Telephone Teasing: A real Pain in the Neck [Archives:1999/45/Governance]

Nada Yahia Qanbar
Taiz
The truth that everyone of us has in one way or another a favorite pastime. Some like reading, others are fond of painting and so on. However, believe it or not, some people’s cup of tea is to harass others and fly high when seeing others annoyed. This harassing in fact, takes many shapes and the most distinctive thing I would like to throw light on is telephone testing. Almost every house has a problem with this kind of trouble. Some houses are unreasonably bombarded with testing calls day and night from anonymous callers. The telephone keeps on tinkling and when the hand is lifted up, none is there to breathe a word and at times the caller may offer you a song to answer your “hello!” They keep on calling you until you see red and pull out the plug.
One interesting story that I have come to know recently is that a phone testing has gathered a man and a woman in a marriage. The man rang up accidentally to a house. A nice voice from gentle sex answered him. He fell in her trap and repeated the attempt till he got what he wanted and married the woman. But not all phone calling are promising and starry-eyed. You can receive a telephone call at late time fabricating a sob story about one of your close relatives who has had a fatal accident or threatens or warns you not to do such and such. This happens a lot when a soft voice tells your wife that you are in love with another women! Such matters are not only a mere teasing but also a barbarous playing on nerves which demands the interference of the people in authority. Sometimes the receiver of the call can get the telephone number of the caller in his way and then one if not both the opponent chose his head.
The situation raised its climax in official places vexed with notifications. “This act is disgusting,” says one officer, “Once we received a call to take the necessary steps but it turned out to be a fake call”.
As this detestable phenomenon is more likely to be found in our society, it raises a serious signal for the topsy-turvy minds of a particular class. They are devoid of any kind of sensitivity or responsibility.
These pains in the neck are suffering from certain psychological problems almost resulting from leisure. They kill time by doing nonsense and never caring for others. Therefore, the chance should be caught to bring notice to the Ministry of Youth which partly share the blame. It is time to lift a finger and offer miscellaneous outlets and appropriate drainage to the energies of the young. This is not the sole solution to uproot this loathsome phenomenon, but it undoubtedly participates in reducing it.

——
[archive-e:45-v:1999-y:1999-d:1999-11-08-p:./1999/iss45/govern.htm]