Mauie Flores

When I took my week-long vacation last month, I was hoping to get away from stress and just enjoy a work-free, fun, and enjoyable week with relatives. I looked forward to lazy mornings in bed and afternoon siestas in my aunt-in-law's house. Everything was going smoothly as planned until I received a phone call in one of my mobile phones.

I have three mobile phones that I bring to work everyday. The phones run on four networks because one of them is a dual sim phone. I bought that dual sim phone so I can use a prepaid wireless landline sim. My line of work needs me to be connected with clients all the time. Holidays not included. Before taking a vacation, I take so much time to write notes and text sms messages to parents about reminders on when I will not be in Manila and when I'll be back. Of the three mobile phones I have, I regard one as my personal phone. This phone is where I expect personal calls from friends and relatives. Clients can contact me through this number but I don't entertain inquiries from new clients. That is why I was so surprised when I received the call during one of my lazy siesta afternoons in Bicol.

Forgive me for overreacting but I thought there was something wrong back in Manila when I received the call. I got pissed when I learned that the person speaking from the other end of the line was a telemarketer! Don't get me wrong, I don'tusually get mad when telemarketers call me. I entertain their calls in most days because I know they are just doing their jobs and they need to reach a quota. What got me irritated that day was the fact that the same product was being offered to me when I already declined the last time I spoke to a telemarketer weeks before. It just meant that they don't take note of the responses from people they talk to. I'm sorry for the person who called me that day because I spilled my anger on her. I saved the number in my phone just so I can reject the call if ever the same company calls back.

Have you experienced this? I'm lucky because my unwanted callers are just telemarketers. Although I get sms of scams a lot. I also saved these sms texts in my inbox. I heard that these numbers can be reported to the National Telecommunications Commission but only the said agency will get information about the number and not the general public. It is better if we have a Phone Number Reporting service that will also let the public view and know what to expect from these notorious numbers.