Telemarketers and Solicitations from a Deaf Perspective

I don't know of one soul, hearing or deaf, who enjoys telemarketing calls.  I can always tell when it is a telemarketing call.  My CapTel landline phone window lights up, and it is inevitably an 800 number, or a 888 number or a call that is "Out of Area," or my personal favorite, "Unavailable." When the answering machine answers the CapTel phone, the caller always hangs up. Sometimes the telemarketing call wakes me up, especially on weekends if I have slept past 9 AM. My signaling system lights up.

Telemarketers have even targeted my Blackberry Pager, which is specifically configured for Deaf users.  Any computer or person who calls my Blackberry Pager automatically gets the TDD relay service, and the caller hangs up.  I think it is a serious waste of time for the TDD relay operator to even TAKE the call.  Can you imagine the TDD relay operator taking millions of these telemarketing calls a day?  It must be so frustrating, let alone BORING. Nobody has that Blackberry number, except businesses like my doctor's office.

The next thing I did, was to make sure that all my phone numbers, including the Blackberry, were listed with the Do Not Call Registry.

I have even had to call businesses which I do business with.  I tell them that I am a customer with a hearing disability and to please stop calling my landline phone to offer me promotions, because it is a wasted call.  My personal favorite are the calls from cellular or wireless companies, wanting to sell me "bundles" of wireless calling plans. I am too deaf to use a cell phone at this point in my life.  The companies have honored my request. Thank goodness.

I wonder if the cochlear implant will make that possible for me - to use a cell phone for the first time in my life.  I have been told that there is no "guarantee."  Okay.  I will still like to TRY.  I think I will try out a friend's cell phone post-implant and see where that gets me before I even purchase a real, wireless cell phone.

Now I have another annoyance.  Somehow retailers have discovered my Blackberry Text Pager and I get LOTS of junk e-mail.  It is impossible to "block" all of them, because eventually even your "spam" folder gets full and you cannot "block" any more addresses.

Is there a "Do Not Send E-Mail" Registry?  I even get junk e-mails at work, and I do not use my work e-mail address for personal business if I can possibly avoid it. I even get junk e-mails for Viagra, Cialis, and penis enlargment.  I wonder if the guys get junk e-mails for breast implants...!?

What about those friendly letters and/or calls which invite you to call a "wellness hotline" for whatever health plan you have? They invite you to "discuss" any health concerns you may have, whether it is weight control, proper usage of prescriptions, etc.  They never provide alternatives like an e-mail address!!

I recently contacted a web site to put a stop to the junk mail.  I get so much of it, I recycle all the catalogs, letters, newspapers, which I take to a recycling site. One sack weighed 50 pounds, and that was just for this past WEEK.  I finally said ENOUGH.  I realize the U.S. Postal Service is hanging by a thread and continuing to mail LOTS of junk mail.  However, I just don't feel like subsidizing the U.S. Postal Service!  What a waste of paper!