Posted on 01/14/2011 8:59:46 AM PST by LibWhacker
Aaron Titus, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, received a phone call at 4:33am on Wednesday. The automated call informed the lawyer that it was a snow day and schools would be open two hours late. It was a message Titus knew prior to sleeping that night.
The next day, Titus, angry at the invasion, decided to get even with the school board. The 31-year-old father arranged for an automated message of his own.
By researching a robocall company online, he taped a message and listed phone numbers to various school board members. One of the numbers was to the Superintendent, William R. Hite.
At 4:30am Thursday morning, phones began to ring. Titus said the message consisted of 29 seconds of automated mocking.
More specifically, he said, “This is a Prince George's County School District parent, calling to thank you for the robocall yesterday at 4:30 in the morning. I decided to return the favor.
"While I know the school district wanted to ensure I drop my child off two hours late on a snow day, I already knew that before I went to bed. I hope this call demonstrates why a 4:30 a.m. call does more to annoy than to inform.''
The message ended by saying, “Quit robocalling parents at 4:30 in the morning or at least allow us to opt out of these intrusive calls."
Out of the 19 phone numbers that were dialed, eight people picked up.
Aggravated harassment by a psychopath. NOT the person you ever want as your next door neighbor.
Reminds me of the old joke:
“What do lawyers use for birth control?”
“Answer: their personalities!”
Is anybody curious how a nearly bankrupt school district (one that already pays teachers close to $85K/annually) can afford to employ an automated telephone system to alert parents to something as pedestrian as a weather-induced school closing or delay? How much does that cost the US taxpayer?
Sweet revenge.
Dude - get a life.
And I would guess - this lawyer would be the first to complain if somehow he missed this information and drived his sweet kids to a closed school...
Unfortunately not every parent stays up to watch the 11PM news to see if the school district has made a decision about school
Not every snow/sleet storm stops at 9PM so such a decision can be made the night before
And many DC area parents depart for their jobs before dawn due to the commute times
So as annoying as this was, I dont see a better way to make sure households get the word
And finally, this axxhole could change his notification phone number to his cell phone, if he took the time to get involved
Uncle Sam isn't paying for this stuff ~ on the other hand calling locally has NEVER been expensive.
When I was a kid we made sure to keep an eye on the local news for snow days. Nobody needed to call us.
He has IMPORTANT BUSINESS on his cellphone@!!!
this guy is a jerk. many people have to get up early to get
kids to school and then commute to work. if call
came much later, they wouldn’t get it.
Nice. I love it. If that type of citizen petitioning for redress of grievances is “psychopatic” call me Ishmael.
I get these robo calls constantly in our school district. Usually in the evening if the school is announcing an upcoming meeting or if one of my kids missed school. The bad weather calls also come in but they’re not until about 6 AM. Either way no big deal, I’ve got an answering machine and I miss zero sleep.
This guy must be wound pretty tight.
Does this guy have a brain? All I do is unplug my phone at night and plug it in the next morning when I’m ready to be pestered by phone calls. I agree it’s a hassle that a lot of modern landlines no longer have those little dials on the side where you can turn the ringer off, but it’s not that much tougher to just unplug the jack from the wall. Sheesh.
The man is my hero of the day. As he noted -- if all you all missed it -- "at least allow us to opt out of these intrusive calls." That is common politeness.
As I recollect there are laws against robo-calls outside of normal waking hours.
1. I thought you had to opt IN for robocalling (exception political campaigns)
2. Cell time is paid by the cell customer.
3. 4:30 am is unreasonable for any time. (so working parents have to go two hours late to work?)
what if there is an emergency? not everyone lives the hermit life. Grandparents fall, work duties call, brothers or sisters may have a call for help. God forbid a hospital is calling for some extended family member.
You missed the part about rush hour in the DC area. It is not at all unusual for folks to be ON THE ROAD AGAIN ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU ) at 4:15 AM ~ so in a way this call is just too late!
Or, for the older crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QexOuH8GS-Y&feature=related
Well, I'm no doctor and there's not much I could do about a medical emergency, so I may as well be well-rested before getting bad news like that.
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