We had some minor damage to the roof from the cyclone earlier this year, and I put a claim in to our insurers, who’ve been outstanding, including telling us there was a lot more damage from a previous storm up there that we weren't aware of. They said they’d repair that too, because apparently I made a previous claim out of that storm as well. That was nice of them. They could’ve just kept that to themselves.
They've had all sorts of trouble contacting me though, because my phone is now just a giant funnel for scammers trying to extract credit card details, bank login details, whatever and ever amen.
I no longer answer the phone unless the caller is somebody from my contact list. This has made it almost impossible to organise the repairs, and that’s on me because, unlike some other people, we really came out of that cyclone in good shape. So I haven't felt the need to push the insurer or the builders to get back out here.
Instead, they've been pushing me to answer my phone. But the problem is, as I explained to them today, I'll get nine or ten calls on an average day, and eight or nine will be from scammers. And it's just... it's exhausting. I basically don't answer anymore unless it's Jane calling from work, usually at lunchtime, or my daughter calling from the UK, usually at about four o'clock in the afternoon when it's morning over there and she's on the bus to work.
I sort of wonder how many people answer their phones these days other than for calls from family and close friends. It's almost a rock-solid certainty that if you pick up a number you don't recognise, it’ll be some Irish guy trying to scam you because of ‘your recent motor vehicle accident’, or some Chinese guy from the ‘Australian Taxation Department’. (If it’s a broad Australian accent, they’re probably calling from Norton Anti-Virus about my mother’s Norton account, and I always take those because I love giving it to those grifters with both barrels. I got her off that merry-go-round a couple of years ago, but they never give up).
Anyway, it just struck me this arvo that phones are basically useless now.