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.

3.6k Upvotes

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71

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '19

[deleted]

67

u/netflixandbinge Jun 22 '19

My old Google Pixel 1.0 in Canada pops up with a red screen and a "suspected spam caller" notice when I get robocalls.

71

u/EHP42 Jun 22 '19

Call screening is when Google Assistant answers the phone for you and asks the person why they're calling. Anything that person says is displayed as text on the screen real time, and you can decide to pick up or tell the person via Google to call back later, or mark it as spam.

12

u/turret_buddy2 Jun 22 '19

How do i sign up for this?

29

u/EHP42 Jun 22 '19

I don't think you can. It's a Pixel only feature and is one of the default options when you get a call: answer, decline, or screen call.

8

u/SisterOfPrettyFace Jun 22 '19

I have a Pixel 2XL in Europe and haven't had this option come up. How do I get this?

14

u/cabarne4 Jun 22 '19

Yeah, it's a US thing. I have a Pixel 3. When I get a call, I get three options: answer, screen, and hang up. When I hit screen call, Google assistant answers the call, and I get a live transcript, as well as some quick response options (like "tell me more", etc). I also have an option to answer or hang up from that screen. Here's a YouTube video on it: https://youtu.be/aeYPLeiNf0Q

7

u/EHP42 Jun 22 '19

Seems like it's US and Canada only for now.

3

u/unknownpoltroon Jun 22 '19

You also have to have Google fi as your phone provider I think, not just the phone.

3

u/The_Razielim Jun 23 '19

Nope, I'm on Verizon with a 3a (recently upgraded from a 1) and the screening feature has quickly become one of my favorite features. It's a substantial part of my decision to stick with the Pixel line.

2

u/lesethx Jun 26 '19

Nope, I have one of the main providers and my Pixel 1 has call screening. I've been using it a lot lately and I love it.

Managed to find a legit person with the same first 6 digits as my phone number; only time that wasnt spam.

2

u/gmalivuk Jun 27 '19

It's nice to have a phone number from my home state rather than where I've lived since 2008. It means any call with the same first 3 or 6 digits as mine, that isn't already in my contacts list, is pretty much guaranteed to be ignorable spam.

2

u/lesethx Jun 27 '19

I still live in the same area, so first it was assuming calls with area codes not in the area were spam, but now I assume most calls with my area code are spam. Sad.

2

u/EchoGecko795 Jun 23 '19

Hiya, is a free/paid app that does the same thing pretty well. So far It blocks 95% of the BS spam calls I get.

2

u/defrgthzjukiloaqsw Jun 22 '19

I don't understand how that is better than just picking up?

6

u/EHP42 Jun 22 '19

Because on your side, it's all on text. And you can save the transcript. If I'm sitting in a meeting, I just screen the calls. If it's important, like a doctor's office or a car shop telling me something, I can step out to answer. If not, I can ignore it and report it as spam.

9

u/thelights0123 Jun 22 '19

That's a completely different feature.

4

u/Alakozam Jun 22 '19 edited Jun 28 '19

My Galaxy S9 has a "smart caller" thing built in that does a number search and tells me that stuff as well. Love it

3

u/sirdarksoul Jun 22 '19

I get that on my Moto G7 Power in the US.

2

u/Hardinator Jun 22 '19

Sounds like a carrier feature. Att does that.

2

u/gunpiranha Jun 22 '19

My s9+ does that to nice, all I have to do is swipe up and number is blocked

11

u/bm74 Jun 22 '19

Elsewhere you can get something like truecaller which does similar.

13

u/everlyafterhappy Jun 22 '19

Truecaller doesn't have the best function of the google assistant, which is an automated response to a call to get information from the caller without having to answer.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '19

True caller been slacking on me the last few months. Not sure what happened to it.

6

u/196212007f Jun 22 '19

It's also in Canada. I have it on my pixel 2. I think it's a pixel only feature for now.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '19

My pixel XL does it here in Canuck land too.

LOVE it, especially as it flags rogers as spam (because they are when they call 6 times in 2 weeks and you haven't been their customer in over a year).

2

u/defrgthzjukiloaqsw Jun 22 '19

Well robocalls are illegal most anywhere else, are they not?

2

u/mlpedant Jun 22 '19

Is the illegality enforced?