Telephones were never meant for this

I was just reading Mena's June 23rd post about telemarketers. It just occurred to me that since moving in with my parents I have had to deal with telemarketers more than ever. I don't know if my parents are simply on more lists than I was or if it just annoys me more now. I do know that it drives me crazy that Grandma can't just let the phone ring. She makes it a big deal to answer the phone when no one else is at home. But as soon as I walk in the door she wants to pass the responsibility off on me. The truly annoying part is that no one ever calls me on that line (I got a cell phone for privacy when I moved in). Since the phone is hardly ever for Grandma and never for me, it would be far easier to let the answering machine pick it up. Grandma just can't do it. She makes me answer the phone. And since she's old, I oblige.

Anyhow, yesterday after painting, I got home and Grandma passed the phone-answering responsibility to me (all I could think is "we have machines for that!"). Not two seconds later, the phone rings. It's my good friend, Bo, trying to sell me insect extermination. Of course, he thinks I'm my mother and I don't tell him differently since I am technically "Ms. Lucci." Instead of telling him I'm not interested or to take me off his list, I pretend I'm my mother, explain that my "husband" takes care of that kind of thing and will pass on Bo's information. I'm such a liar. (But of course I did the right thing by leaving the message for my parents.) There's just something about telemarketers that makes me want to lie.

Only 15 minutes later, as I was getting out of the shower, the phone rang again. So I sprinted down the hall in a towel only to find yet another telemarketer on the phone. This time I decided to be honest about my identity and just take the message. The thing that pissed me off about Tess is that even when he gave me his phone number and company name, he wouldn't tell me what it was in regards to. Definitely something fishy going on there. The really scary part was after I pushed him, he finally told me it was in regards to "investments." Anyone see Boiler Room? Hell no, I'm not investing over the phone!!

The sad part about all of this, is that besides being on the phone at work, these were the only phone calls I had. My friends never call anymore. But then again if they did, I wouldn't have anything to bitch about.