Author Topic: The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.  (Read 2373 times)

Offline Roger Kettle

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The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.
« on: March 30, 2015, 09:39:53 PM »
Here are a few things that I find...er...mildly irritating...
A man delivered a package to my door and asked me to sign for it by using my finger to write my name on the screen of an electronic box. I did my best and, apparently, "RoOoOb KleEZZob" is perfectly acceptable.
Banks no longer wish you to actually enter their premises and talk to a human employee. All transactions, including putting a cheque into your account, should be done via the machine outside. I tried three times to do just that without success. I went inside and, after about ten minutes, finally managed to grab a teller who told me "Yeah, those machines are pretty temperamental".
I have had around 25 automated phonecalls in the past 5 days.
Apparently, the details of any money I may have invested in pension funds---plus my address and phone number---are available online for the sum of 5 pence.
The whole financial/business/commercial/social world depends on the internet. If it crashes for ten seconds, chaos ensues. There is no back-up.
There are now 2 million TV channels available and, as far as I can see, all of them show "Top Gear".

The world is doomed, I tells ya...

Offline Diane CBPFC

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Re: The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2015, 11:08:44 PM »
...and you can't even buy hand baskets anymore.
People will come from strange lands to hear me speak my words of wisdom. They will ask me the secret of life and I will tell them. Then maybe I'll finish off with a song. The Nomad

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2015, 12:21:07 AM »
Roger, I hate to have to tell you this (he lied), but the solution to at least one of your gripes lies in the modern world itself.

It's time for you to get a mobile phone, preferably a 'smart' one. You then give out the number to only those who you would ever want to receive calls from, and then... you unplug your land-line phone, and never, EVER plug it back in again. You land-line is now purely used to provide your Internet and nothing more. This won't completely eradicate cold-calling spammers with automated voices (although it will reduce it drastically, especially to begin with), but that's where part two of the plan comes in to play. Almost every time you receive a call on your smart phone, the number of the caller will display on your screen. If that caller is logged in your phone as one of your permitted contacts, then their name will appear also (or instead). These calls you can answer. If you do not recognise the number, or no number is displayed, you simply ignore the phone, and let it run to answering machine. If it's a legitimate call, they'll leave a message and you can call them back. If it's a spammer, there will be no message. They may call back a few times, but unless they leave a message, you continue to ignore them until they get fed up calling. Alternatively, you can very simply block the number in your phone, and it will never bother you again.

And the other clever bit to this is that if you're at all worried that you just may be blocking an important number (highly unlikely, but not impossible), then all you do is tap that logged number into Google, hit enter, and you'll find a whole host of sites that will provide you with details of people who may have reported that number as spam, often telling you who the calls claim to be made by. Chances are if the number you tap in doesn't feature on any of these sites, it may just be legit, and possibly worth a call back (but be ready to abort then block if needs be).

I've been doing this for a few years now, and can't remember the last time I actually had to speak to either an automated voice or a proper real b****** trying to sell me something unsolicited.

Get an iPhone (other brands are available)!

What's a cheque? Oh, yeah...

I apologise, in advance.

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2015, 12:22:22 AM »
I don't think I've ever bought a hand basket, Diane, although I accept that may not be because of availability issues.
I apologise, in advance.

Offline Max

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Re: The Modern World:A Restrained Rant.
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2015, 12:12:12 PM »
I really sympathise with you Roger, I was having the same problem with cold callers.
Even registering with the TPS telephone preference service made little or no difference.
So, I eventually bought one of these..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CPR-Capacity-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B004BTVQ5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428145323&sr=8-1&keywords=call+blocker

This blocks unwanted calls, comes with 200 of the worst offenders already blocked even those that don't forward a number.
For those that very rarely DO get through, I have the fun in asking them to hold on so I can tell them they are being blocked forever.
All you do is press the small button on the top of the blocker to add their number.

Smart mobiles also offer a call blocker, because sadly, mobiles are also now affected by these parasites.