MSGID: 2:221/1.58@fidonet edc7357b   
   REPLY: 1:123/140 f6651012   
   PID: OpenXP/5.0.49 (Win32)   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   TZUTC: -0500   
   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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