[PLUG-TALK] Re: What to do when the telemarketer calls

[Keith Lofstrom]

Rich Shepard writes:

>    I don't know about the rest of you, but I added our telephone numbers to
> the national "do not call" list as soon as I could. It's been amazingly
> successful; SpamAssassin for the telephone.
> 
>    However, there are occasions when some telemarketer calls anyway (usually
> on the business line and during the day). I generally hang up on them, but
> the following link has a great script to reverse the roles:
>
>                 <http://www.xs4all.nl/~egbg/counterscript.html>

Great script!  Note that there are three other ways to deal with these
bozos:
(1) a Zapper.  When you pick up the phone, this device emits the
    first note of the "this number has been disconnected" signal,
    which usually causes the telemarketer dialing machine to give
    up before connecting a human.  Works for me.

(2) Hang up - which I do when (1) doesn't work.

(3) Another great way if you like to talk (I don't):

A friend of mine is the son of a professor at the University of Tennessee.
The professor was having a small dinner party at his home when one of the
telemarketers called.  The professor put the call on speakerphone and 
then affected a courtly, and very slow, southern drawl.  He got the
telemarketer to run through their entire pitch, then said "Now,... that
was ... right interesting.  But I'm a little ... hard of hearing.  Could
you repeat that ... more slowly ... please?"  After a second, much slower
runthrough, the professor made the same request, even more slowly, and
the telemarketer spoke very, very slowly for the third time.  Halfway
through the fourth version of the pitch, at a snails pace, one of the
guests could no longer contain their laughter - the room burst out in
laughter and the telemarketer hung up.

The worst thing that can happen to these people is that you waste
their time (try getting anything done legally...).  The professor
figured that out, and it works on telemarketers, door-to-door 
solicitations, spammers (look on line for "mugu baiting"),  and all
sorts of other annoyances.  

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs