Does wank + telemarketing = phone sex?
Oh, customers_suck, you bastion of wank.

shadowsync posts a potentially wanky list of things to do when a telemarketer calls (how to get them to stop calling you the polite way, but phrased badly).

Of course, it's customers_suck. Are they going to let them live it down?

Not if they can help it!

Be sure to look out for

tigerwolf's comment about his newly-purchased airhorn (second page), and

susano_otter's comment about how telemarketing is equivalent to selling yourself (second linked thread, last comment).

And, of course, there's a condensed version of the stupid on stupid_free.

Telemarketing: only the strong survive.

ETA: Fixed to include link to original post.

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	rimrunner 2007-01-20 04:40 pm UTC (link)
	The difficulty there is, if both parties are using the answering machine or voicemail to screen calls, you could conceivably end up playing phone tag all afternoon. I have two numbers and no phone hooked up to the one that's publicly available. People I actually want to talk to get the other sekrit one. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

whimsy_chan
2007-01-20 04:48 pm UTC (link)

No, see, but that's the beauty of it! When the machine picks up and the dude on the other end is like, "Hey, whimsy, it's your old pal What'shisnuts!" that's when I pick up the phone. Because it's my old pal What'shisnuts! I've been wanting to talk to him! It works, I promise it does, but only if you have an answering machine. Voice mail is useless in these cases.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(Anonymous)
2007-01-21 12:28 am UTC (link)

When I get a friend's answering machine I assume they're out and not able to indulge my desire for a yak-a-thon, so I just hang up and go phone someone else. You have to tell them- possibly repeatedly- that you don't answer phones ever and they'll always have to leave a message if they want to talk to you. Which frankly would piss me off a bit if one of my friends did it without a really good reason like a stalker ex.

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	whimsy_chan 2007-01-21 02:00 am UTC (link)
	That's nice. No one I know ever had a problem with leaving a message. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	iwanttobeasleep 2007-01-21 02:25 am UTC (link)
	Actually, I have to agree with the mouse. I absolutely hate leaving messages and will only do so if its really important. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	whimsy_chan 2007-01-21 05:29 am UTC (link)
	Jeez, why's everyone hatin' on the answering machine? D: (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	iwanttobeasleep 2007-01-21 05:32 am UTC (link)
	I always sound stupid when I leave messages, it's very embarrassing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2007-01-21 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	I'm a different mouse from the one above, but for me, when I call someone, I'm hoping to talk to them, or maybe go on a spur-of-the-moment shopping trip/movie/lunch/whatever. I get an answering machine, I just assume that they're not in and hang up. Maybe you just have contacts who don't do that kind of spur of the moment thing? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2007-01-21 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	I think most of my friends have figured it out pretty quick -- if they don't leave a message, I won't pick up. I don't think it's too much to ask, since I don't have call waiting and bad luck with telemarketers. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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