Election Calls and Pollster Annoyances

We must live in a battleground area for the upcoming Presidential election.   We get 6-10 calls a day from various groups:  robocalls, PACs and pollsters.   Fortunately, I don't answer most of the calls.  About 5 years ago, our phone company offered us unlimited long distance for $30/month.  The package included caller ID, conference calling, call waiting, voice mail and a bunch of other services that we rarely use.   So if I don't recognize the phone number, if it's "out of are" or a toll free number, I don't answer.

Occasionally, I'm at a phone without caller ID and I pick up.   If it's a robocall recorded message, I just hang up.  If there is a delay of more than 3 seconds, I hang up since the call is being routed to a phone bank.   If they use the wrong name, I say, "Sorry, wrong number," and say bye.

Then, there are the pollsters.   "Do you have time to answer a few questions?"   I have a standard answer, "No, I'm busy right now."  For reference, I've been trapped by such request in the past and it still wasn't finished after 15 minutes, upon which I ended the call.  Lately, the question is, "Do you have time to answer just one question?"   The answer is still, "No, I'm busy right now."

I can't wait until the election is over.    Hopefully, the junk calls and junk mail will stop cluttering my life. :-)

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