annoying non-profit behavior

I got a phone call Friday shortly before Shabbat. It was a telemarketer who led off with "I'm calling from a charity you support". (Charities are exempt from the anti-telemarketing laws in PA.) I said "this isn't a good time" and he said "this will take one minute". So I decided he could have that much.

He was not concise. He was calling to ask for money, of course; while he was talking I had pulled the checkbook ledger, so I interrupted him to say "I've sent you money recently and I do this on an annual basis; do not bother me until spring". Ah, but this was a special appeal, don't you see, what with the election coming up... I repeated that charities that pester me after I've made my wishes known don't tend to get repeat donations, and even that didn't shut him up. So I hung up on him.

So, to NARAL: *plonk*. Train your telemarketers better -- and by the way, you should stop outsourcing your fund-raising to India. (And another by-the-way: the guy was calling for PAC money, which might not fall under the charity exemption from those telemarketing laws -- call me again about this and I'll ask the attorney general about that.)

Sukkot, Shabbat

Sukkot and Shabbat both went well for me, in a mostly low-key way.

( Sukkot )

( Shabbat )

So far we've been able to have all our at-home meals in the sukkah. (It looked like we might get lunchtime rain today, but we didn't.) Tomorrow we're visiting friends fron the congregation for lunch, and then we're having guests for dinner. That'll be nice, since we didn't have any guests for Yom Tov or Shabbat. Once again I have failed to invite my highly-allergic-to-cats rabbi over for a meal in the sukkah, though there might still be time. (That is, there are still days before the end of the festival, but he tends to be pretty busy. Next year I need to remember to invite him, oh, before Rosh Hashana.)