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Before the Do Not Call list was created, I found out that this is the BEST way to keep telemarketers from bugging you. At one point I received eleven telemarketing calls in a week, including four in a single day, and I just snapped on the last one and launched into the most long winded foulmouthed rant in which I accused the caller of doing everything from having "intimate relations with dogs" to being personally responsible for the rise of naziism. Needless to say, they never called back. When I used this tactic on other telemarketers, they never called back either. I actually got my telemarketing calls down to one every other month using this method :)
My wife's way of ditching them was a bit more subtle, but no less effective. Telemarketers are trained to always ask for their mark first, and will invariably start a conversation with "Is Mr. X there?" or "Is this Mrs. X?" or "Are you the homeowner?" or something else along those lines. My wife would just say "No". When they think that their potential buyer isn't there, they'll usually hang up faster than you do.
Of course, when she was feeling particularly vengeful she'd play another trick on them and answer "Yes, he/she is here, let me get them". She'd then set the phone down and go make coffee, watch TV, or do something else while the telemarketer wastes his valuable time waiting for the "buyer" that will never appear. We once had a guy sit on the line nearly 30 minutes before he realized that he'd been had :evilgrin:
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