Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

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Empiricist-Bruno
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Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Empiricist-Bruno »

Well, that's what I did today. I was on the road, on a bike rushing to a late appointment when my cell rang. Hello? And then no response, suggesting that the call came not from a person but from an automated dialing machine.

If a machine calls you, I think it's fair not to say there is no need to be polite toward it. When I cursed as I hung up, it was at the dialer that had automatically called me and not at the other caller on the line who said "Hi" 5 seconds after I picked up the line.

I hope that the caller (not the automated dialer) understood that I wasn't upset or cursing him but only the automated dialer that he works with. Do I have a right to find these devices upsetting and cursing them or is it wrong to curse the machine if the user of the machine may possibly believe that he actually is the recipient of my curses?

The fact that I don't see the machine dialing me means I have no proof that an automated dialer was used, so must I presume that it wasn't used? Is it wrong to presume that it was an automatic dialer? I did see on my call display that the caller was not registered among my contacts.
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LuckyR
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by LuckyR »

Empiricist-Bruno wrote: September 15th, 2021, 9:35 pm Well, that's what I did today. I was on the road, on a bike rushing to a late appointment when my cell rang. Hello? And then no response, suggesting that the call came not from a person but from an automated dialing machine.

If a machine calls you, I think it's fair not to say there is no need to be polite toward it. When I cursed as I hung up, it was at the dialer that had automatically called me and not at the other caller on the line who said "Hi" 5 seconds after I picked up the line.

I hope that the caller (not the automated dialer) understood that I wasn't upset or cursing him but only the automated dialer that he works with. Do I have a right to find these devices upsetting and cursing them or is it wrong to curse the machine if the user of the machine may possibly believe that he actually is the recipient of my curses?

The fact that I don't see the machine dialing me means I have no proof that an automated dialer was used, so must I presume that it wasn't used? Is it wrong to presume that it was an automatic dialer? I did see on my call display that the caller was not registered among my contacts.
Excellent question. Let's assume that it was an automatic dialer. Everyone hates spam calls. Do you hate people whose best employment prospect is as a telemarketer? Sounds to me like they deserve your pity more than your ire. What is the best way to demonstrate our hatred of spam calls? Cursing into the phone is one way. It makes us feel better, it does nothing against the autodialer machine nor against the executive who runs the spam call business, it does run a small to moderate chance of being heard by the human telemarketer, whose experience would probably fall into the microagression category. Are you okay with that?
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Steve3007 »

Don't worry about it. It's just one instance of the larger phenomenon of alienation and detachment that is inevitable in the modern world of complex organizations consisting of numerous people with discrete, specialized roles. One of the inevitable consequences is front-line workers who have to bear the brunt of unsatisfied customers' frustrations as a result of aspects of the system that are beyond their control. It's part of the job.

My wife works in student support at a university. The combination of the covid situation, brexit, a recently introduced new database system and various other factors means she regularly has to deal with distraught students who are paying just as much for the courses as they did before but are getting a raw deal, and not getting the student experience that they are paying for. As far as they're concerned, she and her colleagues are the system. She has to deal with a lot more than some cursing.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Sculptor1 »

Empiricist-Bruno wrote: September 15th, 2021, 9:35 pm Well, that's what I did today. I was on the road, on a bike rushing to a late appointment when my cell rang. Hello? And then no response, suggesting that the call came not from a person but from an automated dialing machine.
Have you ever thought about switching off the phone when you are doing something like being "on the road"?
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by AverageBozo »

Robocalls are now being programmed to use voice recognition. If you swear, you may receive more than your fair share of these calls in the future.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Steve3007 »

AverageBozo wrote:If you swear, you may receive more than your fair share of these calls in the future.
Since the aim of the game is to make money, I doubt that. Deliberately focusing my calls on people who have told me to f**k off might be a good way to get some feeling that I've punished them for their rudeness but it's not a good marketing strategy.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by AverageBozo »

AverageBozo wrote: September 16th, 2021, 9:07 am Robocalls are now being programmed to use voice recognition. If you swear, you may receive more than your fair share of these calls in the future.
This was supposed to be a joke. :wink:
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Sebrof »

Why should anyone feel bad for any action?
Answer: Because of discipline.

What's the point of discpline?
Answer: To act "optimally" so that we best continue our existence. It's part of this superior ability humans have, called cognition. Cognition is used to exploit our instinctsn so that we feel pain or pleasure when necessary.

What do you deserve?
Answer: It's subjective, because deserving is based on this construct we call discpline - the question then becomes...

How are your actions going to best continue humanities existence?
Answer: I think you should feel bad because cursing is not necessary. Sure, cursing might make you feel better and thus do your job better, but then what can I possibly predict besides some general quality someone has. You think for yourself - you know your life better than me. How will you be most productive and happy?
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Steve3007 »

AverageBozo wrote:This was supposed to be a joke. :wink:
Yeah sorry. I kind of knew that but my natural urge to make a pedantic point triumphed, as it so often does.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Empiricist-Bruno »

Sculptor1 wrote: September 16th, 2021, 6:22 am
Empiricist-Bruno wrote: September 15th, 2021, 9:35 pm Well, that's what I did today. I was on the road, on a bike rushing to a late appointment when my cell rang. Hello? And then no response, suggesting that the call came not from a person but from an automated dialing machine.
Have you ever thought about switching off the phone when you are doing something like being "on the road"?
No, I haven't thought of that.

I work as a courier and get my business calls as a ride through the phone.

But you have a point: Capitalist competitive forces are to blame for my cursing, and I like that idea.

Anyway, this is an old thread, and my train of thoughts has considerably changed since. I now believe that my identity is now dual: existing between my natural self and and online self. So, it certainly may be fine for my natural self to curse at the phone but my online self's reputation may take a beating as a result.

So, now it's become a question of managing my various selves and asking myself (or rather my various selves) if we're getting what we want from them by behaving that way we do. It's more complicated but I think it's the way to go.
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Sculptor1
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Sculptor1 »

Empiricist-Bruno wrote: February 14th, 2024, 4:35 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: September 16th, 2021, 6:22 am
Empiricist-Bruno wrote: September 15th, 2021, 9:35 pm Well, that's what I did today. I was on the road, on a bike rushing to a late appointment when my cell rang. Hello? And then no response, suggesting that the call came not from a person but from an automated dialing machine.
Have you ever thought about switching off the phone when you are doing something like being "on the road"?
No, I haven't thought of that.

I work as a courier and get my business calls as a ride through the phone.

But you have a point: Capitalist competitive forces are to blame for my cursing, and I like that idea.

Anyway, this is an old thread, and my train of thoughts has considerably changed since. I now believe that my identity is now dual: existing between my natural self and and online self. So, it certainly may be fine for my natural self to curse at the phone but my online self's reputation may take a beating as a result.

So, now it's become a question of managing my various selves and asking myself (or rather my various selves) if we're getting what we want from them by behaving that way we do. It's more complicated but I think it's the way to go.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Lagayscienza »

I don't know whether it's ok to curse at bots. But I do. And I don't care. It relieves annoyance. And they don't have feelings so what does it matter?

Telemarketers I feel sorry for, but I loath their ingratiating tactics that are designed to keep you on the line so they can go through their spiel and try to sell you stuff you don't want or draw a donation out of you that you are disinclined to give. I've found the only way with them is to loudly and nicely say "thanks but no thanks "and hang up. If you do buy something, or give something, they will never stop calling you and they will sell your details to others who will then also start bothering you and you'll have an inbox full of spam. I'm not ungenerous and I do support charities I consider worthy. But I cannot not judge worthiness from the spiels of telemarketers. I had to change my phone number and make it a silent number because I never got any peace. That has helped. The other thing I do is not answer numbers I don't recognize. If it is important and I need to know they will leave a message and I will call them back. I get a lot fewer nuisance calls these days.
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Re: Is it ok to curse and hang up sometimes?

Post by Empiricist-Bruno »

Lagayscienza wrote: February 15th, 2024, 11:26 pm I don't know whether it's ok to curse at bots. But I do. And I don't care. It relieves annoyance. And they don't have feelings so what does it matter?

Telemarketers I feel sorry for, but I loath their ingratiating tactics that are designed to keep you on the line so they can go through their spiel and try to sell you stuff you don't want or draw a donation out of you that you are disinclined to give. I've found the only way with them is to loudly and nicely say "thanks but no thanks "and hang up. If you do buy something, or give something, they will never stop calling you and they will sell your details to others who will then also start bothering you and you'll have an inbox full of spam. I'm not ungenerous and I do support charities I consider worthy. But I cannot not judge worthiness from the spiels of telemarketers. I had to change my phone number and make it a silent number because I never got any peace. That has helped. The other thing I do is not answer numbers I don't recognize. If it is important and I need to know they will leave a message and I will call them back. I get a lot fewer nuisance calls these days.
Thanks for this reply. With Artificial Intelligence, what will you say about telemarketers if they aren't flesh based? With AI, telemarketers will become like bank machines...

I think it's a good thing that you swear at bots. But over the years, I have grown concerned about doing it because people seem to presume that you are angry at someone if you do curses. So, in order to alleviate other people's fears, I swear in reverse. For instance, I will scream "Oy cuff" instead of the reverse there. So since no one understands it, no one is offended. And if someone understands it, they figure that you're doing it that way because your curse is aimed at a machine or a machine produce, and not at anyone. Does that make sense? If you don't do it like that then you may feel a bit inhibited about cursing due to possible social repercussions. Self-censoring one's curses prevents people from showing their anger against loud technological noises, so I support the idea that that's something important not to repress. To relieve annoyance, as you say, does matter.

This approach is something I'd like to see become more popular because I think it's important to react at the displeasure machines (and their products) create and it seems like it's quite difficult to do without appearing to some to be angry at others. What do you think? Is that something you might find useful too?

Like you, I feel for fleshy telemarketers but because my view on the topic preclude me from thinking that a phone call from them is talk from them to me, I find that it's simply not a relation with a fleshy person, even if the telemarketer is a person in the flesh and not an AI bot.
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