I really do. The Golden Rule is my major guide to behavior. I know from experience that what goes around comes around, so until I have good reason to do otherwise, I treat people with respect and strive for openness and honesty in all my dealings. I'm polite to strangers, gentlemanly to ladies and kind to animals.

While I'll be the first to admit that I got short-changed when they were doling out empathy, I do feel for the less fortunate among us.

But.

Look, I'm sorry that your fortunes are such that the best job you can get is working a call center. Whether it be your lack of education, opportunity or ambition or you had the misfortune to be born in an overpopulated, under-industrialized shithole of a country where making cold calls is a respected profession, I feel for you, I really do.

But my supply of politesse is limited and after 66 years, is running dangerously low. I have to conserve what little is left for dealing with people face-to-face, if for no other reason than to avoid having my wrinkled old ass kicked.

Therefore, I am FUCKING DONE being nice to telemarketers. I'm not going to wait for a break in your patter to politely inform you that I'm not interested, thank you. When I answer the phone, you have 5 seconds to convince me that you are someone I want/need to talk to. Failing that, I'm going to hang up in your ear.

I'm really sorry that your life sucks that bad, but I'm done letting it make my life suck, mmmmmkay?

If I see a number I don't know on my caller ID (my home phone displays it on the TV), I just don't answer it, period. Nothing I need or want needs to be bought from a telemarketer.

I like talk radio WSB to be exact.
Get around five of these calls a day.
If I don't recognize the # I hit the talk button and sit in front of the radio speaker.
This makes the speaker squeal and lots of static.
You know when they hang up as the radio plays normal.

So......the point you were trying to make is that you are sick and tired of phone solicitors?
Just checking. You were kind of vague about it.

We dropped our land line because of phone solicitors and wrong numbers.
We'd get calls at 9 and 10PM.

We now have cell phones with a spam blocker that blocks unwanted calls.
It runs of a national database and we can add any number that calls us to that list.
Now we get zero unwanted calls except for the occasional first timer who immediately gets blocked and put on the list.
Life is good..........

quote:

Originally posted by gasbag:

We dropped our land line because of phone solicitors and wrong numbers.
We'd get calls at 9 and 10PM.

Same here. I can recall picking up the landline and it was yet another telemarketer. Then it dawned on me. I turned to the Mrs. and asked: When was the last time you used this phone? She couldn't remember because, like me, we had long since converted to using our cellphone exclusively. The only time the landline rang anymore was spam calls.

We had the landline turned off the same day.

I've found the best thing to do is to tell them "Hold on let me get the person in charge of making decisions" and I just set the phone down and let them waste their time for as long as they're willing to wait.

I'm getting tired of trying to convince Telemarketers that I can't or will not install a Solar Panel or a high tech security system in an Apartment.

I always just hang up on them and forget about it.

I had a local number come up the other day so I answered it. Telemarketer speaking some form of Ebonics. I kept saying "WHAT?!" He hung up after the fourth time.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
I had a local number come up the other day so I answered it. Telemarketer speaking some form of Ebonics. I kept saying "WHAT?!" He hung up after the fourth time.

pretty much my approach as well. i'll also say 'speak louder I can't hear you' and see how loud they will scream

Know the feeling. Had 3 on our home phone, and 1 on my cell and 1 on my wifes' phone today so far.

Just use your best pre-vert voice and ask, "What are you wearing? Do you have underwear on? What color is it?"

I received one at work yesterday. It was a telemarketer offering me an extended warranty on my car. Problem is that "at work" is a car dealership. It was quite slow yesterday so I played along until I got a real person on the line.

"Antonio" politely introduced himself and started his spiel. I interrupted him with "Do you realize the irony of this whole thing? Do you realize that you are trying to sell a extended warranty to a new car dealership?"

It took a couple seconds for this to sink in, at that point he did acknowledge that he probably (1) would not be successful in selling me a warranty, and (2) he volunteered without me asking to remove my direct number from his data base.

I too get tired of these calls and try everything in the book to stop them, usually with no luck. The other day I got one for the "Free Security System". It was a young lady, I was not doing anything important at the time so I let her rattle off her spiel until she got to the closing line, you know the one where regardless of what you answer you are usually giving them a positive answer. Anyway I answered with just a simple "No" and then silence. She fidgeted for a few seconds and then said good-bye. Think I'll use this approach for a while and see how long it takes them to get a retort for that.

http://www.independent.co.uk/l...-prank-a6813081.html

A friend has Lenny set up at home. It works amazingly well.

I have been pretty successful in stopping repeat calls with the following: "I need to inform you this conversation is being recorded for possible future prosecution by the Attorney General's office. This phone number is to be put on the no call list."

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
If I see a number I don't know on my caller ID (my home phone displays it on the TV), I just don't answer it, period. Nothing I need or want needs to be bought from a telemarketer.

I would like to be able to do this, but cannot.

We have friends and family living in Germany, and the caller ID does not show their real phone numbers.

If the Mrs. is home I seldom answer the phone but when I do it better be a legitimate call. Otherwise, they get cut off in mid word.

No discussion, no explanations, etc. Just hang up.

Giving some poor schlub an ear full does not help the fact that they are somehow "required" to make cold calls.

If I don't recognize the number, or aren't expecting a call back, I won't pick up. That simple. If it's that important they get in touch with me they can leave a message. Drives my dad crazy, who insists on answering the phone regardless of who's on the other end....but he's also the sort of guy who gets upset when it's a telemarketer or something of the sort. I just don't understand it...

When we first moved in, whoever had our number before us had a lot of people after them for money. I really enjoyed screwing with the debt collectors when they would call. Got one guy into a rage, I was loving it.

Unfortunately, it's the NRA and the American Red Cross who bug me the most. I kid you not, I finally told the Red Cross that I contracted Aids while having gay sex in Africa. At least now they stopped calling.