Re: listserv for commercial use

[Ken Umbach <kumbach@UNLIMITED.NET>]

Hi ...

Tactics for dealing with unwelcome commercial phone callers:

--bang the phone on a hard surface (or a pizza pan, cookie sheet, or metal
wastebasket -- all EXCELLENT) and shout "D*MN PHONE'S BUSTED AGAIN!  Then
hang up.

--simply set the phone down on the desk ... and ignore it until they hang up
(you can precede this with "excuse me a moment" first, if you wish)

--say "Can I put you on hold for a moment?"  When they say yes, then quietly
hang up

--say "Please call our other number" -- have another number ready
(Dial-a-Prayer is good ... or some number that you are certin no one will
answer -- or maybe the fax machine's number)

--begin replying in a quiet, polite tone, and hang up mid-sentence ... they
will assume that the line was disconnected, as no one hangs up on
themselves.  If they call back, try one of the tactics above

--if they call you by your first name (I hate that from unknown commercial
callers, fund-raisers, etc.), say "Do I know you?  Why are you addressing me
by my first name?")  This so flusters many that they hang up.  (It enrages
some, and results in a string of obscenities.)

Cheers ...

Ken Umbach
(who gets *remarkably* few unwanted commercial calls nowadays)

At 01:05 PM 1/29/98 +0000, you wrote:
>...
>
>*However*; I really do not like *cold*  telephone calls! Email from
>...
>offer saying that I didn't do that. The caller then had the AUDACITY to ask
>"Why?" --- Geez, did this young man actually expect me to explain my
>selection policy and philosophies to him while my students were kept
>...
--
Kenneth W. Umbach, Ph.D., Policy Analyst
California Research Bureau, California State Library
Sacramento, California
E-mail: kumbach@unlimited.net (or kumbach@library.ca.gov)
Phone (voice) 916-653-6002 (fax) 916-654-5829
Personal Web page and selected papers: http://members.unlimited.net/~kumbach
This message reflects my opinion, not that of my employer or anyone else.

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