Riiiinngg

Lately the unwanted marketing/sales/begging phone calls have gotten out of control. Yesterday we got a call from "Sandra" asking to speak to Cris. I handed the phone to her and watched her expression turn from mildly irritated to crushingly annoyed. Finally she got a word in edgewise: "Excuse me, but my partner thought this was my friend Sandra, so I'm not interested, and can you please take me off your call list??"

Cris is much better than I am at including that request to "take me off your call list" -- a supposedly magic phrase that actually makes them delete your name from their database. But did I really have to say it this morning when I got the following call?

"Hello, can I speak to Mr. or Mrs. Pritchard, please?"

"This is Mr. Pritchard," I answered, although I don't think anyone has called me that since I was teaching high school 17 years ago.

"This is Steven so-and-so from the National Pro-Life Committee or some such thing... Can I ask you, do you consider yourself to be pro-life?"

"Sorry, Steven, but I'm on the other side."

"Oh. All right, thank you for your time."

Sure, I could have engaged him in a discussion about how being "pro-life" might mean, for example, that I am against the war. But I always get off the phone as soon as possible. I'd much rather call up Christine, for example, and ask her whether it's rained at her place in the desert where, even though they've gotten rain in town six miles away, it's just as likely not to have rained at her place one drop. Or call up Marilyn in New York and complain that, since she's moving to Pennsylvania, I will no longer have anyone in New York to visit. Or call up Catherine and talk to her about her trip to France. Talking to some pro-lifer is just about last on my list, even if he was polite.