Reply #44: and it's not just during the "dinner hour" that it's annoying...

[progdonkey]

After my dad died a few years ago, my sister (who was the executor of his will) would often get phone calls from telemarketers asking for him--sometimes two year after! She usually would just say, "He's not here, thanks." Do the people calling have no idea that sometimes asking for a person can bring up all kinds of bad memories? Every time she'd get one of these calls, my sister would have to be reminded that our dad was dead--or refuse to say why he "wasn't there," which only ensured that they'd be calling back some other time to remind her.

Even when it's, say, the DNC and they're asking for her (I only use a cell phone, not getting telemarketing calls is one of the bonuses to a landline) because she's donated to Democratic campaigns, it's annoying because it's like, look, we're Democrats and if we're going to be contributing to any campaigns, we're going to do that. Besides being annoying, it seems counterproductive: why bother Democrats when they're at home, perhaps antagonizing them into not contributing, since a percentage of it will clearly go to paying people to call them at home, asking them for more money?