Do Not Call List and scam charities

[BrerMom]

I think most if not all here have phones in the classroom, but not that you can call from outside the school.

For years, anybody could call the classroom phone number but we could only call local numbers. That finally changed when quite a few of our parents had cell phones with different area codes than the area codes for local land lines. Now I have the ability to call any U.S. number number I need, with the convenience of looking at the computer screen concurrently, all from the classroom. It's nice to be given helpful tools to meet expectations.

 

[BrerMom]

Sorry for the discussion.

BrerMom, do you get a lot of telemarketer calls? Or politicians during election time? What about calls from parents? I get that it could be used in an emergency, but I'm with tvguy, I'd rather calls from outside the school not be allowed.

No, I think I've had three telemarketer calls in over 20 years and no political calls at all.

Yea, I would think it would be a pretty big distraction. What if the kids parents got hold of that number and called to check on him, or ask you a question about an assignment during class time?

We are REQUIRED to provide the classroom phone number on the syllabus, on our classroom websites, etc. It's just part of the current climate. We are to be accessible at all times. You've heard of "the customer is always right" of course, but "the parent is always right" is a close second.

Whether the phone is ALWAYS, NEVER, or "up to teacher discretion" to be set to "forward to voicemail" depends on the current administration and I have worked under all three situations. I encourage my parents to email and ask a question or leave a number if they want me to call them. Most do email and I reply as quickly as I can. The ones who call are usually the parents who don't have an email account, have a limited time available during the day to call, or have a child with a medical issue. Depending on the current administration's attitude, I have the option to:

• Answer the phone and make arrangements to call the parent back, usually during my lunch.
• Answer the phone and answer a quick question.
• Let the call go directly to voicemail during direct instruction and call the parent back when I have a chance.

I understand why some administrators want us to answer the parent's phone calls immediately. Some parents don't have the patience to wait for the teacher to return the call and call the office to complain, some within 15 minutes. They would rather ask teachers to juggle one more thing than deal with angry parents.

 

[Dznypal]

The first time my DH got a call from perky "Rachel"

he said dont worry I hit 9 to be taken off the list!!!

I asked him do you know how many times Ive hit 9 and they still call

Ive tried everything I can think off

being nice

asked for supervisor

acted like I was interested

I even asked what the qualifications were--I told them we dont even qualifiy and they are so rude they just hang up


so now what I do is I hit whatever # to talk to someone

then when they answer I just SLAM the phone down!!!!

I am so tired of being harassed by these people

the cardmember service is the worst

for awhile we had one for car warranity and believe it or not it was from perky "rachel"

you cant win

 

[starwood]

Depending on your phone company there is a new service nomorerobo that you can sign up for online. You give some information about your phone service and they will screen your incoming calls for robocalls. If they detect one your phone will ring once and they will take care of it.

The best call I've gotten lately was from Amanda who asked for "the lady of the house". How 1950's. I asked who was calling and she said she was from Breast Cancer. I promptly hung up.

 

[tvguy]

We are REQUIRED to provide the classroom phone number on the syllabus, on our classroom websites, etc. It's just part of the current climate. We are to be accessible at all times. You've heard of "the customer is always right" of course, but "the parent is always right" is a close second.

Whether the phone is ALWAYS, NEVER, or "up to teacher discretion" to be set to "forward to voicemail" depends on the current administration and I have worked under all three situations. I encourage my parents to email and ask a question or leave a number if they want me to call them. Most do email and I reply as quickly as I can. The ones who call are usually the parents who don't have an email account, have a limited time available during the day to call, or have a child with a medical issue. Depending on the current administration's attitude, I have the option to:

• Answer the phone and make arrangements to call the parent back, usually during my lunch.
• Answer the phone and answer a quick question.
• Let the call go directly to voicemail during direct instruction and call the parent back when I have a chance.

I understand why some administrators want us to answer the parent's phone calls immediately. Some parents don't have the patience to wait for the teacher to return the call and call the office to complain, some within 15 minutes. They would rather ask teachers to juggle one more thing than deal with angry parents.

Yeah, every classroom here has a phone you can call out on, and call other classrooms, but outside calls always go to the teacher's voicemail. Only incoming calls to the classrooms are from other classrooms.
Don't get me started on all the people with cell phones with out of area area codes. Just understand, you won't be getting a call back from me if you don't have a local number.