Good quote. As always, thanks. I
ll add it to my list. :)

Yes: quite annoying. Once I know they are trying to sell me something, I just say that I am not interested and then hang up. Some telemarketers can keep you on the line quite a while just explaining what they are trying to sell. Often, they are from another country working for an American or European company and just trying to make a living wage. I can't blame them for trying as they are often trying to stay out of the hands of poverty. Capitalism, but annoying just the same.

Hello AJAshinoff,
Courtesy costs nothing, but often produces dividends. :)

A funny aphorism... "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered." Voltaire

Have a great weekend!
O.A.

I always just ask them if they can recite Proverbs 21:19. They never can. If anything...I admit that one gave me more faith in the Bible, because it's a real inconvenient truth.

I do appreciate your thoughtful comment.
However, I have never regarded the use of the (meaningless) "Mr." pseudo-title as some sort of courtesy. I just don't view as a "courtesy" to prefix my last name by such a meaningless "title". (In fact, I'd much rather be addressed rudely by my last name only than to have it prefixed by "Mr.")

Notwithstanding the advisories of Dale Carnegie (who famously insisted that most people consider the most beautiful sound they have ever heard to be their own name!), I am even less impressed by hearing a stranger precede my last name by a superfluous "Mr." than by being addressed only by my first name.

I think you over think this. Saying any of the titles (the appropriate one of course) is merely a polite way of introduction when you are a stranger to someone and seeking an audience. As stated else where when someone, stranger, calls me by name my immediate response is "Do I know you?" if not they just wasted an opportunity and put me on the defensive. Simple courtesy (not so common apparently) is cheap and easy to extent. Sadly it's sorely lacking in society these days and I think that corresponds and contributes to the "state" of contemporary society.

My 2 bits.

I despise the so-called title, "Mister" as well as the silly abbreviations Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc. (all of which could be better replaced by "Mx." or simply omitted to avoid needless clutter.)

The only meaningful use of the term "Mister" is in the military, where it becomes a derogatory term used to emphasize that the person addressed is of lower rank! Perhaps that's one reason why the term annoys me, but my principal objection is that the term is utterly meaningless -- except perhaps to take note of gender (even when that is completely irrelevant).

I don't particularly like my own first name, but (aside from that) I see no reason to be offended when someone uses it. If my name is being used to confirm identification, then I'd prefer that they used my entire name to do so.

Government agencies collecting complaints are generally unresponsive, but once in a while some ring is shut down for who knows what reason.

For your personal protection from the nuisance see this subthread; https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

Also look at http://spamcop.net if you are having a problem with email spam. You can use it to block spam and/or to submit spammers to their list, with complaints going automatically to the source. I have been submitting spam to their blocklist for decades, partially based on automatic spam traps I set up to trap them. It has made a big difference.

Reporting the spam often results in their losing their accounts, sometimes before the spam mailing being reported has even completed. Sources that don't deal with the spammers exploiting them (like the spammers' own mail servers) are black-listed and can be easily filtered out.

The spammers always sell each other 'dirty' lists, but when they discover you are reporting them they tend to stop harassing you.

The filter works off the source telephone number, not whether or not the call is machine dialed. Checking the caller id is always a good idea because some of the spam gets through. If you are using nomorobo new numbers that you discover can be submitted to the blocklist.

The spammers had the gall to try to get this service banned by Federal legislation.

I have ran customer support centers for software companies for a lot of years. This touches on something I find very interesting.

In EMEA people get upset when you do not use Mr... formality and respect. In the US, they get upset when you do use such formal language. In Australia I am not sure if they even have the term of Mister in there vocabulary.

Its an interesting cultural shift.

I cannot say that it bothers me as it does you. I tend to be an informal person more often than not myself so in my vocabulary, Mister is saved for formal settings, and in any others setting it feels stuffy and overbearing to be called Mister or to use the term.

I filled out three forms with the Justice department for the IRS scammers calls with the content and phone numbers. No acknowledgement of my activity from Justice so I quit filling out forms. Imagine my amazement a few days ago to find the ring busted including the India connection and the U.S. connections. Fabulous.

I usually pick it up, then hang it up. Every once in a while, I will mess with them. They will start talking and I will interrupt, pretending I didn't hear. After several rounds of that, they hang up. One that I heard of that I also tried is saying, "It's done, but now there's blood everywhere. What do I do now?" Any of you who are familiar with the weeping angels from Doctor Who, I have that script by the phone also. "Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck."

They can call me by my first name as long as they are courteous and that applies to all ages. I prefer first names myself and I'm 71.

I think its invasive and disrespectful. I've done the "Do Not Call" route a half dozen times.I'm starting to think that the list is used for who to call rather than not call. It also seems political and charitable calls are exempt.

I come from talkative family and will converse with anyone. With the religious coming to my door, after telling them that I am an atheist and they do not choose to leave, I start a conversation about the contradictions of the Bible and how Jesus chose only those who hated as his followers along with discussions on evolution and sciences. They eventually leave since they, too, do not want to waste their time. I just would like them to get something out of the discussions.

I am with you AJ! I figure since it is me and me alone who pays to have this phone and service in my home then I get the right to say who may and who may not use MY phone number. I wish there was a way from my end to lock the offenders line up for 15 minutes so they could not disconnect.

Would you prefer a Lotus or a Robot society as described by Arthur Koestler in his descriptions of those nice societies of India and Japan? You are slowly moving toward one with all the pretend patriotism and incipient political correctness along with an increasing dosage of religion rather than a freer naturalistic approach to the Universe. An apocalypse is not nearer when you are addressed in a familiar way.

You do not live in an honorific society like Japan or China. So own up to your first name. Be happy that someone has taken time to learn it. Learn to be free.

I think we've already expressed our feeling about this to our representatives at the Federal Government. They've even passed a law, called something like "DO NOT CALL" List and put rules and progressively larger huge fines for those breaking the rules into it. It's unfortunate however that there is no one to enforce it, not even anyone to complain to, except a blind dead end computer somewhere in DC probably in someone's basement. Just another nonenforced law with a bunch of federal employees to manage the concept only. I'm surprised the FBI hasn't knocked on my door or even broken it down for the complaints I have left on that computer. I tried various languages to try to get someone to contact me to no avail of course.

I pick up the phone and just wait. A robo call apparently requires a voice to activate it. By staying silent, usually after about 20 seconds, the call is terminated.

I too hate those calls. I however have a different approach. For those guys time is money and the more calls they can make an hour the more likely that they will get a sucker who falls for their line of BS. So I go along with their speal, act like I am completely buying into it. Then when they want credit card information as they inevitably will. I get out my card and read the numbers off WRONG. After several attempts either they loose it or I get someone's credit card into the system but as my name doesn't match and I have no idea what their expiration date and so on info is. They eventually begin to understand what I am doing. This typically makes them madder than hell but it also seems that they NEVER call back.

Which is what I wanted all along.

The calls I get from unknowns shortly get "I use DoNotCall" so take me off your list". That puts the onus on the intruder and may waste THEIR time.

I use only a dumb-phone which is both irritating and mostly useless. I know that's "life" for so many, but I'll stick with my real computer, thank you.

It just gets worse the older you get. I constantly get the dumbest scams via calls, emails, and the mail. I think there's a breed of scuzzbag scamsters that think every seasoned citizen has Alzheimers. Lots of ads for hearing aids, too.

Not just you! Thanks for this post - I got a real laugh out of some of the suggestions :-D