[Der Alta]

In college, my roommates and I had a running competition. It was to see how quick we could get a Telemarketer to hand up on us.

My buddy Al won, when he broke down crying on the phone talking about how his wife had left him that morning.

At my previous employer, my cell phone got hit with a few TXT spams, and I didn't think much about it. By the second week with this company, I was getting flooded with them. Had to have the Boss shut off SMS to my phone, as it was loading up by early morning.

I believe it was the previous employee who used to have the phone and was fired.

Yes, I'm ashamed to admit this next part.

Why do I believe that? While at a previous employer, we did much the same thing. Our "IT" guy was unstable, to say the least. There was no legitimate reason to let him go, but multiple illegitimate reason he shouldn't work there. So two other employees and I took it upon ourselves to give him reason to go. We subscribed his Email to as many "off-topic" email/site lists we could find. Every time he changed it, we'd wait a day or two and begin the cycle anew. He started to think there was a hidden virus on the computer system, and after about 3 weeks, he was stressing out about the entire network being compromised. It escalated to the point where he was suggesting scrapping the entire system, and purchasing new software, computers, cabling, and components. This was for a 20 person firm, in Vermont. The boss gave him 3 weeks off and free visits to a psychologist. Turns out, when he wasn't at work the employees were less jumpy and the IT guy recovered nicely when he wasn't on a computer.

Yes, he handed his home email out to his friends when he left the company. No, we didn't continue.

Back on topic... As for Phone SMS, It should be absolutely illegal. Who'd by Sex/divorce/dating advice from a random text message?