Even though I have been on the Colorado and National No-Call lists since their inception, I still get telemarketing calls several times a week (which is a huge improvement over the 20+ calls per day I was getting before the lists went into effect).

I got a call today from some outfit selling windows and siding and I merely asked, "So, tell me why I should want to do business with a company that isn't willing to respect my wishes vis-a-vis the Colorado and National No-Call lists." To which he merely responded, "You wouldn't," and hung up.

Yeah!!!!

Usually they try to feed me some crap about how this is not really a solicitation and they aren't trying to sell me anything but are providing a community service by informing me about this wonderful money-saving opportunity, blah, blah, blah.

 

I usually ask if I get a free vacation... After some argue back and forth, they usually hang up.

One time a student working part time called, offering to lower my phone bill. When I said I had free company phone, she asked if we could just chit-chat. She had 45 min left of her shift.

So we did. She told me most og her life story, and I felt great, being a good listener.

 

The night before I had to leave for Air Force basic training I got a call and the person, a gal, asked to speak with someone by a name that I didn't recognize. The conversation went very, very close to the following:

THEY: "May I speak with Ms. Mumblemumble?"
ME: "Sorry, you've got the wrong number."
THEM: (In a sultry voice) "Well, would you care for some, uh, affection this evening?"
ME: "Sure, sounds good to me!"
THEM: (In a very unsteady voice) "Uhm, uhm. Just what did you, uhm, have in mind?"
ME: "Well, just what do you have to offer?"

At this point they hung up and I figured that that was that. About five minutes later she called back and was very frantic:

THEM: "I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean that!"
ME: "That's okay. I'm sure you didn't."
THEM: "I'm not that kind of girl! Oh, God! Do you KNOW me?"
ME: "I don't know -- you called me, remember?"
THEM: "Oh, right."

At this point they hung up again and I figured that that was that. About twenty minutes later she called back but was noticeably calmer:

THEM: "I just wanted to explain. I'm not that kind of girl. I'm working as a telemarketer and was so bored that when you told me I had a wrong number I don't know what came over me, but I just had to turn it into a prank call. But now I'm SO embarrassed that, even though you don't know me, I just HAD to set the record straight."

So we talked for about 45 minutes and by the time she hung up this time I had her name and phone number. Later, when I was home from Tech School training, we went out for a date (horseback riding and a movie) and we had a great time. She was very attractive (in fact, she was trying to break into fashion modeling) and very sweet. I think something could have developed if I wasn't leaving for a permanent tour of duty half way across the country. We stayed in touch for several months before she, very naturally, met someone else. When she broke it off with me she even wanted me and the other guy to talk to each other -- it was awkward, but very civil. I hope he treated her well or that, in the end, she found someone that did.

But I can honestly say that I've gone out with every girl that has ever made an obscene phone call to me.

Oh, and it turned out that the Ms. Mumblemumble was intended to be my stepmother's maiden name, which is Czechoslovakian.

 

I don't answer any phone number I don't recognize. (The answering machine doesn't record hang-ups. ) That seems to keep the number of solicitation calls below 15 per week. If I accidentally answer a solicitation call, I can expect 20 or more calls per week for the next 3 weeks. They don't waste my time (much). I hope they waste their time, a lot.

 

I don't answer any phone number I don't recognize. (The answering machine doesn't record hang-ups. ) That seems to keep the number of solicitation calls below 15 per week. If I accidentally answer a solicitation call, I can expect 20 or more calls per week for the next 3 weeks. They don't waste my time (much). I hope they waste their time, a lot.

That's just not an option for me. I just think of what would have happened if I had chosen that approach the morning that I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and the reason that I didn't recognize it was because it was from the couple that stopped to help my wife after she had rolled her car twice on the highway in a blizzard on the way to work. Similarly, when my daughter starts going to activities on her own -- and even more so when she starts dating -- I don't want to even think about her trying to call me from someone else's phone after something has happened and me not taking the call because I don't recognize the number.

 

I have a backup plan. The answering machine answers after 4 rings and I can hear the voice.

 

I have a backup plan. The answering machine answers after 4 rings and I can hear the voice.

Whatever works -- we each have to find that balance.

My wife uses this approach and it drives me crazy. If I call home (we don't have caller ID on the house landline) I have to wait for five rings and then I have to wait through the greeting message and then I have to ask her to pick up if she is there and then I have to wait for her to get to the phone, assuming that she heard me. It drives me insane.

When I call someone and I get an answering machine I seldom leave a message -- I want to talk to the person right now and if they aren't home I hang up and move on. I did this when calling home for months before I discovered that my wife was screening calls this way.

 

I always answer the phone, pretty much because I don't know what's going on at the other end. It could be an accident of some kind, or it could be the lottery.

 

When I call someone and I get an answering machine I seldom leave a message .

I don't know why... but I hate answering machines. The thought of leaving my voice trapped into an electronic device, waiting for it to be later retrieved and heard possibly by a stranger who was not the intended recipient makes me a little uneasy...
guess that's part of my weird side...