10 fun ways to stop annoying telemarketing calls

Excerpt from here.

1. After the telemarketer finishes speaking, propose marriage to him/her.

2. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her, to give you his/her home phone number and cell number so you can call back maybe very late at night.

3. Keep asking the telemarketer to tell you his spiel all over again. Do this several times.

4. If you receive a call during a meal, tell the telemarketer that it's lunch time, but ask him/her to hold. Switch to loudspeaker mode and eat your food in a languid noisy fashion, chomping away and continuing with the conversation.

5. Tell the telemarketer that all business goes through your representative, and hand the phone to your five-year-old.

6. Say that you are hard of hearing and that he/she needs to speak up -- louder -- louder -- louder!

7. Tell the telemarketer to speak really really slowly because you want to write every word down.

8. If the telemarketer starts off with "How are you today?", say "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems..."

9. Cry out in astonishment, "Rani, is that you? I've been hoping you'd call! How is the family?" When he/she insists it's not Rani, refuse to believe it and say, "Stop kidding me!" This works especially well if the telemarketer is female.

10. Tell the telemarketer to call at your office number and give him/her the number of a rival telemarketing organisation instead!