Remember when phones used to have a rotary dial, twisty chord and screw capped, circular earpiece? If it rang, no matter where you were, in or around your house, you rushed to answer it. There were no answering machines and so a phone would ring until either you answered or, they hung up. And, if you could, you always answered because surely there was someone calling you that you knew and needed to speak with you. A few months ago, I watched a news segment wherein they showed a video clip of two teenagers trying to use a rotary telephone. They couldn’t figure it out, putting an exclamation point on the fact that, when it comes to telephones, times have certainly changed!
Today, we carry our phones with us everywhere, at all times, making us 100 percent accessible to everyone. Rarely do we even need to dial a phone number; we can simply press ONE button and instantly connect with someone in our contact list.
Answering machines, once non-existent in a not-so-long-ago past, are virtually; once again, non-existent since everyone, everywhere, now uses voice mail. And since we are now a society that has less time to wait for anything, if we don’t want to answer a call or can’t answer a call, messages can go instantly to voicemail, making a phone call exchange, for lack of a better description, less time consuming. This is certainly true in my personal life. Professionally speaking, however, Robocallers and telemarketers are making my phone call exchange experience miserable!
In my hospitality profession, I MUST answer the telephone, every time it rings, as the telephone is an integral way in which our guests reach out for our services. But lately, I am getting extremely frustrated and down-right angry when I answer the telephone, because more than 50 percent of the incoming phone calls we are receiving, on a daily basis, are from dreaded Robocallers and telemarketers. I find myself actually placing REAL guests on hold so that I can switch over to answer, what turns out to be, yet another telemarketer. When, and more importantly, WHY, did this type of business strategy become acceptable?!
As a small business, we have tried everything in order to cut down on the number of unsolicited phone calls we receive in a day; Nothing has helped! I have stayed on the line and pressed the “required” buttons and/or spoken to the “required” person and asked to be removed from the calling list. Ten minutes later, They call again. I have yelled and threatened harassment. Ten minutes later, They call again.
It’s almost as if They know that I HAVE TO answer the phone, regardless of whether or not I am in the middle of helping another guest, and They are just purposely toying with me as I am 100 percent certain that my ‘Google listing’ is not in jeopardy, or that my ‘iCloud Account’ has not been breached. Nor do I panic when They call to tell me that my business will surely go under if I don’t authorize the use of some internet advertising service. Once, after answering the phone with my cheeriest, most professional greeting, the Telemarketer on the other end actually said “Hello? Who did I call now?” I responded as politely as I could before placing Them on a longgggg hold “I’m not sure, let me go check…”
RING! RING!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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Thur. May 2
Fund-raiser
PUTNAM --- The DKH Annual Wine Tasting will be held at 6 p.m. at the barns at Stonehurst, Hampton. $40. Benefits the Northeast CT Cancer Fund of DKH. Daykimball.org.
Art Program
POMFRET --- The Northeastern CT Art Guild will hold a meeting and program on Layering and Mixed Media Art at 6:15 p.m. at the Historical Society building on Town House Drive. $5 (may apply to membership). All welcome. 860-377-1869.
Fri. May 3
First Fridays
PUTNAM --- The Putnam Business Association’s First Fridays will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. around downtown Putnam. This month’s theme is “American Sports.”
‘Hello, Dolly!’
PUTNAM --- The Bradley Playhouse will present “Hello, Dolly!” through May 12. www.thebradleyplayhouse.org.
Sat. May 4
Sawmill Event
WOODSTOCK --- Visitors to the Chamberlin Mill will have an opportunity to observe the 19th-century saw under reconstruction and to learn about the process of its rebuilding at 1 p.m. Rain date May 5. www.chamberlinmill.org.
Tag Sale
PUTNAM --- The Congregational Church of Putnam annual tag sale will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The church is seeking vendors. Various sized spaces, inside and out. For info and space reservation call 860-481-2519.
Fund Drive
PUTNAM --- The Putnam Public Library will present a fund drive from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It will benefit The Flutter Foundation, Inc. Please donate clothing, shoes, bedding/towels and accessories. 860-874-5605.
Town Tag Sale
POMFRET --- The 13th Annual Town Wide Tag Sale sponsored by the Pomfret Proprietors will be start at 7 a.m. at Pomfret Community School and the Christ Church with the purchase of maps for $1 to the participating residences/businesses. Other group sites will be hosted at the Pomfret Senior Center to benefit the Pomfret Food Pantry and Veterans Coffee House and the Pomfret Lions Club on the corner of routes 169 and 101.
Book Sale
POMFRET --- The Friends of the Pomfret Public Library will host a Used Book Sale from 7 a.m. to noon in the Pomfret Community School cafeteria.
Tag Sale
POMFRET --- the Christ Church will host a large group tag sale with profits supporting the 2019 J2A (Journey to Adulthood) Pilgrimage Fund.
Art
POMFRET CENTER --- The Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret Center will present “Printmaking with Nature” reception and artist demo from 2 to 4 p.m. May 4 at the Grassland Bird Conservation Center on Day Road. Exhibit through May 15. Free. 860-928-4948.
Sun. May 5
Fishing Derby
PUTNAM --- The Putnam Rotary Club Noe Poulin Fishing Derby will be held at Rotary Park. Registration is free and starts at noon. The derby runs from noon to 3 p.m. For kids 5 and younger through age 15. Prizes.
Concert
CHEPACHET --- The Music at the Meeting House will present "Heartland! Music of the Midwest," at 2:30 p.m. at the Chepachet Meeting House on Rt. 44. All welcome. No charge but a free will offering will be taken. Refreshments. chepachetbaptist.org.
Mon. May 6
Cancer Screening
PUTNAM --- Day Kimball Healthcare is offering free skin cancer screening and prevention information to the public in honor of national "Melanoma Monday," from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hale YMCA in Putnam.
Art Exhibit
THOMPSON --- The Friends of the Thompson Public Library will present, in its Art @ the Library series, “Thompson Public Schools Spring Art Show” through May 30. A reception will be held from 2:45 to 5 p.m. May 6. 860-923-9779.
Book Signing
THOMPSON --- The Thompson Public Library will present a local author event and book signing: Sam “Sam I Am” Ducharme, “Sole Searching on the Appalachian Trail” at 6 p.m. at the library. www.thompsonpubliclibrary.org.
Exercise Group
WOODSTOCK --- The Woodstock Senior Exercise Group will meet from 9 to 10 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday in the Woodstock Town Hall large meeting room on the lower. Minimum fee. Local seniors welcome. Please check the town website www.woodstockCT.gov for current schedule or call 860-928-6595.
Wed. May 8
Nature Program
POMFRET CENTER --- The Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret Center will present “Bird Watch for folks with Limited Mobility” at 8 a.m. at the Grassland Bird Conservation Center on Day Road. $5 for CAS members; $10 for nonmembers. Register: 860-928-4948.
Dinner, Talent
WILLINGTON --- The Eastford Senior Citizens will hold a dinner and talent show at 5 p.m. at Willington Pizza. Caravan possible. $8 per person. For more info and to reserve by May 4, call: 860-538-8868. If you have a talent for the showcase call Tom Buccio at: 518-791-9474, ASAP.
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PUTNAM — Chief Chris Ferace announced a new officer at the Putnam Police Department.
Officer Jonathan Ley was sworn in April 29 to bring the department to a full staff of 15 officers.
Ley comes to the Putnam police department as a lateral hire as he is a certified police officer. He brings 21 years of prior police experience retiring from the Norwich Police Department in March of 2018 and most recently serving as a police officer with the Town of Killingly for the past year.
Ley brings and incredible amount of work experience and knowledge with him, said Ferace: “I had the distinction of working with him in Norwich for his entire career, noting he is one of the most professional, dedicated and motivated people I’ve ever worked with”. In Norwich he served as a Community Police Officer, a Detective, Training Unit supervisor and he rose up the supervisory ranks achieving the rank of lieutenant in the Patrol Division. Officer Ley is also a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard retiring after 23 years of combined active and reserve service to his country.
Officer Ley is in the process of completing an associate’s degree in criminal justice from Three Rivers Community College. He is married to his wife Jaime and has two children.
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Then
This is the former Hale Manufacturing from the bridge in an old postcard. Courtesy of Putnam Bank/Thomas Borner.
& Now
This is the building in more modern times (pre saffolding).