Today's Question

[Jennifer]

If I answer at all, I always say something like "Monkey Scrotums Incorporated, how may I direct your call?" Or I pretend to be an automated thing. But too often they don't seem to hear me and start trying to talk over me. And they ALWAYS hang up within 5 seconds. Or if I'm not in the best of moods I go off with the most vulgar, disgusting, and foul things that can come out of a human mouth.

 

[ozentity]

I usually tell them where to go, one day I was in a unusually happy mood so I spoke to the guy politely,I think it was such a shock to him he told ME to F off and hung up.I found it amusing

 

[garnetsilver]

I usually tell them where to go, one day I was in a unusually happy mood so I spoke to the guy politely,I think it was such a shock to him he told ME to F off and hung up.I found it amusing

That's a different one, for sure! Sometimes I do say rude things, to encourage them to find a better way to make a living. I had a telemarketing job when I was in college, so I had better employment to look forward to when I graduated.

 

[ozentity]

That's a different one, for sure! Sometimes I do say rude things, to encourage them to find a better way to make a living. I had a telemarketing job when I was in college, so I had better employment to look forward to when I graduated.

I know a girl who does telemarketing,they get pretty good pay over here if you can handle the abuse lol.

 

[garnetsilver]

I know a girl who does telemarketing,they get pretty good pay over here if you can handle the abuse lol.

Yes, the abuse was hard to take. That's why I am so good at dishing it out, lol.

 

[TexDanm]

I will tell them once that I am not interested. If they keep going after that I feel free to get creative. I will start speaking to them only in pig Latin. Start telling them an endlessly long-winded story about my hemorrhoid problems. Occasionally if I'm in a hurry I will simply say "Talk to my Butt" and from that point on will only make farting sounds. They usually hang up fast on that one. I LOATHE telemarketing. When I was still working I needed my cell phone to receive and make appointments. I could hardly work for having to check my phone because of them wasting my time. I eventually had to do a message telling people that I never answered my phone but would call them as soon as I had finished my current job. I then also explained why I had to do this. Most people were very accepting of this once they understood that I wasn't just ignoring their call and the telemarketers seldom left a message. When checking my messages I would immediately hit delete at the sound of a computer call.

 

[Ultima Thule]

I go one step further, I don't answer the phone to numbers that I don't recognize. Scammers gave gotten clever, spoofing the number/caller ID. I got a call the other day from myself, that is, my name was on the caller ID.

This started happening to me recently. The first time had an almost paranormal aspect to it. How could I be calling myself??? Though I did resist picking up the phone.

But there seems to be a simple solution. Just block your own number using the 'block' feature of your phone app. So far this has worked nicely. It's been a few weeks and I haven't received a call from myself since.

 

[Paintman]

Hey, I live alone, sometimes need the human interaction.
You see, I can't say to Hank Aaron or Shoeless Jo, " Did you see what that stupid politician said?"
"Why did they call that play?"
Or a rant about a TV cooking show contestant that did not deglaze their pan.
They don't care. They know English, just don't need to say it.

Yes , Hank Aaron is the size of a city bus.

 

[Duke]

Yes, the abuse was hard to take. That's why I am so good at dishing it out, lol.

My son-in-law saw that abuse from the other side. He worked as a supervisor for a customer service call center, a contractor that took calls for several different companies. If a call was referred to a supervisor, the customer was usually pretty pissed off anyway, so he got some pretty irate callers. What was interesting were some of the outrageous demands people made in between the vulgarities.

 

[garnetsilver]

My son-in-law saw that abuse from the other side. He worked as a supervisor for a customer service call center, a contractor that took calls for several different companies. If a call was referred to a supervisor, the customer was usually pretty pissed off anyway, so he got some pretty irate callers. What was interesting were some of the outrageous demands people made in between the vulgarities.

What sort of demands?