Do you accept phone calls from strangers?

Do you take phone calls from strangers


  • Total voters
    133
Just have to reply to this. For the record I don't accept calls from strangers but to cuss out some poor chump who just needed a job is pretty harsh. Years ago I was that chump. One day someone asked me why I didn't get a real job? I said 'I'd be happy to sir, are you offering me employment at a rate equal or higher to my current compensation?'. He laughed and said 'ok, you got me there'.
As I said, I don't do that to charities or other legitimate causes.

Scammers and telemarketers? I have a VERY hard time feeling any sympathy at all for them. A person deserves to live in peace without the damn phone ringing constantly. I don't make unwanted calls to other people's houses, and I don't want them made to mine.

Sorry if that offends you.
 
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As I said, I don't do that to charities or other legitimate causes.

Scammers and telemarketers? I have a VERY hard time feeling any sympathy at all for them. A person deserves to live in peace without the damn phone ringing constantly. I don't make unwanted calls to other people's houses, and I don't want them made to mine.

Sorry if that offends you.
Hey whatever - kudos to you if you never had to get a crappy job to survive.
 
I almost always answer the phone unless I know for sure it is someone I don't want to talk to. I don't think I have ever had a scammer or telemarketer call me not once in 50 years perhaps I am just lucky.


Regards Snow
 
I just hit the on hook button as many times as I feel l like until it disconnects them or they disconnect..

Back in the nineties~ 2010 times, at least here in NE. FL. I just advised all human solicitor`s to permanently put my telephone # on their "do not call list" and that failure to do so will result in legal action, as permitted by Federal Law..
Advising them that I had already successfully won a monetary award and that the judge has to award, as it`s Federally mandated.

Seemed to have worked back then as after a few months of saying that the calls decreased considerably.

Also, back in the late nineties when I still had dialup, I had a second land line installed for just dial up with only one phone connected to it.

I never gave out that tel.#, so one day my now deceased attorney friend was visiting and that dial up phone rang, which annoyed me, as I knew it had to be a solicitor(most likely) or a miss-dialed call, and he requested that I let him deal with it, so he did a pretty clever thing when he answered it by saying in a official sounding voice: "Air Defense Command-- access code please" ??
I couldn`t hear clearly what the solicitor was saying, but my friend said they apologized and said that my/that tel. # would be removed from the national call list ,and would also be entered into the national do not call database, that the legit solicitor`s use..
That phone, as I recollect didn`t ring again for the few more years that I had that separate dialup land line in service..

OKB
 
Trust me no one ever wakes up one day and thinks 'boy, I want to be a telemarketer!'. Most of them probably applied to dozens of other jobs first and then took the job when rent was due in ten days. That was the worst job I ever had and trust me I quit as soon as I could.
 
<Indian voice> "Just a very quick survey Sir, it will only take a minute of your time...."

<Me> "No it won't, it'll take less than 2 seconds goodbye" click brrrrrrrrr.... :D
Be careful, your first line might unintentionally ruffle some feathers.
 
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Trust me no one ever wakes up one day and thinks 'boy, I want to be a telemarketer!'. Most of them probably applied to dozens of other jobs first and then took the job when rent was due in ten days. That was the worst job I ever had and trust me I quit as soon as I could.

Your right Sir.
That why I never cussed or verbally abused them, just a polite request of tel. # removal and advisement of the legal consequences of failure to do so, at least it worked back in the day..

All that has changed these days, so I look at caller ID, and if I don`t recognize, I then simply pickup the phone and then place back in the cradle..
I pay for a land line and it`s not going to be a conduit for incoming robo call pestering, period !!
 
@beat_truck, I know the frustration, trust me, I really do. I don't have sympathy for actual scam artists, but I do have sympathy for a poor bloke just doing a job. I worked rent to own for over 5 years. Not a dream job by any means; the hours were good, but that was about it. Our job was to call those who were behind on their payment for either a payment or merchandise pickup. I can't tell you the times I was cursed at either on the phone or in person, nor the times I was threatened with physical harm either on the phone or in person. Yes, I had to have the police involved in some instances. Then if you had to call their references (they had to list 4), that was opening up a whole new ball of wax. If it's a scam, give them heck. If not, be nice.
 
@beat_truck, let me add something. Part of my job was also to telemarket. I hated that just as much; I'm sitting there trying to goad people into buying, for instance, a 32" TV that they could get at WalMart for $150 but asking them to pay $5.99 per week for 96 weeks. Add on to that "insurance" of $5 per week, plus any late fees and in-home collection fees. I felt dirty, dude, dirty. It was the best I could do for a job at the time. Had I not have called these people, I don't have a job. Not only were we required to call prior customers, we were also told at times to call the references of the people to see if they wanted to rent something. We were doing a job. Go easy on folks.
 
Surely there has got to be some way to end these calls. The Do Not Call List sure didn't. If anyone has something that actually works, I'm all ears.

Really, just don't take the calls. Don't answer. De-activate your recording/voicemail/machine or whatever's necessary. It's not worth getting your blood pressure elevated. OTOH, while I have sympathy for people just trying to make a living--there are ways and there are ways. I couldn't live with myself if I made a living by victimizing people, particularly those less fortunate in life. "Just following orders" is a phrase we've heard in some really unpleasant contexts. There are always other jobs, even if they're (also) not ideal.

This thread was intended to be light-hearted (note some of the poll options) and I certainly didn't intend for anyone to get his feathers ruffled.

As an aside, I moderate a forum where one of the most prolific contributors (and a generally amiable person) made his fortune manufacturing auto-dialing devices. It's all I can do not to give him a smack!

 
OTOH, while I have sympathy for people just trying to make a living--there are ways and there are ways. I couldn't live with myself if I made a living by victimizing people, particularly those less fortunate in life. "Just following orders" is a phrase we've heard in some really unpleasant contexts. There are always other jobs, even if they're (also) not ideal.
Agreed.
I wouldn't be able to do a job that's sole purpose is taking advantage of other people, either. I'd literally do just about anything else.
 
Agreed.
I wouldn't be able to do a job that's sole purpose is taking advantage of other people, either. I'd literally do just about anything else.

Yes it can be problematic being cursed with the burden of a conscience, but it`s a load that I`m willing to carry because I like to be able to sleep..

Carry on folks, OKB
 
<Indian voice> "Just a very quick survey Sir, it will only take a minute of your time...."

<Me> "No it won't, it'll take less than 2 seconds goodbye" click brrrrrrrrr.... :D

A few years ago, I was getting surveys about laboratory instrumentation at work. They seemed to think I was the Consumer Reports of lab instruments, asking me about how the instruments I used compared to other brands. A good laboratory technician takes care of his instruments, so they last a long time. As a result, you don't have experience using a variety of brands. The next time someone called, I told him I had already taken the survey, but he insisted on doing another 10 minute survey. I finally started telling the callers "You have 30 seconds." They would respond by saying that was not enough time and ask if there was a more convenient time for me. I would then tell them that I was not interested.

I was a Gallop Poll member for a while, but found the surveys to be more like interrogations; their length designed to break you down through lack of water, food, and sleep. Most surveys seem to have this fault. Here's a hint: If it won't fit on one screen at 1024x768, then it is too long.
 
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