Caller (after typical delay signaling this is a junk call): Can I speak to [husband’s first name]?
Me: And who’s calling?
Caller: Emily, and I’m calling about the (sic) mortgage rate.
Me: And who do you represent?
Caller: 12 banks.
Me: Wow, 12 banks, and not one of them honors the Do Not Call list?
Caller: No.
Me: Oh, that’s amazing.
Caller: Whattya gonna do about it?
Sigh. Wish there was something I COULD do about it, Emily. I know, I should just hang up when I answer the phone and there’s that delay, but on rare occasions it’s someone I actually know getting distracted as they place the call.
Marketing call that Mr. B picked up the other day.
Mr.: Who’s calling?
Rep: So and so from you such and such Telecom. I have an amazing new offer for you. Oh, could you please give me a second, my computer is acting up.
Mr.: Sure! (The caller sounded like an American college kid, and Mr. was in a good mood).
Rep: Im so sorry, sir! My computer froze. I need to reboot it. Can I ask you to stay on the line while I am restarting it? It should not take long, I promise!
Mr.: Sure.
…After 5 minutes…
Rep: I am so sorry, sir! Can I call you back? The offer is amazing. But this computer would not cooperate today!
We don’t have a land line anymore, but H is that patient with solicitors.
I have no idea why. I don’t even answer the door, or I do so after a long delay during which I am putting the beast on the back porch so he doesn’t eat them.
I got a call for my wife. I asked what it was about and was told they couldn’t tell me because of privacy laws. So I gave the phone to my wife: they tried to sell her some sort of mortgage refi and she hung up.
“I got a call for my wife. I asked what it was about and was told they couldn’t tell me because of privacy laws.”
Mr. B got a similar call. The caller was male. Mr. pretended that he was a jealous husband and made a scene, and the caller reluctantly admitted that he was calling about an offer from Bloomies.
@MommaJ, did you hang up when she got snotty? That’s the last word in obnoxious - ignore the Do Not Call registry, interrupt a fellow human to serve your own needs, and then sneer about it.
I rarely get sales calls from a live person these days. I do hang up when I hear that telltale delay, or when a caller stumbles on the last name. On rare occasions, I’ve hung up on a legitimate caller, so I no longer add the opposite of “have a nice day.” (I used to enjoy doing that!)
Maybe the next time I get a caller with attitude, I’ll just say “hold on a minute” and put the phone down for an hour or two. I would enjoy hearing any ingenious ways CCers handle calls like this. A friend used to say “He’s right here” when the caller asked for someone by name, then give the phone to her 2 year-old.
