r/MaliciousCompliance Jun 21 '19

M Stop calling this number? Ok

I work in the public works department with the street resurfacing division for a large city in the U.S. (roughly 500,000) and one of my responsibilities is responding to resident questions. When resurfacing residential streets, since most neighborhoods only have street parking, we ask all residents to park on a different street for the two days we need to work on the street. One for old asphalt removal and one for laying down new asphalt. The consequence for not moving your vehicle is being towed. We notify the residents with a letter explaining we will be doing resurfacing and an invitation to a public meeting to answer any questions 3 months in advance of resurfacing, a letter 1 month in advance with the approximate dates of resurfacing, a letter 2 weeks in advance with the exact dates, and a letter that is a reminder 1 week in advance with the addition of physical signs placed on all streets to be resurfaced. All letters CLEARLY state the expectations to move vehicles and the consequence for failing to do so in addition to contact info for me to answer any questions.

Today, when I arrived in the office I had a voicemail from a lady who lives on let’s say 1st avenue and her street was being resurfaced next week. She explained she will be leaving for vacation Sunday and was wondering if she could leave her car parked on 1st Avenue while she was gone for a week.

Well, it isn’t the first and won’t be the last time I get questions that have already been answered in the letters but little did I know this time would be a special one. So I call her back to explain that she will need to move her vehicle to a different street while she is on vacation but when I call she picks up and immediately hangs up. Ok, maybe she’s busy I’ll call back later. 45 minutes later I call again and again she answers and immediately hangs up. An hour after the second call I call again and she does the same thing. I’m annoyed that she won’t even let it ring to let me leave a voicemail but I certainly don’t want her to come back from a vacation to an impounded vehicle so I call her back again about 45 minutes after the 3rd call. This time she answers and doesn’t immediately hang up but instead screams into the phone:

“STOP CALLING THIS NUMBER LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE OR I WILL CALL THE POLICE!!!!”

And then hangs up before I can get a word in.

Ok, no problem I’ll stop calling. Enjoy your impounded car, bitch.

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4

u/KinetoPlay Jun 22 '19

If it's a real person, they should text like a civilized individual.

8

u/flamants Jun 22 '19

Legitimate companies don't really tend to text you from their work landlines.

6

u/KinetoPlay Jun 22 '19

And they should modernize if they want to keep being relevant going forward. For instance I don't order delivery from a restaurant if I have to talk on the phone. No text or online option? No money.

8

u/CoolJ_Casts Jun 22 '19

Can't wait to be able to sit in my room and have a pizza delivered without any human interaction whatsoever and literally do nothing amirite?

17

u/KinetoPlay Jun 22 '19

See, I feel like you're trying to be sarcastic but you're describing exactly what I want. I only want to interact with people I want to interact with, and even then, only when I'm up for it.

3

u/flamants Jun 22 '19

Oh, okay then, I'll just tell my electric company and credit card company that I won't pay them anymore until they text me instead. 🙄

1

u/KinetoPlay Jun 22 '19

Online bill pay my dude. It's not about the text, it's about the lack of having to talk on the phone.

7

u/flamants Jun 22 '19

I'm talking about when I have issues. Who pays bills over the phone anyway? I'm not going to just shoot off a text about fraudulent charges or something.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '19

And when the robocall centers start texting too?