TID: PX/Win v3.0pr5 PX96-0466M2   
   MSGID: 1:123/140 f6651012   
   TZUTC: -0500   
     Daryl wrote --   
      
   >   While the scammers are likely to change their numbers more than one   
   > changes their underwear, I'm going to keep blocking those numbers.   
      
     I love how quick they hang up when I answer, in an authoritative voice,   
   "Lt Mackey speaking".  Silence.  I repeat that and "click" they're gone.  I   
   have the power to get telemarketers to hang up on me!  :)   
     A co-worker said he wished he could do that and I said merely answer with   
   officer/sergeant so-and-so.   
     In the late '90s I worked one winter for a survey company.  We weren't   
   selling anything, but asking about products and services, sometimes   
   businesses.   
     The vast majority of the time the people were nice about it.   
     I got Joan Embry's answering machine once.  She was with the San Diego   
   Zoo and on tv often with some critter.   
     I also got the answering machine for a state supreme court judge in the   
   state of Washington.   
     In those cases we just marked down AM (answering machine) and the   
   computer dialed the next number.   
     They were dialed in sequence starting with xxx-xxx-xxxx1 then   
   xxx-xxx-xxxx2, and so on.    
     We traveled across time zones as the shift wore on, with PST being the   
   last.   
     These surveys lasted from two to five minutes, except for the one   
   everyone hated, the dreaded alcohol survey.   
     Usually the script was "I'm calling about Brand X.  Do you now or have   
   you in the past used it?  What is your opinion of it?" and so forth, paid for   
   by the maker of that brand.   
     The alcohol survey could last up to an hour or more and almost always   
   someone would agree when it was close to quitting time.  We could tell when   
   someone got one at that time for the sighing and language from that caller.  :)   
      They went into deep questioning about brands, types, how often one used   
   it, how they used it, etc.   
      I got a fella one time who was drinking at the time and the more we   
   talked the more he drank and he was pretty sloshed when we finally finished.  I   
   could hear the sounds of ice cubes put in yet another glass, his pouring   
   whatever, sipping, etc.   
      We had no names of who we were calling or anything.   
      Joe   
      
   --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5   
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)   
   SEEN-BY: 1/123 18/200 90/1 105/81 120/340 123/131 129/305 226/30 227/114   
   SEEN-BY: 227/702 229/101 424 426 428 452 664 981 1016 1017 240/1120   
   SEEN-BY: 240/1634 1895 2100 5138 5411 5824 5832 5853 8001 8002 8005   
   SEEN-BY: 249/206 307 317 400 261/38 280/464 5003 292/854 310/31 313/41   
   SEEN-BY: 317/3 320/219 322/757 335/364 342/200 371/52 382/147 633/280   
   SEEN-BY: 2452/250 2454/119   
   PATH: 123/140 261/38 240/1120 5832 229/426