09/25/2026
Here's a current day Mike story that I became fully aware of about a year ago, but what I am about to describe still applies to today.
One day, he's going on and on complaining about how many spam calls he gets. I still have an Oklahoma cell #, and I get them too (for whatever reason, Oklahoma seem to get more of them), so my initial response was a simple, "yeah, it's annoying."
Then my mom chimed in and, explained the extent that this particular situation was a self-inflicted problem (as is his tendency).
Turns out, he answers the spam calls. Consistently. And he talks to the spam callers sometimes for up to an hour. He was pi**ed about getting 10+ spam calls a day but, rather than declining then blocking the to dissuade them, he was actively encouraging them to call him.
Not too long after, I got to watch him in action. While he complains about it, it has become kind of a hobby for him. He has different voices he uses, and he strings these people along, gets them to agree to be put on hold so "he can take his medicine", leaves them on hold for 10-15 min, checks in to make sure they haven't hung up, gets them to agree to go on hold again, and basically tries to break his own record for keeping them on the line. Depending on his mood, he might cuss them out a little at the very end before hanging up.
He was doing this last summer while we were sitting in DFW airport waiting to board our flight for summer vacation. He'll answer them during family gatherings. Yet, some part of him still doesn't fully comprehend why he gets so many spam calls.
