Baby Boomer Stories

by Larry Teren

It seems more and more when one acts in a selfish manner it brings out the discourtesy in another. To wit:

 

Continue reading “The Right of Way”

The Do-Not-Call List is a joke. Telephone communication technology has advanced to the point where it has practically eliminated the abusive prank caller whether it’s 2am or 2pm. You can thank the genius who invented caller id. But it seems as if each step forward has a corresponding step or two backwards. Yes, I’m ranting about about those companies who seem to have permission from the authorities to still harass us.

You know the type of calls- phony (and maybe some legit) charity organizations and health care solutions top the list. And then there is the UNKNOWN NAME, or an acronym that does not explain itself unless you answer the phone. And like me, you probably seethe while it wakes you up from that twice-daily afternoon nap. You ignore picking up the phone to let it go to voice mail. You hear your own voice make the announcement that you are not available and to please leave a message. And then you hear the click.

Did I forget to mention that your phone also announces as best as it can the caller id and you’re sick of that voice as well as hearing your own announcement. You may press the mute button so it stops blasting out the speaker from the phone nearest you while it continues its harangue in other rooms.

Nine times out of ten the robotic caller will hang up. But often not quick enough that your phone thinks it left a message. You have to go through the wasted motion of playing the message and springing to press down on the delete button as fast as you can.

Approaching the Medicare timeline can be a blessing if you are aged sixty-four and paying through the nose for health insurance premiums. The problem with that is that every single insurance purveyor- both honest and fraudulent- know that you are sixty-four. The jerk in charge of the Do-Not-Call-List management gives them the right to harass you five times a day with calls trying to get you to buy your supplemental package through them.

My business phone gets inundated with jerks (do you have a better term?) trying to sell me cash loans. The two most common ruses are:

1. the caller uses your first name and acts like they spoke to you a couple of months earlier.

2. the caller pretends to drop their phone, laugh about how clumsy they are and try to catch you off guard so you can’t call them every name in the book.

I’ve been on the Do No Call List since Alex Bell said to his assistant, “Watson, Come Quick!”. But I still get harassed. How many times can I wish the caller to die a slow death? I wish the phone software people will event a list of numbers you can program into your phone to block even allowing them to be accepted just like spam email control.

I could go on but, wait- my phone’s ringing- I have to look at the caller id. Catch you later.

The Marva Collins Story. West side Preparatory School. 3800 block Adams, 4100 block Chicago. duration: 3 min, 38 sec. credits: google maps, no profit intended.

A Centenarian and a Celebrity. duration: 3 min, 14 sec. credits: google maps,no profit intended.

Chicago’s West Side Banking 1961.  duration: 3 min, 43 sec.  credits: google maps, no profit intended.

Three vignettes of Milkmen in 1960 Chicago’s West Side.  duration: 4 min, 33 sec.  credits: google maps, no profit intended.

1958 story of real life West Side Chicago Doctor Holliday type.  duration: 2 min, 44 sec.  credits: google maps, no profit intended.

Crime and Punishment? A Chicago West Side mob story from the gang that couldn’t lie straight. duration: 5 min, 23 sec. credits: google maps, no profit intended.