The Hazards of Living In New Hampshire During Campaign Season

As most everyone knows, New Hampshire is quite well known as the state that holds the first Presidential primary in the nation. Every four years, this makes it annoying to have a telephone in the Granite State.

Tonight was the night it started. The first call lit up the caller ID box with “CBS 4 New Poll, 202-552-1984” at about 6:24 PM. I will give them a little credit for sending their true identity to my caller ID box. I knew what that call was all about so I did not bother answering it.

At exactly 8:00 PM another call came in. This one displayed the infamous “Out of Area” on the caller ID. I did not answer that one either.

At 9:17 the telephone rings again. “Out of Area” again. This time I am starting to get a bit annoyed so I picked it up and demanded to know who is calling. Some dude with a foreign accent (they outsourcing political polls now, too?) identifies himself as “David” and mumbled something about the Republican something-or-other.

That’s about as far as I let him go before I told him in not to call again, say “Goodbye” and hang up.

A few years ago I actually used to look forward to the calls from the political pollsters because I wanted to share my views on various issues. Things change.

As someone who is utterly disillusioned with the political process in this country, I have very little interest left for any of it. Besides, I’m pretty damn busy a lot of the time and I don’t care to donate 10 minutes or so of my time so someone can compile a political poll.

Not to mention the fact that the media are making money off these polls as part of their usual outpouring of crap that the public seems to eager to lap up. I really feel like asking them if they are going to pay me for my time or at least offer me a cheesy gift or something. Why should I sacrifice my time to help them make money without getting anything in return?

As you may know, these kinds of calls are not subject to the “Do Not Call” regulations that protect us from telemarketers if we choose to be on the national “Do Not Call” list.

I’ve got two phone numbers here and the calls are hitting only the one that that starts with a one. As in 603-XXX-1, if you know what I mean. My other number starts with a four, so I suppose they will be ringing that one in a few days.

Ah, the joys of New Hampshire during the political season. Makes me want to puke.