Calls to Adventure
Calls to Adventure
Owning a landline is becoming seemingly rare these days. It's a bit of an anachronism, something redundant that doesn't quite fit into the digital age with its text messages, video calls, and social media posts. Yet there it is, gathering dust in some forgotten corner of a messy apartment. To be honest, it's basically just a glorified clock, but then I guess even those are a bit of an anachronism these days.
When the telephone rings I usually just stare at the display trying to parse the number. Do I know the person? Do I want to talk to them? What's the area code? Has this number called before? Often enough I'll end up doing a google search and spend the next fifteen minutes reading through the scam reports. Stuff like that. Generally speaking, I'll just ignore anything unusual, which doesn't exactly mean I'd answer if it wasn't. Chances are I won't pick up at all, but maybe... I might call you back later. It's just that unwarranted attention seems... well... instantly suspicious.
Now, there are these weird moments when I end up acting against my better judgment, like some sort of Bilbo Baggins entering adventure mode. So I pick up and bark my name and keep saying HELLO!? At least, if there isn't an immediate response. Then some cowardly call center slave will muster up his courage and cough before he starts talking. My name is Max Mustermann and I... I'm not interested. What do you mean you're not interested!? I'm just not interested. But you didn't... I... you can't just say you're not interested if you haven't even heard what I was going to say! Wrong, bye. Click.
I suppose in another universe some of these dumb calls might lead to wonderful adventures. Things you tell your grandchildren about. Like that one time when I picked up the phone and some confused old man started mumbling incoherently about being lost. Apparently, he was just so desperate he pulled the trigger on a random number, which led him to me. I asked if everything was okay and such, then he talked about standing outside somewhere in the middle of nowhere, not being sure about the where or why. After some back and forth, I told him to sit tight, I would call him right back. I told the ambulance about this old man I didn't really know and found himself in desperate need of help, somewhere unknown. Unable to explain myself they told me in so and so many words about go fuck yourself. Then they hung up. Hello!? Back to square one.
Somehow I managed to get his name and a few other nuggets of valuable information. Turns out he was calling from some sort of health facility for senior citizens, forgotten by his wife who was supposed to pick him up. I told him I was calling him back and started flicking through the yellow pages, looking for his apparent home address. I dialed the number, and boom! An older jovial-sounding woman answered the call and listened to me trying to explain the conundrum involving her husband. She started laughing and promised she was on her way. The man himself was euphoric about the good news and that's about it. Bye!
Another time I was called by some middle-aged women who started asking about some sort of village and if I ever heard about it. No can't say that I do. Oh, but it's supposed to be in this area? Are you sure you never heard about it? Pretty sure, yes. Well, just let me look it up. So long story short I was browsing Google Maps, being kinda remote controlled by this stranger, being lured into some sort of stalker-esque investigation about... the village. You know, my daughter just moved there, with her new boyfriend. He's weird, I don't think he's right for her. Is that so? Yeah, he's weird. He wears a red mohawk. Turns out her daughter more or less broke contact and something something restraining order. How old are you? She asked. Well, ah... In my thirties I guess. Then she went on about me sounding nice and started asking questions about what I was doing for a living. Strange indeed.
Ok, I said, judging from the satellite photos your daughter is living in a single-family house close to the river. I went on to describe the neighborhood and kept answering more stalkerish questions about my private life, feeling a bit like I was being groomed for some sort of undetermined relationship, which might sound like some elaborate setup for a classical porno. No, I don't have a girlfriend. Why not? Ah... so anyway, why don't you just visit your daughter? Her new boyfriend doesn't want her to. This and the restraining order, you know. Why don't you visit her? She asked. Well, ah... I didn't know what to respond so told her something came up and byee, I guess. Oh, ok. And that was it.
The last story is about as anticlimactic as the previous one, but here and there I wonder if it could've been the humble beginnings of my very own detective agency. Or just the prelude to a neat little prison sentence. Me standing in court trying to explain myself again, unsuccessfully, and the judge banging his hammer onto his table.
I guess we'll never know, like what's going to happen when you pick up the phone...
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Why we upvoted? 🦋 Because we enjoy entertainment and talent. Good luck to you. It's great to have you on Steemit!
🍀 @wakeupkitty 💕
Glad to be here :-)!
For today I will not read someone else or at least not for the next hours and if I do I will read you again. You made my day and just like you I never feel invited if the phone rings. Not that my phone ever rings the sound and buzzing and the rest is switched off just like notifications to keep the peace and not being disturbed.
Unknown calls are unwanted and those knowing me don't call and I never call them. No SMS either but a small circle where signals are shared and answered if it fits me or them.
Unlike me, you still receive phone calls from humans while my last ones are limited to AI automatic calls, a trail set by scammers, annoying dumb salesmen or fake customer services. I have a hard time dealing with dumb bots and because they lack brains it's pointless to waste time calling.
Send an e-mail.
You made my day, most likely the week.
Thanks for joining out-of-the-box.
Will you add the hashtag #freewrite thank you
Thank you! I honestly thought my post was a dud, so you liking it is a pleasant surprise. Pretty neat.
I've been getting these robocalls as well and the amount of regular people willing even to make a call has descreased significantly. I know, because for a pretty long I stubbornly refused to get a smartphone at all. Apparently even writing an email is too much work these days, which seems weird to me. But hey, what am I going to do!?
Scammers don't even just steal your time, they partially ruin your willingness to interact with strangers at all and cause this kind of low level paranoia, where you assume any person is just trying to get an angle on you. The most recent thing I've been getting is some dude pretending to be DHL over whatsapp telling me about lost packages and having to click these super credible links to make some "arrangements".
Makes me almost sentimental about the times when scammers had to finesse you personally into getting italian wine stocks, or whatever they had going on.
Will also add the #freewrite take immediately.
Edit: Mhm. I was only able to tag the text body. Im terms of the tag bar it's there but invisible, prolly because I was posting to the community. I'm still trying to figure the Site out honestly.
Send a text... leave a message... Not answering calls... thank you.
Same here. The fact I feel someone texted is enough
Your post is great, it makes a good read, many will recognize this. No matter how bad, it makes me laugh but also realize again how we are ruled and controlled by a thing that takes a pic of us every 30 seconds and has access to all private parts of our lives.
Those whatsapp scams we receive too. Bank, DPD GLS and so on. I know it's fake since I ordered nothing and don't use the average bank.
My youngest received this text: Mom, my phone is stolen. Please, contact me on whatsapp via this link.
So the child asked me: Is this dude calling me mom? 🤣🤣🤣
I said at least she has an intelligent child, one that can text without a phone and has access to whatsapp so no need to answer.
And what to think about those call centres... especially, those using bots to automatically call numbers. If you pick up the line is dead because they moved on to the next number.
Those wine stock scams still exist, just like winning the lottery, a dying rich cancer patient leaving you the fortune, threats you drop dead unless... Yiur child/best friend is in hoslital and of course your acount is in danger and your creditcard blocked unless you act within 15 minutes..
Do you need the codes for layout?
For pictures or text in the middle (center it)
< center> picture or text < /center>
No spaces between < and 'center' or '/center'
The mark down styling guide (see underneath where you type) can help to.
For free writing and text the basics are good enough. Templates is used by many. It hurts my eyes and I'm not the only one complaining about all the 'flashy'text and pictures.
I was wondering how to improve layout. I knew there had to be a way to do it.
The top of the printscreen are the codes
The other half is how it looks like
very helpful... you're awesome
Let me know if it works or you need something else
There's a saying, I've got your number.
"...an informal idiom that means someone has an advantage over another person." has taken on new depth.
It always sounds like a threat to me...
🙃
You mentioned call centers. I recently saw something about a thai who was lured to Myanmar via a fake job offer and ended up being held captive in an illegal call center. Had to scam senior citizens abroad or else, until he was finally able to escape. I suppose the dilemma is that sometimes the perpetrators are just victims themselves. Might make a great subject matter for a dark satire though. Modern society, digitalisation, rich and poor, the loss of innocence and the ripple effects of the seemingly mundane.
There's a lot of scam, human trafficking.
Ask some scammers or watch those videos where they cry and beg for help. All part, employers if a scam Inc where they need to deliver at least 500 per call. It explains the scolding, begging, frustration, not able to deal with delays and unexpected situations where they call an elderly or not easy to lure person.
For sure good for a series of dark satire or the black mirror. One call leads to... (years of bingwatching the effects of phone calls - the loss of communication and connection) sorry, operator you connected me with the wrong number
Yeah, Wrong Number seems like a good title, too. Well actually it was a title, to a video game that is.
In terms of the scammers trying the pitty angle the whole topic becomes even more confusing. Reminds me a little of the beggars around here who would walk the city while pretending to be disabled. The ones with the short crutches.
It's a shame really because I think people actually do want to help, but you can only get scammed so often until you turn indifferent. Or hostile for that matter.
If it comes to the last part.. Don't ask how many times we (me and my children) been scolded by 'beggars'. Never satisfied, lying at one piece. No way we give ever again. They stay in front of shops and arive at 10 am in a bmw...