Mulling over George Pope to Steve Asher 29 Oct 2002

Hi George!

 GP> What annoyed me most is the day a long-distance seller showed up at
 GP> my suite's outside back door with a clipboard, and his first words
 GP> were, "Hi, I'm here to sign you up for your long distance savings.
 GP> . . What's your name, plesae?"

I've had that type before, too. "I'm here to tell you what your easycall
facilities are - could you please sign this piece of paper to confirm
that I've told you?" (paper is clearly labelled as a contract - rep denies
that it is a contract - I go back inside)

 GP> I said that my name was The Guy Who Is Going To Have the Fraud
 GP> Patrol of the Local Police on His Ass If He Didn't Leave the
 GP> Property Immediately! 

It would probably be dismissed as a "misunderstanding" on your part,
if you did complain. I have since had my services marked as "no
doorknockers" to deter these fraudsters, but the telco interpreted
this to mean that their fraudsters could still -call- my numbers to
attempt their scams, as that isn't "doorknocking". 

 GP> Hey, it's THEIR box, soyou can't just destroy it, but it's YOUR
 GP> window, and if you want to dispose of buckets of dirty dishwater
 GP> via there, that's your business, nu?

I've been tempted to pour some quick-setting concrete in their pit &
ducts.

 SA> fenced-off area by the box & the lack of observation powers of their
 SA> "investigator". If that doesn't make much sense, just
imagine a large
 SA> metal box under the bathroom window, with a dead & bloody pigeon next
 SA> to
 SA> it. Choice!

 GP> That could work, too, especially if you get a nice colour snapshot
 GP> of it off to your local media!

I've got a snap of the remains, but the resident stray cats had eaten
most of the flesh by that time, & were wandering around the yard in a
daze til whatever poison killed the pigeon wore off.

 SA> provided to members of parliament together with "demographic" info,
 SA> all
 SA> the better to target political propaganda at us, & also kept at post
 SA> offices as a "public record" that anyone can examine. It
is also sold
 SA> to companies such as Acxiom, who use it in their datawarehouses.

 GP> It wasn't just the government/MPs/etc. who had my name/address, but
 GP> even TV-Guide!

TV-Guide needs to know! As digital / interactive TV comes in, they will
need to know your "preferences" in order to serve up the right mix of
targeted spam... er opportunities.

Cheers, Steve..

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