I am addressing a subject that i feel addresses most of us, affects most of us, and annoys most of us. I am referring to those recorded messages, unsolicited, whether in English or Yiddish. They advertise “great news!” (sales of things I am not interested in), shiurim (perhaps- i usually hang up as soon as I realize that it is a recording), community events etc.
We are all inundated with mailings. I get calls and emails from organizations with which I am affiliated, and I duly note those which I wish to attend. I do not care to receive calls about sales or from the myriad of organizations, worthwhile, no doubt, whose functions I do not wish to attend and whose announcements are of no interest.
Moreover, I have two phone numbers. No sooner have I run to answer one call, rudely interrupting what I was doing, when the second line rings with the identical message.
I strongly feel this is a tircha detzibbura, a waste of my time, and a rude intrusion on my privacy. If it were a rare occurrence, it could be forgiven. Unfortunately, it is almost a daily event.
I am enrolled on the “do not call” list, and if were not mesira, i would call to complain about the commercial advertising.
Perhaps the powers that be behind these calls would be so kind as to develop a list of those who just love to be called and delete all the rest of us from their calling list.
I feel this is very much a bein adam lachaveiro issue and I don’t appreciate the constant waste of my time and effort.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that I am not alone.
Leaniyus Daati – New York
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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12 Responses
As a mother and grandmother of a large family, with the grandchildren beginning to get married B”H, and in addition there are single children still living at home my husband and I are in constant demand of others’ attention. I’ve always tried to set an example of what I teach our family members, “charity begins at home”. We try our utmost to make ourselves available to the many family members who contact us. These constant nudgy, nudnik, announcement and fund raising calls are mainly a drain on our nerves, time, and strength that we greatly resent. Moreover, when there’s a place we have a relationship with; I’ll donate & pay by credit card, then several weeks or often months later I receive a bill for the pledge I’ve already paid. Please get these organizations to have some consideration. They are being gozel our time,nerves,patience and much more.
In addition I understand that it affects people in other life stages and in other situations differently, equally, and possibly more.
I couldn’t agree with you more. These calls are very annoying, disruptive and not wanted or needed. It’s so bad that I do not answer any phone call unless I recognize the phone number. STOP ALREADY!!!!!!
I agree 100%. Non profits are exempt from the do not call lists. That’s how our frum organizations get away with it.
One hundred per cent agree. However, I am not sure you can get rid of them, or they care about the fact that they are so annoying. Also, anybody in the world that can tell us in this forum if there’s anyone interested in anything they have to say in this phone messages? I can’t imagine who could be interested.
Which Rav has paskened that calling to complain about uninvited and unwanted telemarketing calls to a number that appears on the Do Not Call list, is mesira?
And what about the doorbell ringing by meshulachim? And what about the poor people going around in shul? And what’s with all the dinners and fundraising events of the community schools and mosdos hachessed?
In short: We have a generation of comfortable people who find the less fortunate to be an annoyance. How dare they call you for tzedaka just when you were busy perusing the magazines looking for the best hotel to spend Pesach in?
Please, let’s remember who we really are and deal with every request for tzedaka in a civil manner. Yes, the recorded calls about sales are annoying and you have the right to subscribe to a “Do Not Call” list, but when a genuine charity calls, if you can, make a donation. If you can’t or are tied up at the moment, tell the caller thanks but I am busy now and will respond to an envelope sent to my home. All the bona fide mosdos who tele-market have a standard “send” letter and will honor your request. The horror stories of false pledges are rare and almost never happen when the call is coming from a recognized and respected institution. They are not in the business of cheating people and certainly have too much at stake to risk their reputation by doing anything to annoy the public they rely on for support.
Have a wonderful Purim and give lots of tzedaka with a smile!
PS The people making the calls are hard-working breadwinners and do not deserve your abuse. If they are calling for an institution you respect, the probability is great that they are working for an hourly set amount and not getting commissions. They thus have no interest in inflating their pledge numbers and any mistake is probably a misunderstanding and not cause for you to take to the internet to accuse the entire system of being corrupt. So be nice and keep smiling.
Haha what a loser her can’t even put his name to it and what’s more everyone does it duh it’s called marketing deal with it
Check out http://www.nomorobo.com, a service that works for many phone providers to block robocalls. It’s free for landlines, $1.99/month for mobile phones.
I no longer answer my landline. We get numerous calls daily from cell phone number unknown or cell phone Brooklyn. I respond to calls if they leave a message but immediately delete those long robo call messages.
As comedianmoish points out, non-profits are exempt from the DNC list (as are politicians and pollsters). What particularly irks me are businesses that actually tie up the phone line (if you hang up and then pick up the phone to make a call, the recording is still going). Not only is this illegal, it’s downright dangerous. I would never set foot in a certain furniture store because they’ve done this more than once.
I agree wholeheartedly everyone should have the ability to Press 2 for instance to be taken off the list
I have a phone in my house that has option to put phone numbers to be blocked in the future, plenty of times the phone rings only once and it comes up on the screen that’s from a number that we previously blocked so it doesn’t ring a second time