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September 21, 2002
mark thomas It used to be when I stayed at home on weekdays the phone would ring almost continuously. It was always telemarketers, and I never answered. A couple of years ago someone announced the creation of the New York State Do Not Call Registry, and I signed up for it. Well over a year later I got something in the mail saying I'd been added to the registry. I was pretty skeptical about how effective it would really be, but it really does seem that I don't get any telemarketer calls any more. I don't know if the Do Not Call Registry deserves all the credit, but it's hard to believe that by never answering my phone the telemarketers would have just given up on my number. I could image telemarketers working out of a boiler room in the basement of a hotel shouting "Dammit, that Mark Thomas is never home, but I'm gonna keep trying." No, it's more of a hit or miss profession, I would think. I worked as a telephone interviewer for a few months. It paid $10 an hour and I worked in the basement of a condominium building on 2nd Avenue and 57th Street. It wasn't sales, it was just asking survey questions -- "Research and Forecasts" was the name of the company. One set of questions was about retirement planning, I think another set of questions was about bug spray. I remember being fascinated not by the job but by what I'd hear any time someone answered their phone not knowing who was calling or why. The atmosphere on the other end of the line went from anticipation and hopeful curiosity to either anger or indignity that an unsolicited company was calling to request 20 minutes of their time for no good reason. It always seemed like I was interrupting something, and in all likelihood I probably always was intruding. But the sounds still echo in my mind. Sounds of kids screaming and raising hell while their mother tries to get me off the phone. Sounds of televisions and radios in people's houses. Sounds of doors slamming or grown-ups talking. I wish I had some of those on tape. Not the complete calls. Just those first seconds, where the person who answered the phone seemed to feel like anything was possible.
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