At One Time I Used to Think I Could Eventually Get Rid of Nuisance Callers

Just yesterday, though, I got a clear sign that such a thing will never happen. I got a call from Majority Leader Schumer, encouraging me to donate to one Democratic party organization or another. I don't answer such calls. Let me back up a little. I have had the same cell phone number for almost 21 years now. It's with Verizon. I got that number when I moved to Minnesota with my Verizon account and called them to get a new number with an area code related to where I now lived. EZ PZ.

Trouble was that the number had been assigned to someone else before they gave it to me. Someone named Jennifer. Apparently, Jennifer jhad a bunch of outstanding debt, probably student loan debt. The call from Schumer left voice mail that started with "Hi, Jennifer!"

For almost 21 years, I've been getting calls for Jennifer. Texts, too, of course. Soon after these calls started, I grew curious. Who is this Jennifer, I wondered? Well that was easy. With the first name and phone number, I quickly discovered what Jennifer's last name was. Didn't cost a penny. Google gave me the answer right away. But, I did care enough to pay one outfit to get me some more information. For less than $20, I got a long list of other phone numbers that Jennifer [lastname] had used over the years, along with addresses for several places she had lived. Jennifer had also been married a couple of times, and was still living in the Twin Cities area.

I was just curious, and didn't follow up that information hoard at all. I just wanted to know. It was very interesting. I also discovered court judgments against her, and finally realized that she was quite the deadbeat, leaving a number of creditors and others in the lurch over that 20+ years. I'm easily amused, see, and love digging around to satisfy my curiosity.

I don't care about Jennifer, though. I just block all numbers that call looking for Jennifer. But, they keep coming. Collection agencies don't care, and they have an infinite number of phone numbers they can spoof to call people like me. They never tire of doing so. I don't hear those calls ring, since Verizon is nice enough not to ring my phone unless the caller's number is in my contact list. Once I week, I go though my voice mail and block all the numbers from scammers and spammers and debt collectors. I see their texts, too, and delete and block those numbers, as well. It's a long familiar game.

The Democratic Party, both national and in Minnesota have my number and my mailing address. I'm a regular donor, so they send me mail, mostly. They do keep trying to reach Jennifer, though. Waste of time. And, it will never end. Apparently, there are companies that sell lists of names, addresses, and phone numbers to anyone who will buy them. Most are incorrect, old, or worthless. The people wanting money, though, never stop calling. It's all a matter of percentages.

Odds are that you get calls like that, too. I think everyone does. Oh, well...