My phone keeps ringing. . . .

I received an urgent phone call this morning informing me that I am in deep trouble.  My student loan has been flagged by the government, and if I click on the #1 button, I will be informed of a special plan to help me pay it off.  I can just imagine.

Since my last day as a "student:" of any kind came in early June of 1949, (I remember the date well, because I got married on June 12th of that year), I didn't bother clicking.  Actually, I wasn't aware that I still had a student loan. As a matter of fact, I never had one.

From my high school year book, ready to go to
college without a student loan!

In my day, your parents started putting away money for your college enrollment from the day you were born, and there were no such things as student loans.  Then again, unlike today's astronomical college prices, if I remember correctly, Syracuse University cost my parents about $250 a semester, plus the cost of my dorm room and food in the school cafeteria.

By the way, I've been on the "Do not call" list for ages, but apparently that's not stopping anyone calling from India or the Mid East.  Yesterday, the call was from the IRS, warning me, in a heavy accent, that I was again in serious trouble and had better call a certain number with all my information ASAP.  I guess that hefty check I sent back in April just wasn't good enough.

One of my favorite Miami Herald columnists, Fred Grimm, wrote recently about his annoyance with unsolicited phone calls at all hours of the day and night. He is on both the Federal and State "Do not call" lists, and what doubly annoys him is that the calls are all "robo calls", so there's no one on the other end of the line to hiss at or complain to.

That's my problem as well.  With the IRS call, I found myself shrieking obscenities into the phone although I knew full well there was no one actually there.  Obviously the scammers have long since done away with the "Do not call" lists, and somewhere I've landed on a lot of "Do call" lists.  Nice to know I'm so popular.

Just for the hell of it, I tried calling back one of the robo-call phone numbers.  According to a robo-call operator, "That number is no longer in service."  Gee whiz, what a surprise. I guess my student loan will just have to go unpaid for another 67 years!

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