Fickin' junk faxes

So my phone rings, and it’s the annoying beep of a fax machine. I hang up, just as my other line rings. It’s also a fax machine. The other lines all start ringing-- phones ringing all over the office, all my lines-- ALL fax machines. And the thing is with fax machines, you can’t hang up on them, because they don’t disconnect while they’re trying to get a signal, so all the lines are bouncing back to my desk, rolling back over to other people because I’m not getting them. It’s like a receptionist’s nighmare.

About this time, our actual fax machines spit out faxes from one of those ‘discount travel’ scams. Apparently they’re just blitzing sequential numbers hoping some of them will have faxes on them. When the lines calm down, I call the 1-800 ‘reservations’ number to ask them to stop. The second I start the words, they hang up on me. I call again, get the same bitch (see below), hang up again. It took six calls before she apprently realized I was persistant.

I asked her to take our many numbers off their list. She replies that they don’t have a list, and then procedes to give me a lecture about the Do-Not-Call list not being in effect. I told her sending junk faxes was a violation of federal law, irrespective of the DNC-- which doesn’t apply to businesses anyway. She laughed and said that this company had only been in business since yesterday, and that they’d be under another name before the waiting period was up-- but that I was welcome to file a complaint and ‘see how far you get with that’. Not to mention the ‘200 other companies just like us that will be contacting you’

I was flabergasted. She hung up before I could make my mouth work.

My boss wanders out, and I explain what happened to him. He tells me to write down on a piece of paper the numbers I wanted removed at fax it to that 800 number-- knowing full well there was no fax machine hooked up to it. So we just left a fax machine to re-dial and re-dial and re-dial. Petty, yes, but it made me happy to think of think of this bitch listening to that beeping modem noise again and again when her phone rang.

I’m so fucking tired of this, though. I get junk faxes and telemarketers at work, telemarketers, junk mail and spam at home. Not to mention the people who actual walk into my office to try and hock shit. I’m going to go live on a mountain where no one can find me and no one can market to me. I’m tired of having my time, my cell minutes, my phone battery, my toner, my inbox space wasted by crap. You know my company has someone who basically works full time keeping spam out of our 3000-some mailboxes. (The US office is small, but worldwide we’re not, and the spam companies can’t tell the difference).

I actually shouldn’t complain about junk mail, I know they basicallt subsidise the postal system. But the rest of them. . .grr. . .must find shorgun. . .

When the revolution comes, these asshats will be first up against the wall.

Mac Guffin, the email spammers will be right beside them.

The consumer advocate, Tom Martino, is on an unwanted fax war right now. I think he’s paying $25.00 for junk fax submissions (I’m not entirely sure about that, though). He’s interested in some kind of class action suit.

Link:http://faxwars.com/

I second the Martino reference, he HATES ripoffs and abusers of any kind (definetly a graduate from the Marvin Zindler school, todays radio show was a classic).

unclviny (Ca3799’s brother)