Though born in the Polynesian sub-region of “Oceania”, I’ve never been a fan of the Hawaiian delicacy (or continental scourge) known as Spam ®, so over the years, receiving communications from totally random businesses or individuals bearing the same disgusting name has really never sat too well with me either. Now, for many of us, we understand that as consumers of various products and services, our buying habits and other tidbits of our personal information are being sold and distributed to the highest bidder every day for marketing purposes. And clearly, while none of us particularly likes the idea of mega corporations like AT&T and Time Warner Cable sharing our telecommunication habits with third-party marketers, in the back of our minds, we do sort of accept these practices as the unspoken cost of doing business.
For me however, where I draw the line is when the results of these info swaps manifest in text and SMS messages to my cellphone. My cell is for my kids to reach me when they need to, for me to screen, forward and accept calls when I am out and about and for me to molly-wop the honey in Words with Friends. It is not a portal for hacks and frauds to practice their company’s texting business hustle on.
What’s worse is that those who know me know that I don’t give out my cellphone number all willy-nilly, even to people that I know, so the notion of some counterfeit telemarketer having my number and using it to send me unsolicited messages really chaps my behind! And while I’ve been blessed for the most part to only just have begun receiving these messages within the last two months, they are still incredibly annoying, especially since downloading SPAM-blocking software from the various cellular app stores out there restricts only so many of these nuisance communications.
So you have to know that it didn’t take me long to begin researching my options, when after two weeks and multiple SPAM texts from some random company with an area code not even in the region of the country where I live began filling my SMS queue with their foolishness. At first, a simple “delete” seemed to be all that would be required to get rid of them. Then after a second text, I responded with a STOP message and added the text number to my SPAM Blocker list. Then, after a third text during a meeting at work, I had had enough:
Now while my complaint would have likely fallen on deaf ears in my State’s Attorneys General office (seeing as how the offender is from Florida), and the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) would have likely been the proper regulatory branch to contact, it does seem that my point was made, as since my angry reply, I’ve not received any further buffoonery from them. But hey, let me not get ahead of myself. With five weeks still left in the year, I just might have to keep a threat to call “Pookie n’ dem” in my back pocket should the folks at choicerestore.com not take the hint.
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