It is a real annoyance for me to have the phone ring and have it not be friend or family. I am especially annoyed when I pick up the phone and there is a delay in the response from the caller, or worst yet, a robocall. I know I could just let it ring if I do not recognize the number on caller ID, but I just want to stop the ringing. Besides, in the case of the robocall, I would then hear it when it went to voice mail.
Tuesday night, we had a small snow storm, and several of the local school districts had delayed openings. The Prince Georges County school system has instituted a policy of robocalling parents to inform them of the delays. Wednesday morning, some parents were awoken at 4:30 am robocall to inform them of the delay.
One parent, Aaron Titus, jumped out of bed to answer the call, thinking it was some sort of emergency, and wanting to make sure it did not wake up his young children. He was unable to get back to sleep after receiving the call. Needless to say, he was annoyed. However, he decided to exact a bit of revenge by scheduling his own 4:30 am robocall to the school superintendent and other council members.
I particularly like this story and the man's resourcefulness. PG County is the school district that we live in. My wife and I have been stirred from our slumber by robocalls from the county, but not as early as 4:30am. Still, when the phone rings at 5:30 in the morning, my immediate thought is "who the hell is calling this early in the morning, and what is wrong."
Even though my son is registered as a PG County student, since he attends school out of the county he is no longer subject to their delays. We have since been able to get those early morning robocalls to stop. If he were still in the county, I still would not want to get an early morning robocall informing me of a delay. I usually get up early enough to turn on the news to get the info. I would prefer to get the info I need that way rather than the shrill sound of an early morning phone call waking me earlier than I want.
Hard to argue. I wouldn't want early-morning robocalls either. What do you suggest? It's the Prince George's School District, not the Dickster School District. No one will cater to you. I'd check the news too but you know a lot of parents won't do so. Some of them will complain the school district didn't tell them important information. That's probably why there are robocalls in the first place. The district, and its lawyers, are handling the lower common denominator to avoid litigation.
ReplyDeletethis is the first year that the school system has done the robocalls, for school delays, and just about anything else imaginable. We managed just fine without them. Just because a technology is available, it doesn't mean it needs to be utilized.
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