4 ms·

"God! I only asked her to be a hooker. It's not like I wanted her to work in telesales". I stopped picking up unsolicited unknown calls perhaps a decade ago, a

by suslik 2mo ago

"God! I only asked her to be a hooker. It's not like I wanted her to work in telesales". I stopped picking up unsolicited unknown calls perhaps a decade ago, and nothing was lost. It was impossible, however, to convince my 99-year-old grandma to do the same; she vehemently refuses because that would be 'impolite'. It would be great to have a tech solution for this, really, but I doubt printing another law is going to help with the scammier side of this market.

flyingshelf 2mo ago
It's funny and sad to see polite people run into scammers. I witnessed to a young man being almost unable to keep saying "no" for the 20th time to an insistent seller on a beach. When it happens to me, they're met with silence or "GTFO" after the 3rd question. I am impolite.
- Telaneo 2mo ago
  To me it's just sad. Scammers and pushy sellers aren't acting in good faith, but polite people seem to be unable to recognise this, or unwilling to change their modus operandi in spite of it. Like, if you know the person in front of you is a knobhead who wants nothing more than for you to part with your money in exchange for nothing, why are you even entertaining the idea of treating them with even a sliver of respect? Add in the fact that the person on the other end isn't even a human (it's not a human spam calling you; at best it's an automated call which get dumped on a human when it connects), and the whole thing gets even more absurd.
Telaneo 2mo ago
> It was impossible, however, to convince my 99-year-old grandma to do the same; she vehemently refuses because that would be 'impolite'. Assuming you can get access to their phone, only allowing calls from saved numbers would probably be the best solution, assuming she doesn't get random calls from hospitals and the like. If she's still using a landline though, that's a tough one to solve.
- suslik 2mo ago
  I can't just do that, she is an autonomous person, and quite willful also. Despite her age, she is not only as lucid as it gets - she still works (although from home) as an applied mathematician!
  - Telaneo 2mo ago
    > I can't just do that You can in fact just do that. Whether or not you should is another question.
    - jraph 2mo ago
      In context, "I can't just do that" means "I shouldn't do that".
      - Telaneo 2mo ago
        In context, me saying 'You can just do that' means 'You should do that' (barring there being good reason, which I haven't seen so far). I hate that phrasing. It was weaponised by teachers in my youth. It's still used by some people to close doors and remove options without good reason. I'll make fun of it whenever I can.
        jraph 2mo ago
        Ah, I see! I was a bit annoyed by you seemingly pointlessly correcting the parent, but now I understand your PoV. > In context, me saying 'You can just do that' means 'You should do that' That's not very consistent. You wrote that whether they should was another question. > (barring there being good reason, which I haven't seen so far) I disagree with you. Someone being autonomous is a good reason for not wanting to take a decision for them against their will. It follows that: > It's still used by some people to close doors and remove options without good reason This didn't happen here. No doors were closed without a good reason, because there is one.
        2mo ago

by suslik 2mo ago

flyingshelf 2mo ago

It's funny and sad to see polite people run into scammers. I witnessed to a young man being almost unable to keep saying "no" for the 20th time to an insistent seller on a beach. When it happens to me, they're met with silence or "GTFO" after the 3rd question. I am impolite.

Telaneo 2mo ago
To me it's just sad. Scammers and pushy sellers aren't acting in good faith, but polite people seem to be unable to recognise this, or unwilling to change their modus operandi in spite of it. Like, if you know the person in front of you is a knobhead who wants nothing more than for you to part with your money in exchange for nothing, why are you even entertaining the idea of treating them with even a sliver of respect? Add in the fact that the person on the other end isn't even a human (it's not a human spam calling you; at best it's an automated call which get dumped on a human when it connects), and the whole thing gets even more absurd.

Telaneo 2mo ago

> It was impossible, however, to convince my 99-year-old grandma to do the same; she vehemently refuses because that would be 'impolite'. Assuming you can get access to their phone, only allowing calls from saved numbers would probably be the best solution, assuming she doesn't get random calls from hospitals and the like. If she's still using a landline though, that's a tough one to solve.

suslik 2mo ago
I can't just do that, she is an autonomous person, and quite willful also. Despite her age, she is not only as lucid as it gets - she still works (although from home) as an applied mathematician!
- Telaneo 2mo ago
  > I can't just do that You can in fact just do that. Whether or not you should is another question.
  - jraph 2mo ago
    In context, "I can't just do that" means "I shouldn't do that".
    - Telaneo 2mo ago
      In context, me saying 'You can just do that' means 'You should do that' (barring there being good reason, which I haven't seen so far). I hate that phrasing. It was weaponised by teachers in my youth. It's still used by some people to close doors and remove options without good reason. I'll make fun of it whenever I can.
      - jraph 2mo ago
        Ah, I see! I was a bit annoyed by you seemingly pointlessly correcting the parent, but now I understand your PoV. > In context, me saying 'You can just do that' means 'You should do that' That's not very consistent. You wrote that whether they should was another question. > (barring there being good reason, which I haven't seen so far) I disagree with you. Someone being autonomous is a good reason for not wanting to take a decision for them against their will. It follows that: > It's still used by some people to close doors and remove options without good reason This didn't happen here. No doors were closed without a good reason, because there is one.
        2mo ago