AFTER THE BELL: Cold call conundrum — tell me, how many missed calls did you get today?

Cold calling remains a lifeline for some consumers, especially in rural areas, but South Africa’s spam call crackdown may struggle to reach illegal operators.

There are some questions that I think I will never really understand the answers to.

I’m not talking about quantum physics or international trade. I’m talking about some aspects of life that are more banal.

Like why does my supper plate look exactly the same as the collection of stuff meant for the compost heap? Or how is it that the toilet cubicles in the SABC Radio Park building still have an ashtray?

And why does AfriForum take up so much space in our national discussion?

For a long time one of those questions has been how on Earth does the economic model that leads to so many people calling my phone actually work?

I think most of us assume that we have a wide circle of family, friends, associates, rivals and enemies. And none of them, and I really do mean none of them, have ever bought something as the result of a cold call.

It was the thread running through my mind last night when I was talking to the acting head of the National Consumer Commission Hardin Ratshisusu . He was on The Money Show explaining how their new plan to stop spam calls will work.

It’s a little more complicated than it should be, but essentially you will go to their website, click a series of categories that you do not want to get calls about (think car insurance…) and then all of the direct marketers that are registered by the National Consumer Commission will be told and they will not call you.

Ratshisusu says that while you do have to click each category, it won’t take long – it should just be 10 clicks (or, I presume… taps). And that should dramatically reduce the number of spam calls you get.

It just feels to me like it’s the Wild West out there; probably 99% of the people who have called you have got your information through breaking the Protection of Personal Information Act in the first place. They’re not going to stop now because of something called the Consumer Commission.

What can the commission really do? Is it going to saddle up and go after these people? How will it know who they really are?

When you get these calls do you ask the pre-recorded voice on the other end who is really paying them? And if it’s a real live human being, are you going to ask them?

As a bright and shiny 22-year-old I tried my hand at the cold-calling thing [ Editor’s note: we call it the BPO profession now, Stephen ]. It was landline to landline in those days, selling some kind of cleaning detergent.