Someone I Won't Be Civil To

In our daily lives most of us buy from, work for, or otherwise encounter products of excellent companies, while our interactions with government (the DMV, toll takers, the Post Office--which by the way seems to be improving) are marred by inefficiency and frustration. In the criticism of government, however, let's not forget its essential role in regulating the free market's excesses.

One particularly abusive backwater of capitalism is debt collection. Collections agents call us several times a day. We know it's them because of caller ID, and to the best of our knowledge we have no outstanding loans other than our mortgage, on which we are current, and we pay off our credit card balances every month.

We never pick up the phone, because engaging collections agents will only cause us to get sucked into extended conversations about debts that we don't owe. On the off-chance that I have overlooked a payable, I am willing to talk to them if they gave me a brief description of the subject matter. But they do not have the courtesy to leave an explanatory voicemail message--or better yet, send a letter with some documentation--that describes why they are calling.

Yesterday one of them finally left a recorded message:

This is the [collection agency] calling on an important matter. We require a return call to 1-800-XXX-XXXX. Our office hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday to Friday. Or you can respond to our website, that's www._____.com. Again, this is the [collection agency] calling from 1-800-XXX-XXXX and we require a response from you immediately.

Doesn't the warmth of this request make you want to talk to them?

I always used to respond within 24 hours to inquiries, but with the prevalence of telemarketing, blast e-mails, and collection calls I've had to break that rule and not respond at all. The dark side of capitalism is uncivil, and it's making me less civil, too.