I just have to vent today......

When I had my babies I made an agreement with management which would allow me to work part time in the office and part time from home. It seemed like a great idea at the time. As a part of the proposal I said I would call in and check my voicemail every two hours or so. Management didn't like that idea and I can understand why, so they said I had to give out my home number so that people could reach me at home with questions etc. Each day I change my VM message to state the time that I am in the office that day and that after that time if necessary I can be reached at home and give my home number. (Became necessary because people didn't keep the infomation I had given them with my number....big mess, but anyway this is the way it is now.)

Things were going fine until the other day. I get a phone call at home from a Compliance Related Vendor who shall remain unnamed. The "telemarketer" starts off by saying how nice it is that I leave my home number...wow many people don't do that! It is intended for work purposes so that I can be reached as necessary. It is not intended to be so that telemarketers can harass me at home too!

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Thanks for letting me vent

Do the Seinfeld thing and say....

I'm sorry, I would love to speak with you about this but I have my hands full. Could you give me your home number so I can call you later about this?

(Pause as they respond..."I'm sorry I don't give out my home number.")

Oh, you don't want to get a call at home about this? Now you know how I feel.

Hang up the phone.

Well, the perks from working at home notwithstanding, I WOULD NOT EVER leave my home phone # on my office voice mail. Do you have a bank provided cell phone? Other than that, I would request that mgmt permit you to send a memo or email out to anyone who would need to contact you (for valid reasons) or leave the number with the receptionist/admin asst/secret/or whoever and put their extension on your voicemail. Good luck, I would be furious!

You know, somwtimes I wonder what mgmt is thinking...

Register your home phone number with the FTC's "do not call (no solicitation) list". If a vendor contacts you, politely tell them to make note that you are on the no solicitation list, take their name and remind them that the fine for violation is $10,000.

Great idea! I do have my home number on the do not call list. I guess I just need to make sure to tell them that! That might even make the call more fun!!!!

Tried the memo thing....but you are in compliance so you know how that went. People misplaced the number etc and the receptionist was getting frustrated that she had to give it out all day long. She is very busy with other calls and jobs. I didn't want to jeopardize my ability to work from home sometimes so the easiest way to accomplish it seemed to be leaving my home number every day so that people would have it readily available to them. The idea of a bank provided cell phone is a great idea....might have to ask management if that would be feasible. Thanks for the help and support

Why not just get a second line installed in your home?

At the onset this was proposed as a short term situation. If it worked out for everyone we would talk about a longer term option. Maybe if this ends up to be long term I will look into the second line. Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't know how your phone system at work is set up, but ours has the option of leaving different messages for internal and external callers. If that were an option, you could leave your number on your internal message and not on the external message. Just a thought.....

You may also want to talk to the phone company. My father has the same phone with two different numbers and different rings. On one ring tone it is a personal call. On another it is a work related call to his home office.

In regards to the National Do Not Call list, if the vendor is contacting you for a business related purpose (B2B), then they are exempt from complying with the National DNC list. Obviously it's an intrusion to call you at home, but leaving your home phone number on your voicemail has enabled them to make the extra call to contact you. A separate business phone line/business cell phone is really what you'll need to avoid this.

Just to show that MOML has too much time on his hands, when we get a call like that, he plays "Devil's Advocate" (sorry Maria!), and argues, disagrees and generally ties up the person's time. Once, after a half hour of showing the vendor why we did not need the product, MOML said, "Gee, I hope you aren't working on commission, cause if you are, you are losing money talking to me." The vendor quickly, altho politely, ended the call.