Why again is the phone a "no-need-to-knock" tool?

(First of all, I want to say I was awake, working diligently, when this next thing occurred. I swear.)

(Also, full disclosure: I worked as a telemarketer for one month in an earlier life, quitting seconds before I was fired. So I do have empathy.)

Phones are a funny thing, even 136 years after A.G. Bell became the first boss to remotely verbally abuse his employee.

So at 8:08 a.m. this morning (minutes ago), a telemarketer fundraising for a certain terrible disease calls our house asking for money. I told her I couldn't help today, but thank you and good luck. As I went to hang up, I could hear her saying, "But if you will just let me..."

Click.

Setting aside the 8:08 a.m. calling time,why do I feel guilty about hanging up when she wasn't ready to stop talking? It is amazing that what qualifies as an intrusion in any other circumstance is somehow allowable when it is done over the phone - as if our phone number is a 10-digit combination to the lock on our front door and on our daily lives.

On the other hand, it gave me something to write about this morning... :-) 

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