Ranblings: Telemarketers, Tucson Zombie Walk, Mac Shiira

[ickaimp]

Icka!'s personal trick for dealing with spam phonecalls/telemarketers:

-DO NOT HANG UP. Yeah, they're annoying. Do something else while tuning the recorded voice out. Pet a cat. Chase a ferret. Make tea. Ponder Dishes. Figure out how to polka. Wonder about that green thing in the back of the fridge that is slowly becoming sentient. Do not hang up.
-Reason for this: Majority of the time, there's a thing about 'If you do not wish to receive further notifications about blah blah, press 9', or 'Press 2' at the -end- of the message.
-Press said number. Hi. For 30 seconds of your time, you're now off their call list. There usually are not repeat phone calls for that particular ad. Or you'll get one six months later. But six months later is better than the next day for n-told number of weeks, ne?
-If they do not say 'to be removed' or the like, but they did say 'Press One to talk to an associate/live person/learn more' press one and try to get someone. Then Request To Be Put On Their 'Do Not Call List'. They usually immediately hang up, but hey, you don't get called back again.

-If you get a live person trying to sell you vacation time, you can ask to be put on their Do Not Call List, OR be so poor that you don't qualify, in which case you get put on their Do Not Call list anyway. ^____^
... I find it helps to be polite (partly because there by the Grace of Gods go I) because if you're chatting up the cute sounding girl/guy on the other end, they're not calling other people, which is a subtle reward in and of itself. They've got a tough job as it is, they don't need my cussing adding to it.
Or I've been told that if they're real persistent, ask if they're wearing pants. Tell them you're not. Make suggestive sounds. Evidently this works well, but I've never had the pleasure of trying it.

... may not work for everyone, but so far it's cut down our spam down a lot. #^^# Mused about this while chatting up a guy about a vacation in Mexico while sweeping the floors. *shrugs* They're people too.

Hey, Tucson People! There's a Tucson Zombie Walk on 13 Oct!! *bounces* Tempted to pull out Larva. XD

Any Mac users out there, heard anything about the Shiira browser? Looks interesting.

(Poking at Gordian Knot... so far have one vote for Hakuba being his stalker-ish self in his Sherlock Holmes Inverness, one vote for him wearing a trenchcoat and one vote for him either naked or wearing only a tie. Since Ysabet, high on cold medicine, suggested the last one, I think we're gonna discount it... ^^;; )

Comments

[candy--chan.livejournal.com]

Another way to avoid phone calls with them is to not have a land-line. I can't afford one, instead using my cell phone. Haven't gotten a single telemarketer call \o/

*quietly supports Ysabet's suggestion*

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

That's true too. XD Yay for mobiles!!

[joisbishmyoga.livejournal.com]

I vote for the Sherlock gear. He's freaked, he's off-balance, so it's time for comfort food, Sir Stinky, favorite pjs, and the (incidentally, very concealing) Inverness coat.

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

Um... will half-naked Kid as a teddy bear work instead?

[saitaina]

Trench = smex
Sherlock coat = Kaito laughing his ass off

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

*Salutes* Trench it is then.

[the_rck]

The one recurring telemarketer we get (discounting the charity fundraisers) is a taped call that I think has to be phishing. It claims to have important information about 'your current credit card account' without specifying any affiliations or saying what they're trying to sell.

They have an opt out at the end of the taped call, but following the directions leads to an error message-- 'That is not a valid option.'

It makes me wonder if I should tape the call some day and report them.

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

I got that one for a while, until I finally got a live person and asked to be put on the do not call list. ^^;; Then it stopped.

Best one was when we got one of those calls from India.

"All I said was my name is John. You are not interested in John?"
"... No."

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

Oooh. :) Nice. I find that "I'm broke, I'm living from paycheck to paycheck" works. Of course, my favorite story involving telemarketers would be the one who called and asked to talk to my dad...

Ellen: I'm sorry, he's deceased.
Telemarketer: Oh... What would be a good time to call back?

Yeah.

Incidentally, I second Saitaina's assertion of trenchcoats on Hakuba being extremely hot. :)

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

Okay, trenchcoat it is then. Inverness isn't exactly low profile anyway. ^^;;

*chuckles* Did you ever hear this one? (http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/deadcard.asp)
(Sorry about your Dad)

Yeah, paycheck to paycheck does seem to deter most Telemarketers. ^^;;

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

It's been ten years *Dear God, really?* but thank you for your sympathy. :)