THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Comic Discussion => QUESTIONABLE CONTENT => Topic started by: BenRG on 19 Jun 2022, 23:02
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No clue what I could use as a poll. Mods, feel free to add one if you want.
I suppose you could say that if you get frustrated with the way the writers build tension and make the characters fallible is a sign that you care about the show. However, at what point do you reach the dark horizon of only watching the show to see how the team screw up telling a story this time?
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There's a difference between plots that are moved along by characters interacting with all their strengths and weaknesses, and plots that are moved along by the characters being inexplicably stupid. It's one of the reasons I'm not fond of the Star Wars prequel movies.
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Deranthony?
NO, NO, NO!!
Anthrek, surely?
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Sounds like anthrax :D
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I love this webcomic.
It's so good.
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Does Doctor Laser Vengeance pursue vengeance on lasers or with them?
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Does Doctor Laser Vengeance pursue vengeance on lasers or with them?
Or both.
I have TV shows I watch like that. *lol*
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Does Doctor Laser Vengeance pursue vengeance on lasers or with them?
I think I have a new name to use for pub trivia from now on…
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It’s actually Dr. Laser: Vengeance – the kids are just running it together because they’re excited. The story is actually about someone called Robin Laser who has two doctorates, in electronic and mechanical engineering. They use their (nonsapient) robots to extract vengeance on everyone who used to torment them about their name in school. None of them actually use lasers.
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ah, fandom.
(every fandom.)
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indeed
Except depending on the fandom zeitgeist it might have ended with "I hate this show." "They get it so wrong."
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Wait, this cartoon they're watching is a real cartoon?
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Wait, this cartoon they're watching is a real cartoon?
I tried googling it, and Google suggests no. The only thing it brought up was QC.
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No clue what I could use as a poll. Mods, feel free to add one if you want.
I suppose you could say that if you get frustrated with the way the writers build tension and make the characters fallible is a sign that you care about the show. However, at what point do you reach the dark horizon of only watching the show to see how the team screw up telling a story this time?
Oof, based on my relationship with NCIS? Year 10.
But there’s a certain pleasure in frustration watching because it’s something you can bond with other members of the fandom about, and there’s always plot points or characters you love.
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Comic's up.
I hate phone calls too, not sure why :/
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Man, I really hate phone calls. The same applies to WhatsApp audios. Specially the long ones.
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I'm mostly okay when it's a work call, I have structure to follow. (Less good if things go off script.) Also good with family.
Anything else? nope.
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Yeah, I also hate phone calls and I'm close to 50.
Is there anyone who knows both if their IDs? Maybe Yay?
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I hate phone calls too, not sure why :/
I mean... 99% of folks text now. Period.
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No clue what I could use as a poll. Mods, feel free to add one if you want.
I suppose you could say that if you get frustrated with the way the writers build tension and make the characters fallible is a sign that you care about the show. However, at what point do you reach the dark horizon of only watching the show to see how the team screw up telling a story this time?
Oof, based on my relationship with NCIS? Year 10.
But there’s a certain pleasure in frustration watching because it’s something you can bond with other members of the fandom about, and there’s always plot points or characters you love.
Have they figured out how computer keyboards work yet, or have they just come up with a handwavey explanation for how Abbey's computer works?
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I mean... 99% of folks text now. Period.
I disliked it before we had phones that could text :D Texting was a godsend for me.
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Sounds like anthrax :D
That's the plan.
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Comic's up.
I hate phone calls too, not sure why :/
Because they demand that you drop whatever you’re doing to deal with them, and it’s typically considered rude to keep ignoring them until you have the time/energy?
Of course, considering that I have worked billing in a call centre, I hate phone calls with the fire of a thousand suns going supernova.
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Phone calls always caused me anxiety, and then I worked in some truly crappy call centres doing inbound frontline customer service for a major US cell phone carrier in the early 2000s, and then outbound sales for a Canadian cable/internet provider in the 2010s. I have done my time, no more phone calls for me.
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Comic's up.
I hate phone calls too, not sure why :/
Yep. If I'm driving in the passenger seat of the car and the driver's phone rings and they say 'Could you answer that for me please' - well, Anxiety City.
I'd go further - if anything is ever going to trigger a stress-induced heart attack in me, that will...
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Phone calls with people I know are fine, but if I have to cold call somebody I don't know, or getting on voice chat online, I hate hate hate it. And just like both characters in the comic, I stream and talk for hours at a time to people in chat no problem, but I rarely do multiplayer if it means I have to voice chat.
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I detest phone calls as well, although with good friends and family I can tolerate them (still not a huge fan though).
Why so many dislike them, I dont know, there must be a theory behind it.
My own theory is that the lack of visual cues (body language, facial expressions, etc) when talking to someone makes people very insecure about both whether they're interpreting the other person correctly, and about whether their own words are going to be misinterpreted/misunderstood (with accompanying feeling of guilt for not speaking clearly enough).
Or maybe that's just me, lol
Either way for all the above reasons I think initial phone screens by companies are terrible ideas when they are trying to preselect candidates (edit: unless the job requirements include having to make many phone calls, perhaps). I am absolutely horrendous in phone screens and am always relieved when I somehow make it to a face-to-face interview (whether video or in person) because I know I'll be fine in that setting.
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I have a history of audio hallucinations so phone calls make me very uncomfortable. I've never gotten used them and probably never will.
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I like emailing and texting, even though you don't get body language cues there either. It's more about the fact that there is no rush, I can think about what to write down and revise that. Can't do that with a phone call.
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I like emailing and texting, even though you don't get body language cues there either. It's more about the fact that there is no rush, I can think about what to write down and revise that. Can't do that with a phone call.
Yeah, I probably should've added that it's the combination with the instantaneous of the messaging (i.e. talking) that is the problem when visual cues are absent. :oops:
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New comic.
The 'mom energy' is basically Aurelia's superpower.
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I have, I'm fairly certain, some level of on the spectrum behavior in regards to reading tone of voice. I just can't do it for people I don't know really well. Instead over the years, I've trained myself to really pay attention and understand facial expressions and body language. So any time I have to be on the phone with someone I don't know very well, it cranks up my anxiety to max. People I've known for a long time are no problem. My wife, my kids, my parents, my brother, no problem.
The main reason I know it is specifically audio only is that for my work I do video conference meetings all the time and it never bothers me. Cause I can see people's faces. Like, I still get the base level of anxiety I get for anything social, but it isn't anything like being on a phone call.
I think the reason that it doesn't bother me with emails and text is that the playing field is leveled. Like, I can't read their emotion well, but they can't read mine either, so it never feels like as big of a deal.
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Pizza is a vegetable!
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If a voice call makes them anxious, why on earth aren't they on a video call? :clairedoge:
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Awww.
I keep thinking most of the characters have met each other, but I guess not these two.
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Why is this call not happening on Discord? Surely these two successful streamers are constantly glued to Discord anyway.
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I keep thinking most of the characters have met each other, but I guess not these two.
I wonder, do they even know they're in the same town? As moderately successful streamers working in video, they could be anywhere in the world... or are they on some Northampton-specific server? (Not with numbers like they apparently have, though...)
I can see Marbear freaking out about this just when she finds out Aurelia's also in N-hamp...wait till she gets the FULL scope of the connections!
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WELP. Now I'm shipping them too. lol
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I've suddenly realised that Aurelia basically now looks exactly how Claire looked when she and Marten started their relationship and Claire is looking more and more how Aurelia looked during her first appearances (apart from the smile lines). Frankly, it weirds me out a lot.
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Just a friendly fact: Oni means Demon in Japanese. Marbear is a Burger Demon, or Demon Burger, I'm not sure whether her handle is consumption based or existence based tho.
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I've suddenly realised that Aurelia basically now looks exactly how Claire looked when she and Marten started their relationship and Claire is looking more and more how Aurelia looked during her first appearances (apart from the smile lines). Frankly, it weirds me out a lot.
Yeah, in tuesday's strip I thought that, for some reason, Aurelia had delegated to Claire the Mommymilker's public relation tasks...
The comic is going full circle. In the first strips, I couldn't discern who's who without context.
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It can't be long before they realize they have friends in common. A LOT of friends.
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Countdown to mortifying moment of realization...10...9...8...
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I keep thinking most of the characters have met each other, but I guess not these two.
I wonder, do they even know they're in the same town? As moderately successful streamers working in video, they could be anywhere in the world... or are they on some Northampton-specific server? (Not with numbers like they apparently have, though...)
I can see Marbear freaking out about this just when she finds out Aurelia's also in N-hamp...wait till she gets the FULL scope of the connections!
If it is a regular phone call and not VOIP, unless one of them has their cell phone registered somewhere else (which does happen sometimes, but Aurelia seems to have lived there for a long time, and Marigold doesn't seem to live very far from her family since her dad can unnannounced show up at her apartment, so I don't think so in this case), they should realize once they see each others phone numbers are both local.
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If it is a regular phone call and not VOIP, unless one of them has their cell phone registered somewhere else (which does happen sometimes, but Aurelia seems to have lived there for a long time, and Marigold doesn't seem to live very far from her family since her dad can unnannounced show up at her apartment, so I don't think so in this case), they should realize once they see each others phone numbers are both local.
Do they have local area codes for mobiles where they live? It doesn't look like they're using a land line phone and where I'm from a mobile number could come from anywhere in the country.
Also, thanks for "clarifiying" their relation ship. I just came here to see whether they actually already know each other in real life and if they're aware of the persons behind each other's avatars. I can't wait until they find out. :D
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Pizza is a vegetable!
Pizza is the supreme food! Has the entire pyramid in each byte: grain, dairy, vegetable, meat. And there is the dichotomy of botanically fruit, but legally vegetable, tomato. Just as good cold for breakfast as was hot the night before. Paired with tequila even better :}
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If it is a regular phone call and not VOIP, unless one of them has their cell phone registered somewhere else (which does happen sometimes, but Aurelia seems to have lived there for a long time, and Marigold doesn't seem to live very far from her family since her dad can unnannounced show up at her apartment, so I don't think so in this case), they should realize once they see each others phone numbers are both local.
Do they have local area codes for mobiles where they live? It doesn't look like they're using a land line phone and where I'm from a mobile number could come from anywhere in the country.
Also, thanks for "clarifiying" their relation ship. I just came here to see whether they actually already know each other in real life and if they're aware of the persons behind each other's avatars. I can't wait until they find out. :D
All the cell phones where I live use the local area codes. Unless you got the cell phone when you were living somewhere else and you decided not to get your number changed (which is still possible, but like I said, neither of them seem like they are from somewhere else)
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New comic.
Ha! Marigold's reaction...
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DAMN YOU JEPH!
For putting that song in my head. It will now play on repeat in my brain for the next 24 hours or so.
*goes off and puts some other music on to get this out of her head. Spoiler alert: it won't work*
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Sad but true: my initial reaction was ‘Marigold, why are you surprised? You either dialed her number or saw the caller ID! Your area only has like two area codes, you KNOW Aurelia’s local to you!’
And then I remembered not everyone is a freak who worked for a phone company for 15 years and memorized area codes.
And then I realized it’s probably Skype or some other VoIP and doesn’t even USE a phone number.
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Comic's up.
I hate phone calls too, not sure why :/
Because they demand that you drop whatever you’re doing to deal with them, and it’s typically considered rude to keep ignoring them until you have the time/energy?
Of course, considering that I have worked billing in a call centre, I hate phone calls with the fire of a thousand suns going supernova.
Oh geez!
[earnest] That sounds worse than trying to get completed customer satisfaction surveys from California [1] (I had much better luck getting surveys completed with people from New York, NY).
[1]The American Do Not Call list has a number of exceptions that a number of folks seem ignorant of.
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Or just cell phones which, here in NZ anyway, do not have area codes associated with the number.
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Having driven multiple times from Amherst to Bradley (once with a broken tie rod) I can tell you Aurelia is full of it.
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I will my sense of disbelief to just believe that in a not to distant alternate future reality that is QC with super sweet robot friends (sweet as in kind, AND as in awesome), that people don't have phone numbers that display anymore, it all just shows up as the person or business. This is starting to happen to me when the doctors office calls, or I call some business from G-maps, it changes the icon to a little building and states the businesses name with no number.
Just following the logic to the end, I would think all caller ID would just show who's calling, and QC's telcoms managed to effectively eradicate spam calls, spoofed callers (Save for Yay's abilities), or ID masking abilities (Save for Yay's abilities, sorry, I just love Yay so much).
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[1]The American Do Not Call list has a number of exceptions that a number of folks seem ignorant of.
Aye, there are exceptions. Thing is that I'm on the list because I don't want people I don't know calling me. Just because it's not illegal, it's (generally) something that people explicitly do not want to deal with. Thankfully, my phone is set to send anyone not in my contacts list straight to voicemail, which gets rid of most of 'em.
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Or just cell phones which, here in NZ anyway, do not have area codes associated with the number.
In the US cell phones do have area codes, and the ones they assign are generally whatever the local area codes for the area you activated your cell phone. So they probably both locally have local area code phone numbers on cell phones unless one of them was living somewhere else when they first got the current number they have.
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[1]The American Do Not Call list has a number of exceptions that a number of folks seem ignorant of.
Aye, there are exceptions. Thing is that I'm on the list because I don't want people I don't know calling me. Just because it's not illegal, it's (generally) something that people explicitly do not want to deal with. Thankfully, my phone is set to send anyone not in my contacts list straight to voicemail, which gets rid of most of 'em.
That I very much understand (I'm also on the list for those reasons). It's just when you have to take off the headset from someone screeching or bellowing into their receiver for the umpteenth time as they threaten litigation [1] and ensuring your homelessness that it gets pretty eyerolly. Especially when most call centers use an autodialer program that only let's the human emloyee pause calls to a number for a predetermined amount of time[2]. While I understood their frustration, there really wasn't much I could do about it[3], so the assorted threats[4] were entirely uncalled for.
[1]against the employee as well as the company.
[2] At least that was the case when I did phone surveys a decade or so ago.
[3] And only a supervisor could actually remove the number from the computer's list.
[4] Including bodily harm.
EDIT: And I should point out Californians were the ones who did this the most. Easily 4 or 5 times more than any other state.
EDIT 2: typo correction
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I guess that I think in a different way but I honestly can't understand why this is such a big issue for Marigold. Actually, living in the same small town as a professional collaborator with the same interests as me might actually be nice - To have someone with whom I can hang out and talk about issues others wouldn't necessarily 'get'.
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Especially when most call centers use an autodialer program that only let's the human emloyee pause calls to a number for a predetermined amount of time[2]. While I understood their frustration, there really wasn't much I could do about it[3], so the assorted threats[4] were entirely uncalled for.
[1]against the employee as well as the company.
[2] At least that was the case when I did phone surveys a decade or so ago.
[3] And only a supervisor could actually remove the number from the computer's list.
[4] Including bodily harm.
I can imagine. People are pretty awful. I'd usually either just hang up because I didn't want to deal with it, or feign interest, then claim that the (fictional) dog/kid/anaconda was getting into something, putting the phone on "hold", and then abandoning it.
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I guess that I think in a different way but I honestly can't understand why this is such a big issue for Marigold. Actually, living in the same small town as a professional collaborator with the same interests as me might actually be nice - To have someone with whom I can hang out and talk about issues others wouldn't necessarily 'get'.
I'm not sure it was a problem so much as surprise.
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[1]The American Do Not Call list has a number of exceptions that a number of folks seem ignorant of.
The American Do Not Call list is a complete and utter joke. Political solicitations, religious solicitations, charitable solicitations, and commercial solicitations that just flat-out ignore the DNC list can always get through. I am constantly getting calls from people running for office, people collecting for the policeman's benevolent association, and people warning me that my car's extended warranty is about to expire.
Since the recipient pays the cost of a cell phone call, no one should be allowed to spam call a cell phone. Cell phones are the only kind anyone has anymore? Too bad.
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I know that the car thing is a scam, since I haven’t had a car in over 15 years.
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Mr. Spam Risk calls my phone a lot.
Honestly at this point if I don't have the phone number saved in my phone, I don't even answer it anymore.
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New comic.
I can relate.
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Awwww. Looking forward to next bits.
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Awwww. Looking forward to next bits.
(Steve eating cereal)
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DAMN YOU JEPH!
For putting that song in my head. It will now play on repeat in my brain for the next 24 hours or so.
*goes off and puts some other music on to get this out of her head. Spoiler alert: it won't work*
Would you prefer Lemon Demon's 'Touch Tone Telephone' instead?
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New comic.
I can relate.
I meet up with my friends every weekend to game and have consistently for around a year now.
They're good people, we get along well, nobody judges my idiosycracities or my limitations.
I still feel anxiety the night before. Every damn time.
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Since the recipient pays the cost of a cell phone call,
Wait, what? Is that still a thing in America?
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Since the recipient pays the cost of a cell phone call,
Wait, what? Is that still a thing in America?
I concur - my response was a sort of mental double-take, followed by thinking 'How can that work? You could create an intolerable cost for someone just by organizing enough calls to them!'
The only answer would be 'Don't answer calls', to which I would respond 'What's the use of a phone then? You can't know whether a call is just spam until you answer it.' :-\
I (in Australia) deal with spam on my land-line by having an answering machine - if someone makes a legitimate call, they leave a message for me to answer - but I don't have to pay for every call my machine answers!! :facepalm:
Am I missing something? Please illuminate my darkened intellect if that is so. :-D
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Since the recipient pays the cost of a cell phone call,
Wait, what? Is that still a thing in America?
If you have limited talk time on your phone plan, you use up time whenever a call connects, whether you are making the call or receiving it. It's not like you get a bill for every call, but you are using up a limited resource that you paid for every time you answer a call.
If you hang up immediately, it's a minimum amount, but... then... that works both ways. There's a set minimum amount deducted from your account for calls under a certain duration(I think mine might have been 15 cents when I had my old flip phone, on an account where I paid in 25 dollars every three months to maintain it).
In most cases, it's essentially a nuisance. Unless you're going out of your way to both answer and stay on the line with every shady call you get, it's unlikely to seriously impact your minutes.
Still, the frustration is very real and very justified. People didn't pay for those minutes to waste them on scammers and cold callers.
(or in my case, weirdos and debt collectors from all over washington state looking for some guy named Marcus who had my phone number before me)
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Comic:
This can ONLY end well, right?
Marbear and Ma Augustus get blazed, monch cookies and giggle at the good b(orz)oi...
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Plot twist: Cosmo originally belonged to Marigold’s parents and has been missing for months. Marbear never mentioned it before because a) she doesn’t talk to people and b) it’s just a random dog that was lost miles away, what are the odds?
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[1]The American Do Not Call list has a number of exceptions that a number of folks seem ignorant of.
The American Do Not Call list is a complete and utter joke. Political solicitations, religious solicitations, charitable solicitations, and commercial solicitations that just flat-out ignore the DNC list can always get through. I am constantly getting calls from people running for office, people collecting for the policeman's benevolent association, and people warning me that my car's extended warranty is about to expire.
Since the recipient pays the cost of a cell phone call, no one should be allowed to spam call a cell phone. Cell phones are the only kind anyone has anymore? Too bad.
I haven't worked there in years and my completion rate was one of the worst my supervisor had ever seen. I didn't like the job at all and felt it was a waste of my time and that of the people I ended up on the phone with.
Of the scam calls though, I got the card holder services one after a particularly hot day on the daily yard job when I drove crew transport for the railroad.
[Incredibly smug tone] "This is card holder services. We're attempting to contact you regarding recent activity on your account. Could I have your date of birth and the last four of your Social to verify your identity?"
[Flatly with rising suspicion]"For which company?"
[knocked off balance] "We're calling on behalf of-"
[bluntly]"No no, which company are you calling from?"
[Knocked completely off track. Stalls for a few seconds] "I'm not allowed to disclose that information"
[Tersely]"Then neither am I. Never call this number again."
And then the card holder services scam got automated a few months down the line.
I got the car's extended warranty one with a live human exactly once. I was driving a 20 year old car at the time, and they couldn't tell me the make or model when I asked "just for verification"