# The crooks keep calling **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735 "2014-04-09T17:26:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/101 "2014-04-21T21:02:00Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I’m always at a loss to understand people who defend the practice of **using the phone someone is paying for** to interrupt their lives without their consent to try to push some product or service that’s probably a scam anyway. > > If someone MUST advertise to me, they need to pay the costs themselves and not leech off communications tools I am paying for to save themselves the cost of pushing their scam down my throat. There’s an idea. Every telemarketer’s call will cost two dollars, of which one will be applied to the telemarketer’s phone bill, and the other to the bill of the recipient of the call. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/102 "2014-04-21T21:05:12Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > You do realize that to get unemployment you have to have both worked for a certain amount of time in whatever locality they live in and can only collect it for a certain length of time then you have to be employed again? > > So, if someone ‘runs out’ of unemployment, they can not collect until they have worked for another 1200 hours [or whatever amount of time you need] and then if you are laid off or otherwise lose your job in a manner that does not make you ineligible you can then collect it for another limited amount of time. > > So _if_ the only job available is telemarketing, you want someone to give up everything they own and become homeless so they can only collect unemployment and never work another job … :dubious::rolleyes: TBH, although I am in favor of the principle that “employer of last resort” SHOULD be something that actually exists, I’m not really comfortable with telemarketers being the ones who fill that role. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/103 "2014-04-21T22:41:42Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > You do realize that to get unemployment you have to have both worked for a certain amount of time in whatever locality they live in and can only collect it for a certain length of time then you have to be employed again? Yes, I understand that. > [@](#): > > So, if someone ‘runs out’ of unemployment, they can not collect until they have worked for another 1200 hours [or whatever amount of time you need] and then if you are laid off or otherwise lose your job in a manner that does not make you ineligible you can then collect it for another limited amount of time. > > So _if_ the only job available is telemarketing, you want someone to give up everything they own and become homeless so they can only collect unemployment and never work another job … :dubious::rolleyes: I did not make that claim. FTR and IMHO, if you gotta telemarket or steal a bottle of milk to feed your kid, then you gotta do what you gotta do. But in both cases, responsible citizens will attempt to enforce the law and uphold public standards. I support a better safety net in the US (and a weaker one in continental Europe). But I don’t have to countenance somebody who hires a crew of workers to dump grease into a river, spam inboxes, or tie up people’s time and phone lines with this sort of nonsense. It isn’t hard: break the law and suffer the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/104 "2014-04-22T14:37:20Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > the people that have to take those jobs probably don’t have a lot of other options. Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? > [@Bone](#): > > I see no virtue in acting like an asshole for no other benefit than amusement or pseudo revenge. There is the benefit of taking up time that would otherwise be used to pester somebody else. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/105 "2014-04-24T18:05:02Z")
If its not too late to add, some of these folks seem to have grown roots into different job boards like Monster and Career Builder for fresh cold-call lists. 15 minutes ago: “Hello, this is Sheesh calling from Windows to upgrade your Microsoft computer.” “You are who from what?” “Is this _says my legal name_?” “No, he’s not here.” “I’m calling from Staffing Agency about a position.” “Please call back and leave a message on the machine for him.” ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/106 "2014-04-24T23:02:40Z")
I have an elderly, not very computer savvy relative who has come precariously close to falling for the “I’m calling from Windows” scam. \>.\< She’s using Windows Vista and a very old release of Internet Explorer…I’m amazed she hasn’t been hit by one of those fake virus scanner popups. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/107 "2014-04-25T05:25:17Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Is this a serious question? If you mean working at a prison rather than being incarcerated - those jobs tend to be highly coveted. They pay quite well and generally have a larger pool of applicants than open positions. In CA you are [better off being a prison guard than going to Harvard.](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704132204576285471510530398) There are no functional equivalent of workhouses in the US today. We do have welfare. > [@](#): > > There is the benefit of taking up time that would otherwise be used to pester somebody else. That’s what I was missing in this thread - the altruism. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/108 "2014-04-25T11:19:47Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? > [@Bone](#): > > Is this a serious question? If you mean working at a prison rather than being incarcerated - those jobs tend to be highly coveted. Whoosh! Someone needs to read more Dickens. ---
**Author:** ![Roy\_Batty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Roy\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roy_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735/109 "2017-11-14T05:00:10Z")
The scammers who call you & say that you owe money (when you know you don’t) are scum of the earth. I never pick the phone up when these people call because I know I would tell them off, and don’t want to bother. They eventually stop calling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crooks-keep-calling/685735.md?page=5)