Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
> On Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:57:32 -0500, Gary > wrote:
>
> >Brooklyn1 wrote:
> >>
> >> People who screen their calls have a disease; paranoia. Telephone
> >> paranoia stems from hiding from bill collectors... there is no other
> >> logical reason.
> >
> >Not always true. I usually screen my land-line calls and I have no bill
> >collectors to hide from.
>
> You're full of shit... people who screen phone calls owe money.

LOL! Again...not true. I owe some money but I've never been late on
payments I don't make as much as I'd like to but I do manage it well
(within my means).
My bills get top priority with my money. I'll skimp on the grocery bill
rather than pay a bill late. No bill collector has *ever* called me looking
for me.

>
> >Occasionally, I will just answer the phone and
> >it's almost always some solicitor or a wrong number
>
> Almost always... then you haven't many friends.

Just a few good friends. With those, we either see each other on a daily
basis or email each other and responses are soon after.

>
> >or some friend that
> >always wants to talk for an hour or so (and will be offended if I don't have
> >time to talk).
>
> Then that's not a friend. Real friends are those one seees in person,
> not just meets on the phone. Actually you should feel honored that a
> friend wants to waste their hour yakking with you, considering most of
> your calls are trash calls.

Those few are willing to waste their hour talking but I'm not.
I'm just not a slave to my phones. Call me, leave a message if I don't pick
up, and I'll call you back when I have time to chat. My few friends and my
customers know that.

>
> >Or it's a customer calling after business hours. I'm usually
> >doing something during waking hours and can't be bothered to stop what I'm
> >doing to answer the phone every 30 minutes or whatever. Anyone who knows me
> >knows to leave a message and I'll call you back...or send me an email.
>
> You're not much of a business person if you aren't willing to spend
> time with business. And if you weren't lying about running a business
> all your customers would rather use email than phone,

I realize that some usenet people can "pretend" to be what they're not but
not the case with me. I have no reason to lie about my life. What you see
(hear) is what I am.
I am available for business from 5:00am to about 7:00pm. If a customer
calls after that, they will get a return call the next morning and they all
know that. I don't want to get a business call at 10:00PM on a Saturday
night....and yes, that's happened before.

a business
> person would also rather have business correspondance in writing...
> one of the first things I do with tenants is exchange email addys... I
> wouldn't rent to someone who doesn't have email.

I have a few customers who always correspond via email and I love them.
Most prefer telephone though.



> You're full of doodoo... bill collectors don't often call wrong
> numbers... unless you just recently got that number then it's you that
> the bill collectors are looking for.

I've had my cell phone for about 3 years now and you are correct. Most of
the wrong numbers were in the first year or two. Not so many now.


Legitimate business people have
> a separate line for business calls, and when conducting a business
> what can be more important than business calls. I have two separate
> numbers on my land line... for $12/month Verizon will issue a separate
> number with it's own unique ring and can activate its own answering
> machine.

That's a good deal...only $12 extra but I don't need any extra. My land line
phone and my cell are sufficient.


> There are many other ways to prevent being bothered by
> calls at inconvenient times so you can alibi till you're blue in the
> face but if you are screening (if you actually check to see who's
> calling then you're not so busy) then you are scared of bill
> collectors[period]

Again....LOL! Sorry but no bill collectors looking for me.

You indicate that you are a landlord or at least manage rentals. I suppose
you deal with tenants who haven't paid rent on time and won't answer their
phones. We're not all deadbeats though. I'm just not a phone person.

Gary