Hello JOE!

** On Thursday 25.02.21 - 06:16, you wrote to DARYL STOUT:

 JM>   I love how quick they hang up when I answer, in an
 JM>   authoritative voice, "Lt Mackey speaking".  Silence.  I
 JM>   repeat that and "click" they're gone. I have the power to
 JM>   get telemarketers to hang up on me!  :)

That is a good trick. It may work better for people who hold  
such designations.

Back in the day when tape-based answering machines connected to  
home-phones were common, some people had a lot of fun with intro  
scripts that were pretty funny.  Some were purely imaginary or  
used celeb voices: Spock, Shatner, etc..


 JM>   A co-worker said he wished he could do that and I said merely answer
 JM> with officer/sergeant so-and-so.

But that would be lying.  :/

But there is no law against having fun with your own version of  
"hello".


 JM>   In the late '90s I worked one winter for a survey company.  We weren't
 JM> selling anything, but asking about products and services..

Omg. I (still) hate those kinds of calls.


 JM>   In those cases we just marked down AM (answering machine) and the
 JM> computer dialed the next number.
 JM>   They were dialed in sequence starting with xxx-xxx-xxxx1 then
 JM> xxx-xxx-xxxx2, and so on.

Some of those calls just work their way through the phonebook,  
alphabetically. My name actually appears twice in the phonebook,  
one right after the other. When I hear both phones ring, I can  
be pretty sure it's a survey!

 JM>   Usually the script was "I'm calling about Brand X.  Do you now or have
 JM> you in the past used it?  What is your opinion of it?" and so forth, paid
 JM> for by the maker of that brand.

Did it pay well?

 JM>    I got a fella one time who was drinking at the time and the more we
 JM> talked the more he drank and he was pretty sloshed when we finally
 JM> finished.  I could hear the sounds of ice cubes put in yet another glass,
 JM> his pouring whatever, sipping, etc.

Some entertainment for ya!

--
  ../|ug

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