<p>When I politely interrupt a caller from a charity and ask them to stop the call and to remove us from their calling list … they typically stop and (at least say) they will remove us from their calling list</p>
<p>When I politely interrupt a caller from a for profit company and ask them to stop the call and to remove us from their calling list … they typically quite politely say yes and then move on to the next branch of the call script which continues the sell job. I continue to be polite, even as I hang up, but my behavior seems to typically have no affect at actually ending the call.</p>
<p>The reason it matters to me is that the calls often come at inconvenient times, like when I’m sitting down for dinner. Like others, I have family and other reasons that I usually pick up the phone, and it’s annoying when it’s an unwanted call. I wouldn’t call it a big deal, exactly, but I think the do not call law didn’t go far enough.</p>
<p>IMO one of the main reasons they hide their number is because no one would answer the phone if they didn’t. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you. Heck, several of the charities hide their number too. Regardless, while these marketing calls are beyond annoying, likening them to bank robbers is silly. Maybe we should liken them to murderers too while we’re at it.</p>
<p>Rule at our house is we don’t answer the phone during dinner. Period. Whoever it is can leave a message. With caller ID you can easily see if its a family member and you need to take the call. Otherwise, don’t answer. This isn’t rocket science.</p>
<p>^ still have to get up from the dinner table to look at the caller ID if you think you might need to answer. I don’t get up, I let it all go to machine…if I must get up when I hear the message, then I do.</p>
<p>I suppose if one was expecting a call on their land line that was urgent enough, They could pick up the cordless handset in advance and keep it at the table. Am going out on a limb here and making the assumption that those of us who still have landlines don’t also have corded phones. Some people may still have a base station with a corded phone, but if so they could grab a cordless handset from elsewhere to be prepared.</p>
<p>I guess. If my podunk landline phone company offers selective caller block, I bet almost all do now. I googled to find instructions for mine and the phone hardly ever rings with unwanted calls anymore. </p>
<p>Since I have been on Do Not Call for years, it’s really only two companies that have regularly called and I’ve now blocked them.</p>
<p>There are phones with a talking Caller ID so you don’t have to waste steps checking the Caller ID. I’m waiting for someone to invent a talking doorbell ID based on a doorbell fingerprint scan. If the fingerprint is unknown the doorbell turns into a silent mode.</p>
<p>People will knock on the wall or frame of our screen door if there is no response to the doorbell, so I don’t feel the fingerprint scanner will make any difference for our household. People I know do NOT generally call me during mealtimes, and if they do will leave me an answer on the answering machine that I can pick up if I want. We have corded and cordless phones. It is a good thing to have a corded landline when we have power outages, since they continue to work while the cordless ones may not.</p>
<p>They’re not permitted to end the call. That is why you would be doing both of you a favor if you hang up the phone. They can move on to the next call as soon as you hang up.</p>