How hard is that?
I'm just going to fix the problem by ripping it out of the wall and breaking it over DH's head...and then I'll throw the cordless phones in the garbage! Seriously, working from home shouldn't have to be more stressful and annoying that actually being at the office! I'm not so sure saving $8 in gas by working from home is worth it. My sanity should be worth $8, don't you think? I think instead of categorizing it as gas expense in my budget I should categorize it as "health and well being" haha! An hour there and and hour or so back...plug in an audio book and it's kind of a nice break.
You cracked me up! I have a land line and it is mostly telemarketers. I have found they stop calling. Sometimes I will pick up and tell them to take us off the list if they call more than twice a day. My phone hardly rings anymore though and our parents call us here. Plus, it is the number I give to all the kids' schools. I cannot understand anyone on my cell!
ReplyDeleteWhenever I am working from home during the business day I absolutely have to have what I have to have to be productive and DH knows and understands this. I never - repeat NEVER - play the "I'm the breadwinner in the family so you have to do what I say" card with DH, but if I am working at home it is as if I am at the office and he gets that disruptions need to be kept to a minimum. It seems that if your DH needs the phone to be answered while you're working, he should have that cordless phone right next to him to answer it. Better yet, forward it to his cell phone during the workday, unforward it when you're off the clock. As you can probably tell, I have a lot less patience that you do when it comes to something I consider such a minor, low priority.
ReplyDeleteit is very much a low priority and so stupid to even be an issue. For the most part he leaves me alone. My desk is actually a work cubicle with walls so I'm kind of out of sight for the most part, so that helps. Eventually I will have my office in DS's old bedroom and that will be even better. It's just the damn phone and if he starts getting upset over all the drug traffic coming past our front door that he really gets on my nerves and causes me distraction. I've been working this 3 days from home for almost the past 10 years, so for the most part it's routine and he leaves me be. I'm not into the "I'm the breadwinner" either....did I come across that way?
ReplyDeleteOh gosh NO! But so many of my friends assume that since I am the financial support that I have more "say" in household affairs it's sort of a default mindset when talking about work and working from home. But no, that's really not how my marriage (or any other healthy long-term marriage or relationship) functions.
DeleteWhen it comes to work, DH does have supreme respect for my need to focus and that requires more quiet, less distraction. On weekends, evenings when I'm doing side job work, I'm a lot more flexible and open to being interrupted most of the time, so there's that difference. If I'm just doing my thing at my own pace he can walk into the office to tell me that the cats are outside being cute or to show me something he's found on the ipad or to blurt out his latest and greatest ideas about home improvement projects - I know you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about from your posts about your DH. :)
Yes, exactly! I'm just annoyed that I got the chance for a couple of extra days to work from home and it's being disrupted by something as stupid as a telephone ;) I do also give DH some flexibility to interact with me while I'm busy working - he was laughing his head off at a funny video on facebook this morning and I walked over and watched it for a minute. Most of the time he's very respectful of my work time and if it's getting close to when I usually end my work day and he wants to chatter about something he'll ask if I'm finished working yet.
DeleteI try and answer to see if they have a "press 9 to have your number removed" option. Usually if I talk to a human, they hang up on me as soon as I ask to be removed! We are also on the do not call list, but it certainly has not stopped at least 3 calls per day on our landline.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on pressing 9! I just got a call (one we get all the time) that is a recorded call to press 1 to take advantage of their great offer. It said nothing about 9, but I pressed 9 anyway and it said we will be taken off their call list. They have been calling here for years now saying "this is your last chance to take advantage of this offer" LOL
Deletewe have a land line, as we have a fair number of calls to and from Britain, so need it mainly for that.
ReplyDeleteThat is funny! Yank it!!! :-)
ReplyDelete