Heh Heh Heh... One of my favorite topics.
I worked for the phone company on a contract at a federal facility and did some toe-to-toe conflict management dealings with a couple of them. We had two full exchanges (the middle three digits of a 10-digit phone number) for a total of 20,000 phone lines and guess who's name was on the bill and who had the phone number listed for billing?... Yep, mine.
It was pretty easy to say "You know, as a Federal facility, we're not allowed to participate in any surveys or purchase any goods without going through the extensive legal verifications and a competitive bid process. Can I get your Tax ID number and .. hello? Hello? Oh bummer, lost another one... heh heh heh...
At home, when I get those calls that are just 'dead air' when I answer, I hang up. If they don't have a human waiting with baited breath to talk to me, then I don't give them one on my end either. That's an auto dialer that's waiting on a human voice response.
The heck of the Privacy Plus feature is this - it's usually YOUR PHONE COMPANY that has sold YOUR PHONE NUMBER to the people who they now are protecting YOU from while you pay the ADDITIONAL CHARGE for the privacy service. Man, I wish I was getting the internal company bonus for thinking up that marketing scheme!!! I'd have all the privacy an island getaway could offer!!
The Telezapper is nifty but if you have a regular old answering machine (as opposed to voice mail), you can go to
www.privatecitizen.com and record the SIT tones (the sound of a disconnected phone number) and when the autodialer gets the tone from your recording, they mark your number as being disconnected.
As for the human voice on the other end of the phone who calls up and heaven forbid, disrupt the chaos that I claim as my own, I have a number of responses:
1) Hello, Bren. This is blah blah from blah blah company. We're conducting ...blah blah... and we want to know blah blah blah about you (or your home, your credit cards, your whatever). Yeah. Well, I don't share or disclose that information unless I'm doing the soliciting. And, by the way, I do want something... I want you to put me on your 'do not call' list effective today. Can I get your name again. Click. Dang, lost another one.
2) Good evening, Mrs. Buggaboo. We appreciate your donation last year to the blah blah blah organization. Really? How much did I give? Well, I don't have the exact number here right at the moment. Really? I do. Do you want to know how much I gave? Zero. On March 27th, John Smith called and I told him then that this year's money is already committed. Do you see that notation there? I also asked him to remove me from your call list. I have a note of it. (You can almost smell the sweat by now because this guy's thinking 'infraction, small claims court, his quota's gone down the toilet, etc.) Uh, Oh, I do see that (they can't possibly, I'm making it up). I apologize and I'll make sure you're removed.
3) Hi Mrs. B, how are you this evening? Well, I was doing ok.. until my dog just.. oh wait, she's doing it again. Awww, gross!!! I gotta go. click...
4) Is this Bren? Depends, who is this? I'm Joe Schmoe from Capital Co. and we will be in your area... wait, Joe. Where are you now? Really, Phoenix, huh? I've been there. Did you guys get that cold front on Tuesday? We were down Scottsdale back in '92 at blah blah resort. Have you ever been there? Are you in school there or is this your real job? You should really be in radio, you have one of those announcer voices.......
5) Or the cut it short method: Hello Mrs... uh, yes ma'am what was that? I said, "You realize that I had this phone installed for MY communication needs, not yours, right? Well, I don't need anything from you. Don't call again. And by the way, sit up straight and get more sleep, you sound tired."
[This message has been edited by BuggabooBren (edited 04-27-2002).]
