Yes, folks, I can report that, even as I write this, I am under zombie attack. It is part of the marriage/divorce cycle I’ve already been through and have reported on here and elsewhere.
It’s like this: In late 2008/early 2009 I was finally driven into the ground financially. I could not pay my taxes at all for 2009 (as an Independent Contractor, I pay quarterly taxes rather than having taxes withheld like most employees do). I lapsed on the credit-card debt as well, and went into survival mode for most of 2009 and the early part of 2010. The divorce became a done deal in November of 2009, so that made me able to concentrate on bankruptcy in 2010 since anybody could see there was no way, short of robbing banks and getting away with it, to pay off the debts that had accumulated. In July of 2010 the bankruptcy– a Chapter 7– went through, and that wiped out the credit card debt. That left the tax debt, which I have been paying off since because you can’t get out of that by bankruptcy. That is nearly done– I had hoped to pay it off this month but that is not gonna happen, it’ll have to wait till next month.
So– bring it up to about a month ago. The phone rings, a number I do not know. I never answer unknown numbers from out of my home area since first of all, I’m using a cell phone and every call costs minutes, and secondly because too many of these calls are scammy robo-calls that don’t deserve the time of day anyway. So, when I get home I look up the number online. It’s a debt collector. Further, it’s a collector with a rather scammy reputation. They buy old debt for pennies on the dollar, then call their “marks” (namely, you and me) and try to get the hapless victim to say the wrong thing so they can collect the otherwise uncollectable– either because of bankruptcy, like me or because the statute of limitations has run out– debt.
As I’ve already said, I never answer unknowns. That turns out to be for the best. Let them communicate by letter, then I can respond appropriately, hopefully with intelligent life. (The average telephone jockey in a boiler room is NOT intelligent life.)
So– the reason for this post: I got another unknown today. It took pulling hen’s teeth online to find out who called but–yep, it was them. Nope, I’m not calling back. Let them send a letter, or at least leave a voice-mail (they haven’t left a voice-mail yet, and if you’re unknown and you don’t leave a voice-mail I will NOT call back. Ever.)
I reckon I’ll stick this into the file of reasons not to date again. Seems like my record in that department left something to be desired, and a lot of memories that won’t ever go away.
mjm
mjmsprt40, sez me. 
I never answer unknown numbers either – if it’s important enough, even a job lead, they’ll always leave a message. One variation of the unsavory debt-collector scam is that they leave a message saying they have a matter of “utmost importance” on their desk that they need to discuss with you. They never tell you what the “matter” is, nor do they even ask for you by name. Needless to say, I never call them back. I NEVER EVER deal with debt collectors on the phone unless I have the money to pay the debt off in full, and then I always try to deal with the original creditor. I don’t have the time or patience to deal with their manipulative tactics, I just refuse to speak to them. Also, I refuse to allow myself to be ruled by my phone, I only pick up when I want to, and only if it’s someone I know or am doing business with.
These days, my legitimate calls break down into two sources, both known. Friends and family, goes without saying. Dispatch. Dispatch has several numbers, all of them known and in my “directory”, so when the phone rings I know who it is. Anybody else– these days, it goes to voicemail. Yesterday, I got a call from an unknown that hung up before two rings. Upon looking it up later, I find that NOBODY has a clue who this is but they’ve been calling a lot of people in this same manner– calling then hanging up immediately. If you call back, the number is non-working. Honest people don’t hide behind spoofed numbers, so– to heck with them.
Hey there! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for
my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours
and I’m having trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!
Well, Leland, it’s like this: If I knew where to find a captcha plugin and I were using it, your post wouldn’t be here. How’s that grab you?
See, it’s like this: Captcha is supposed to grab and stop posts that are generated by robots. Your post is in fact a “bot” post, so captcha would have stopped you. As it is, Akismet did stop you, and it’s only because I saw it in the spam filter and decided, on the spur of the moment, to use your post for my own ends that your post appears here at all.
I know this was a ‘bot post because there is no corresponding visit count at the time your post appeared. The last visit I had was from the USA several hours previous, and your information shows that you’re originating from India. No visit from India = bot, in my never-to-be-humble estimation.
Oh, while we’re at it: Akismet did its job quite well. Your post is in fact a cleverly disguised spam, designed to get your link on other people’s blogs so you get link-back. Yeah, I see through that– and like I said, let it pass this time for my own purposes.