Dear Santa:
I know you have a lot on your mind this time of year, and that, mostly, you’re concerned with presents for kiddies. But I need a favor, and I am not just asking for myself because about 97 million Americans — mostly older people — are in the same boat as me.
Spam telephone calls coming into my house on my land line are driving me nuts! I mean really nuts. They ring late at night and early in the morning. They ring when my grandson is napping — and sometimes when I’m napping. They invade my space, without permission, and I am powerless to stop them.
My phone provider, Spectrum — a mega-tech company that operates phone service in 41 states — has tried to help. It now announces, “Spam risk,” or “unknown caller,” in an intonation that triggers my anxiety. Spectrum sometimes makes the list of America’s 10 most hated companies (do you give their CEO coal? He does make $42 million a year, so I guess he could buy the entire coal plant!) but I don’t blame them or him all that much.
I was bothered when recently one of their representatives called and asked, “Hi this is Lisa from Spectrum. Are you paying high bills?” Yes, I answered, but worse I am driven nuts by scammers like you, Lisa. For this I pay $22 a month? I hung up! Didn’t matter much. They keep coming at me.
Over a recent four-day period I received 44 phone calls and 22 were identified as spam. You are old like me, Santa, so when you hear “spam” you think of that…
