Here at VBB Residential, we are on the National Do Not Call Registry. I don't really perceive that it has helped to reduce the annoyance-call volume, though. I handle these calls in different ways, depending on my mood. Sometimes I just feel like slamming down the phone. Other times I feel like stringing them along. Still other times, I try to engage them in real discussion. Before anyone calls me out for playing games with these people who are "just trying to make a living," I would like to add that I worked at a phone bank in college, trying to raise money for the university, and I am WELL AWARE of the trying conditions such people are working under. Makes no difference to me. Anyway. Just last night....
The phone just rang here as we were finishing dinner:
<ring ring>
Me: hello?
Me: hello, hellooooo, may I help you?Bob: [heavily accented, Indian] Hello, this is Bob from Healthwatch calling to-
Me: excuse me, you are who from where?
Bob: Hello, this is Bob from Healthwatch. I am calling to-
Me: I'm sorry. One more time. Slowly please. You are who, and you work for whom?
Bob: This is Bob from Healthwatch and I am calling to inform you if you have suffered from side effects from prescription-
Me: Oh wait. Do you work for an attorney's office?
Bob: This is Bob from Healthwatch and-
Me: No, wait. I'm trying to figure out what you are bothering me about. Do you work for an attorney, is that it?
Bob: Yes, I am Bob from Healthwatch and I am calling to inform you if you have suffered or a loved one has suffered from side effects from prescription drugs, then-
Me: OK, wait, again, you work for an attorney, and what you're doing is soliciting people to file medical malpractice suits of some kind?
Bob: Yes.
Me: OK, I understand. I have another question. How do you sleep at night?
Bob: Miss, I am not understanding you.
Me: I do not think I could sleep at night if I had this kind of job, it seems like a kind of scuzzy thing to do, to solicit people who have no intention of filing a lawsuit to file a lawsuit.
Some time during that last remark, he hung up on me.
I take a baby Aspirin each day, and sometimes it causes unsightly bruising. Can you have Bob call me?
ReplyDeleteJust day before yesterday, I decided I should try a new tactic. I have always tried to be nice saying, "No, thank you" and yet they go on and on. I'm not a big fan of hanging up on people, so when they asked my name and I realized it was a solicitation (even thought I am on the DO NOT CALL list), I told them to hang on. I left the phone and went about my business. I picked up the phone a minute later and they had already hung up on me. I think that will be my new shtick.
ReplyDeleteI read from the bible.
ReplyDeleteMy all-time favorite solicitation was when someone with a very strong southern accent called me from "The New York Times, perhaps you've heard of us." Perhaps I've heard of them!!! Really !! Perhaps since I am not a two-year-old toddler. The best part was I already subscribed to the Sunday version for the crossword puzzle, and our conversation mostly consisted of us discussing the fact I do the puzzles in pen.
ReplyDeleteI am nice to the market research callers. If the survey isn't too long and I'm in the mood, I'll even participate.
ReplyDeleteThose who are selling something are immediately reported to the DoNotCall database. If enough people complain about calls to DoNotCall phone numbers, the companies involved are supposedly fined or otherwise disciplined.
I've always wondered if this is a typical American practice. I live in Belgium and the only companies that make such calls are internet/telephone providers (to switch providers, not to sue someone), and I get these phone calls maybe once every four of five months.
ReplyDeleteMy late father in law, when asked, "How are you today, Edward?" would answer, as any 95 year old (but very clear in his head) might answer, with the truth. After a while the truth generally scared them off, and the line would go dead.
ReplyDeleteMy late father in law, when asked, "How are you today, Edward?" would answer, as any 95 year old (but very clear in his head) might answer, with the truth. After a while the truth generally scared them off, and the line would go dead.
ReplyDelete