Thankfully, the government established a Do Not Call list to ban telemarketers from disrupting that little thing we must attend to everyday: life. Unless you switched your phone off (no more taking the receiver off the hook because of the torturous beep-beep-beep to tell us that we’ve taken our phone off the hook), there was no safe time to eat dinner, take a nap, watch TV, or do the hanky panky. We now also have the extra protection of a Privacy Directory offered by AT andT and other carriers. But occasionally obnoxious sales pitches still get through. They are the Jehovah Witnesses of the phone lines.
My son came up with several interesting ways of dealing with these incorporeal intruders. Most reps are just doing their jobs, although I have been called some pretty foul names by telemarketers when I told them to take my name off their lists or asked to speak to their supervisors. My son, however, took a different approach. He would tell them that our house was on fire and start screaming. Other times, he would ask them what kind of pizza they liked best. My personal favorite was when he would inform the telemarketer that he should call later since the FBI had the phone bugged “because my dad’s been doing some pretty weird things with his offshore bank accounts.” (Click. Buzzzzzz.) If the telemarketer was female, he would ask her out on a date. Still other times, he would get out a textbook and begin reading his Spanish homework.
Cruel? No, not if the people refuse to honor my privacy, and I would argue that they don’t have the right to call me to begin with. My latest rant is against those companies that retain the right to call us because we do business with them: phone companies, credit card companies, cable companies, etc. Ironically, AT and T, which provides my Privacy Directory, keeps calling to see if I like its service. Fie on loopholes! Recently, the Hampton Inn Corporation called me seven times in less than two weeks because I stayed in one of their establishments eleven months ago. They kept calling even after I said I wasn’t interested in booking a room in Anchorage and then taking a cruise. In frustration, I started talking about pepperoni and cheese. The folks at Hampton don’t bother me anymore.
Today’s Slick Fish Award goes to companies that believe they have the right to bother perfect strangers using the telephone.
(Picture: Public Domain)
My son came up with several interesting ways of dealing with these incorporeal intruders. Most reps are just doing their jobs, although I have been called some pretty foul names by telemarketers when I told them to take my name off their lists or asked to speak to their supervisors. My son, however, took a different approach. He would tell them that our house was on fire and start screaming. Other times, he would ask them what kind of pizza they liked best. My personal favorite was when he would inform the telemarketer that he should call later since the FBI had the phone bugged “because my dad’s been doing some pretty weird things with his offshore bank accounts.” (Click. Buzzzzzz.) If the telemarketer was female, he would ask her out on a date. Still other times, he would get out a textbook and begin reading his Spanish homework.
Cruel? No, not if the people refuse to honor my privacy, and I would argue that they don’t have the right to call me to begin with. My latest rant is against those companies that retain the right to call us because we do business with them: phone companies, credit card companies, cable companies, etc. Ironically, AT and T, which provides my Privacy Directory, keeps calling to see if I like its service. Fie on loopholes! Recently, the Hampton Inn Corporation called me seven times in less than two weeks because I stayed in one of their establishments eleven months ago. They kept calling even after I said I wasn’t interested in booking a room in Anchorage and then taking a cruise. In frustration, I started talking about pepperoni and cheese. The folks at Hampton don’t bother me anymore.
Today’s Slick Fish Award goes to companies that believe they have the right to bother perfect strangers using the telephone.
(Picture: Public Domain)
7 comments:
I once asked a Jehova's Witness if he wanted to bring his missus around for a few beers and a wild romp with some swinger mates of mine. The least he could have done was called an canceled, I thought.
LOL. Canceled indeed. Rude sons of guns!
My husband invited two Jehova's witnesses into a friendly debate. After having spent an hour with my DH, those people never came again.
Unfortunately, yet others came and keep coming.
The invasion of privacy is enough to make you apoplectic. As are the charities who call at the door not for a donation anymore but a bank direct debit:-(
But a cruise/Anchorage ...sounds tempting:-)
That was hilarious! I especially liked the one about the FBI and Spanish homework. I signed up for the DNC thingie last year. I even blogged about it. Household bank kept calling my house despite the fact that I asked them not to NUMEROUS times. It got to the point that as soon as I knew it was them on the phone, I'd start pretending to speak in tongues. I'm serious. ;-) They stopped calling after that.
Lane, asking for a direct debit? Unbelievable. No, wait a sec. All too believable. Damn.
Speaking in tongues! What a great idea! I'll have to add it to my list. Thanks.
And yes, a little sit down with DH is what some of these folks need.
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