Unwanted Telephone Calls
The other day I was just preparing to leave the house to go to my chaplaincies when the phone rang. This friendly mature woman's voice said, "Oh hello, I'm from ..... and I have an offer for you." It was an Electricity company, though she rattled off the name so quickly I could not pick it up. "I can offer you electricity a whole lot cheaper than what you are getting it now." (They all say that - how do they know how much I am paying for my Electricity anyway?) She waffled on in enthusiastic terms about her offer. I politely said "No we do not want to change power companies." (I did not have a clue what power company we had anyway - that is my wife's domain.) Undaunted the lady went on... "But why not? We are offering you a really good deal and there's a free winter discount thrown in. What are you paying per month now? We will be better than whatever it is." "Look" I said, "I don't have time for this. We are happy where we are. There are so many callers offering deals. Sorry." She was not put off, "But why not? Why not when we are offering it so cheap?" and she continued to try to push her deal, in a bright pseudo friendly way. "Sorry" I said, "I have to go." "When can I call back? What day would suit?......." she was going on... "Ohhhh..." Click!
I felt invaded. I wanted to scream at her..."When I want to change power companies I'll come looking. Don't call me, we'll call you!" Somehow this person felt it OK to come into my house, interrupt what I was doing and keep up her prattle even when it was obvious I wasn't interested. It is "Home Invasion".
Then of course there are the dirtbag computer callers... We have had three today. "We are from Microsoft Windows. (or whoever) We've noticed ..... activity from your computer...." or some such thing. Some times I just go "Click". Sometimes I lead them on then tell them they are evil then go "click." I once had a loud piercing whistle by the phone which I blew down the line. Once I felt really mischievous and kept the person talking. They were talking as if I had a "Windows" based PC and they "knew that at that time unscrupulous people were getting into my computer." I listened and made the appropriate responses.... they were talking as if they could see my screen..."But.." I said innocently, "I wonder how you can know all this stuff? Something must be wrong! Its amazing....You see .... I've got a Mac...! .....and you are evil." ... ........silence ... then they went "Click!" I probably should not call them "evil" but I feel angry because I know of elderly people who have been badly ripped off by these scammers.
Then there are people who mean well... Some years ago we went away for a trip and came back to find a group from a place I worked for had come out and painted our house. That was nice, but we did feel awkward about it. We were intending to paint it. Maybe we would have chosen a different colour? We did not leave the house and grounds in a condition that we would feel comfortable to have people visiting. While their gesture was very generous, there was a sense that our privacy had been invaded. Then the local community newspaper got onto it, and the reporter made a date to come with representatives of the group for photographs etc. My wife in particular felt uncomfortable and felt boundaries had been crossed. It felt like they were implying that there was something wrong with the way we lived and they were going to "fix us" in some way. It was, however, a generous gesture, and we expressed our appreciation. This feeling of "invasion" emerged for me the other day though, when I was visiting the place where this group came from. Sitting in a small group, one of the guys asked, "How many old cars have you got in your drive now Dave?" I'm used to people joking about my old cars, but where was this leading? "I have three, and they are all going and all registered and warranted." I replied. "Oh!" he grinned, "Is that a sensitive subject? It's just that I remember painting your house and your drive being full of elderly cars we had to work around." I felt judged and put down just because I choose to drive and own (perhaps - can only afford to own) older vehicles. I just accepted his humorous scoff, and moved on in the group conversation. But I felt like yelling, "If you are going to play the 'saviour' and paint my house, at least have the wisdom, grace and empathy to accept me for who I am!" I have been conscious for a long time that even our charitable acts can be invasive, hurtful and belittling sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment