In respect to 1) you’re absolutely correct, that should be two sentences and not the horrible run-on that I created.
In response to 2), yes I can understand being wary of spam callers, there weren’t nearly as many 15 years ago when I was doing the job. It was targeted research, so people who’d opted in to being contacted for marketing purposes (“how is your new toaster working out for you”) or local authority requests for comment (“are you happy with the new park that opened”).
I’ve had some real howlers the other way though (with actual scammers) so I understand the frustration, one woman who was obviously a spam PPE caller yelled at me “don’t you like money!” after I had politely declined,and there’s no dealing with that. In the end the easiest thing to do and a definite improvement on being nasty, is just hang up, in my opinion.
I have a contact in my phone called Spam (with a picture of Spam), and I add any number that doesn’t pass the sniff test within 30s (particularly Robo-spammers, urgh!), it can very helpful to get a repeat call and the picture of a can of spam tells me not to bother picking up.
I’ve had some real howlers the other way though (with actual scammers) so I understand the frustration, one woman who was obviously a spam PPE caller yelled at me “don’t you like money!” after I had politely declined,and there’s no dealing with that.
If I can, I keep them on the phone until they hung up on me frustrated. More often than not I can, I used to wfh and be able, in between meetings, to keep them going for a while, while doing my actual work.
“Can you spell that url again? No it says page not found” or “of course I want a refund for that iPhone, what do I need to do”. All while typing my work emails, chatting with colleagues or working on a slide deck.
Nowadays I’m looking after young babies full time. So even easier to apologise for the background noise and ask them to repeat their whole spiel for a fourth time.
In respect to 1) you’re absolutely correct, that should be two sentences and not the horrible run-on that I created.
In response to 2), yes I can understand being wary of spam callers, there weren’t nearly as many 15 years ago when I was doing the job. It was targeted research, so people who’d opted in to being contacted for marketing purposes (“how is your new toaster working out for you”) or local authority requests for comment (“are you happy with the new park that opened”).
I’ve had some real howlers the other way though (with actual scammers) so I understand the frustration, one woman who was obviously a spam PPE caller yelled at me “don’t you like money!” after I had politely declined,and there’s no dealing with that. In the end the easiest thing to do and a definite improvement on being nasty, is just hang up, in my opinion.
Lord, I remember back when the worst thing calling was either a telemarketer, or a collection agency.
Some of them were unpleasant, but not nearly as unpleasant as the people who are trying to straight up steal your shit these days.
Barring a known number, that phone can keep on ringing.
I have a contact in my phone called Spam (with a picture of Spam), and I add any number that doesn’t pass the sniff test within 30s (particularly Robo-spammers, urgh!), it can very helpful to get a repeat call and the picture of a can of spam tells me not to bother picking up.
If I can, I keep them on the phone until they hung up on me frustrated. More often than not I can, I used to wfh and be able, in between meetings, to keep them going for a while, while doing my actual work. “Can you spell that url again? No it says page not found” or “of course I want a refund for that iPhone, what do I need to do”. All while typing my work emails, chatting with colleagues or working on a slide deck. Nowadays I’m looking after young babies full time. So even easier to apologise for the background noise and ask them to repeat their whole spiel for a fourth time.
That’s fair. It seems there’s a good scene in recording Scam Baiting antics and putting it on You Tube too.