When I was home Wednesday afternoon trying to get some sleep after my Anal Probing Adventure, my phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing. A few of the calls were from friends and/or family asking how the procedure went. But most were damn telemarketers/solicitors/surveyers/whatevers. I get so annoyed because I put my number on the National Do Not Call List, but apparently that doesn’t apply to everybody. All afternoon I kept trying to remember some of the things on this list so I could mess with these peaky callers, so I went on a search and found it. It’s truly funny.

Please use the following if contacted by a telemarketer!

1. Use a husky, dirty phone sex voice but ask normal questions about the proposed offer.
“Is it a low interest rate? mmmmm…I like low interest rates…really low…”

2. In an outrageously excited tone: “Thank god you called!!!” Explain that an online psychic told you that your future lover would randomly call disguised as an asshole.

3. Say you are hard of hearing and see how loud they will shout into the phone.

4. Allow the telemarketer to fully explain his offer. When he is finished, explain that his company hired you to randomly spot check telemarketers on their performance. Tell him that he did a good job overall, but that he is a bit monotone and needs to fluctuate his tone of voice more to sound convincing. He also should pause longer between sentences, and more clearly pronounce the letter “s”. Tell him you won’t report him if he repeats his speech to you with the appropriate corrections. Repeat.

5. Be incredibly polite as they explain their offer, but make farting noises once in a while and ask whether there is something wrong with the connection.

6. In an annoyed tone, cut the telemarketer off mid sentence : “Dan, stop screwing around…we have to get rid of this body fast, did you find a chainsaw or not?”

7. “Congratulations! You’re the 100th caller on the (insert local radio station) Sweet Vacation Giveaway Blast Marathon. You’ve just won a pair of tickets to Negril, Jamaica and the use of Sean Paul’s celebrity vacation house.” Take down her address and send her all of your L.L.Bean catalogues for the rest of your life…after you use them as liner for your cat’s litter box.

8. Flirt.

9. Keep repeating, “I knew you were going to say that…”

10. Stutter on a syllable of an obvious word in a sentence… see how long it takes before he completes the phrase. When he does, get upset, and say “That really hurts my fee…fee… fee… fee…feel…fee… fee… fee…” ad infinitum.

11. Pee on the phone while he’s talking.

12. Mid pitch, stop him and complement him on his wonderful voice. Explain that you are a voiceover scout and might have a breakthrough commercial job for him. Ask if he wouldn’t mind doing a quick test. Ask him to say in a deep husky voice “May cause dizziness, diarrhea, vomiting and shortness of breath. A small number of participants in a recent clinical trial experienced weight loss, irregular clotting, abnormally frequent and/or painful urination and hair loss. Results may vary.

13. Ask how much it would take to get him to stop working as a telemarketer. Start at $1000. Say you are dead serious.

14. Ask if he will be your friend if you sign up.

15. Tie obscure facts about Barbara Streisand to everything thing he says,, “2.3% interest rate? oh my…did you know Barbara was 23 when she filmed Funny Girl…”

16. Every few minutes repeat, “You’re going to have to bear with me, I have a slight short term memory loss problem…who is this again?”

17. “Oh my god, I used to have your job…does Bob still work there (repeat names until you find a match)…which building are you in?” Escalate coincidence until you both realize that you sat in the same chair. Explain that you had to quit work when your genitals mysteriously vanished.

18. Regardless of the offer, tell him you’ll take 7. If he asks what you mean, say he drives a hard bargain and you’ll take 9, but that’s as far as you’ll go.

19. Every half-minute ask him to hold and pretend to scream at your invalid mother. “You want to use the bathroom??? Well stop whining and get up out of the wheelchair for a change. You just sit there and think about that for a while, mother. Can’t you see I’m on the damn phone?”

20. Forgive him. Tell him you did. Over and over again, until he hangs up. Then secretly take it back.

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I handle each call differently according to the mood I’m in. Sometimes I play along. Sometimes I scream at them. Sometimes I’m just the babysitter. Sometimes I act like I don’t know who they’re calling for. Once I told them that I was out of a job and could they donate some money to MY checking account. Another time I told them that I was grieving the death of my dog and I couldn’t possibly talk. (I’ve never owned a dog) Several times I’ve asked them, “Do you KNOW her? What color is her hair?” OR “Did she WIN? She must have won! Did she? Did she win?” (That annoys them pretty bad) Mostly though, I’m just never there.

“Hello. May I speak with Donna please?”
“Nope, she’s not here.”
“When would be a good time to reach her?”
“You never know with that chick.”
“Okay, I’ll try back another time.”
“Yeah. Good luck with that.”

How do YOU handle telemarketers? Do you have any funny stories?