Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for November 15, 2010

Hope the other guy called the cops…

Nice trick, I gotta remember that one

Hopeless!

That’s why I do not answer the phone unless I know who it is.

And even then…..

This is why God invented answering machines (and later upgraded to voice mail.)

Calvin comes up with all of the good ones!

G’Morning, Marg, Mike & Grog!

Here I was, working late on a sunday night/monday morning and I thought, maybe I can beat marg to the punch and be first….and I got distracted and low and behold, I am 10 minutes too late……oh well. As far as the strip goes, I LOVE messing with telemarketers in a similar fashion, not usually that drastic though, LOL

And, God invented caller ID for that same reason!!

The guy was probably calling about something Calvin did anyway!

One of these days he’s going to be.

I’m doing that next time a snake oil salesman calls…………………

Bit late on the fracas with Marg (Margueritem) however, it caused me to sign up.

Marg’s first posts add a bit of stability in this universe of chaos. May her and her friends always be first in line here…

Other note - many thanks to Margueritem for her post on Veterans Day (from an ex-Navy man). Now back to my lurking…

Thank heavens for caller ID. And, thanks to the iPhone 4 and those Google phones, we actually have those Jetsons video phones, so these occurrences won’t happen as much.

I’m very polite to telephone marketteers. But I speak firmly and too fast for them to interrupt, and I end by saying, “Goodbye”, politely but firmly, and then I hang up.

None of them has ever called me back. Could it be that they’re all still in shock?

I went one step better. I got rid of my land line. Now could you do that back in in the mid-80’s? Maybe not.

Good Morning, Marg, Mike & ♠Lonewolf♠.

Have to keep my landline, but I only really use it for work and long distance. But then, my job pays for it anyway.

Better to send a message than to take one.

Nowadays you could just tell him to call dad on his cell phone.

Hope you enjoy the cops showing up better, Calvin.

love that cute little exclamation point just above the receiver.

The Do Not Call Registry seems to work! Now if they would add political calls, non profits and charities to the list! I donate to Special Olympics, St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital, a Veterans group, our local ASPCA, and sometimes a couple of others. I know some ot these groups calling are not on the up and up.

I gotta remember that for the next time My ex calls me lol

At age six, Calvin can write … legibly …

I wish I had thought of that when I used to be the household answering machine….

I should have used that on all those political phone calls that we got hit with a few weeks ago…

I’m very polite to telephone marketteers. But I speak firmly and too fast for them to interrupt, and I end by saying, “Goodbye”, politely but firmly, and then I hang up.

None of them has ever called me back. Could it be that they’re all still in shock?

Or maybe they all got fired for not making their sales quotas because too many people like you wouldn’t let them do their jobs, RinaFarina. Are you and the other “let’s get cute with telemarketers” people planning to take them in now that they’re unemployed?

I work in telesales, in case you were wondering. It’s not the greatest job in the world (thankfully, I handle INBOUND calls these days, not OUTBOUND ones – THAT’s a really thankless job if ever there was one!), but it pays the bills, and it’s honest work. And it’s hard enough to do without people playing cutesy head games with us when we’re just trying to earn a living. Maybe I should come to THEIR jobs and start harassing THEM while they’re trying to work, so they’d see how it feels – and how it feels when they get fired for not meeting their own company’s productivity standards!

LeslieAnne, Here’s back at you in the same leafy vein from Friday. Calvin should have ‘leafed’ the phone alone. That’s so much of a stretch that the rubber belt in my vacuum cleaner broke. How is it that you were so tired, and you’re only 25 and in good shape? Did you overextend yourself the way my vacuum cleaner belt did?

We make good use of the caller ID. If we don’t know who it is we let it roll to the answering machine. If it is someone trying to get a hold of us, they will start to leave a message at which time we will pickup. Telemarketers never leave a message and it won’t show as a negative response toward their quota. It is surprising how persistent they can be (I mean regular calls for a period of weeks!).

If I don’t recognize the number on the caller ID, they get to talk to the machine. Most telemarketers won’t bother to leave a message, some do, and I just erase those messages. Stuff sold on the phone is usually junk, people will seek out and buy good products without them being peddled on the phone.

One ringy-dingy-ding, two ringy-dingy—-00ps no one is home!

O boy I like this. Salesmen Bill collectors Some relatives Wrong numbers Pollsters

legaleagle–

As you know, under Do Not Call, if you ask the solicitor not to call back, they can’t without potential fines if the recipient pursues the issue. That’s probably why they don’t call back. And why would you call back if you know there is no likelihood of a sale, other than just to demonstrate your perceived superior salesmanship? Move on to the next sucker. And when those quotas (which are impossible) aren’t met, some tend to resort to improper actions to try. Don’t deny it; I’ve worked in phone sales solicitation and saw it and heard it encouraged, which is why I got out. Yeah, morals don’t feed your family, but sometimes sanity and self-respect are more important.

We installed a $10 gadget from Radio Shack to our telephone line several years ago. It stops the computer generated calls (where a telemarketer doesn’t get on the line until there is an active connection) by putting out a signal when the receiver is lifted. The signal tells the computer that number is no longer in service and it disconnects. You know it has happened because you just get a dial tone by the time the receiver is to your ear.

Must be working to also cull our number out of their lists as the calls are getting rarer, from 3 or 4 per week to 1 every month or so now.

legaleagle48: I understand needing to put food on the table and pay bills, but … the fact that I own a phone and pay for the service does not give anyone the right to call me for solicitations. That should include non-profits, political groups, NRA, etc. If you don’t want the grief certain prospects dish out, too bad – you should accept that it comes with the territory. I have no sympathy for telesales workers. It’s rude for you to presume that my time and attention should be diverted to answer your sales call. If I need your product or service, I’ll find YOU. I don’t need you to find me!

‘Do Not Call’ works great. Bear in mind that if you establish correspondence with an entity, they are then allowed to call you.

legaleagle48, Why should I have to put up with being harassed in the privacy of my own home by annoying people trying to sell me stuff I don’t want? I pay for my phone, not them. If someone wants to use MY phone to conduct THEIR business, THEY should pay for it!!! It’s also no benefit to the telemarketer if I let him finish his pitch before hanging up; I’m not stupid enough to buy from a telemarketer anyway, so I might as well save both our time by hanging up at the beginning of the call, so he can get on with bothering the next victim on his list.

Telemarketing, like SPAM, must work enough for it to survive as a business model.

Hey, Grog - I got rid of my landline in 2003, now I’m getting telemarketer calls to my cell phone… numbers from area codes I don’t recognize. Googling them shows them to be robo-callers, usually health insurance “sales”. Nothing like SPAM moving from email to cell phone!! Robo-callers couldn’t care less if I popped a balloon at them…. Bleah!

Dry - the donotcall.gov registry does NOT work, not even for cell phones anymore. I’m getting robo-call spam-calls too often for my taste!

Wow. Think this one hit a nerve.

LegalEagle - I understand your difficulties with this. I have also worked telemarketing, although mine was outbound. However; I tended to prefer those who politely stated their disinterest over those that had me go through my entire speil knowing they had no interest. Those were just a waste of my time.

To others - Not all products are bad just because they have telemarketers calling you. I personally have purchased products from companies that do telemarketing. At the same time, I prefer to contact the company when I wish to make a purchase, rather than having them contact me. Best way to combat (besides not answering) is simply to be clear and polite in requesting that they not call again. They are legally obligated to remove you from the listings if you make that request, and there is no reason to take your frustrations out on the poor guy who is simply trying to earn a living and feed his (her) family.

Dry said: The Do Not Call Registry seems to work! Now if they would add political calls, non profits and charities to the list!

I agree. God bless the “Do Not Call” list we’re on; it cut down on a lot of that unsolicited nonsense we used to get on a daily basis … now if only solicitors outside the U.S. would be required to follow this list as well!

And all the political calls, polls, surveys, etc., we got this past election! They were simply awful!!!!! Oh, how I wish they were required to leave us alone too … how happy we would be!!!!!!!!!!

From the first time I read it years ago, this has been one of my favoritest C&H strips ever.

..And the most personally relateable..

nice avatar cosman.

I don’t mind the occasional telemarketer call. However, I object to the ones that don’t learn, that make it hard to teach them anything.

For example: The continuing calling to sell vinyl siding, even though we live in a brick house, and have no interest of any kind in siding. One call should be sufficient.

For example: The daily calling my place of business for months to give a canned spiel about government programs. This call came in on each line. There was no indication of who to call to stop getting it. There was a possible way to get into the system–but only after giving personal information, which I was unwilling to do. After four months of this, we signed up for the “do not call” registry,, specifically to get rid of this pest.

Oh, on a happier note, I also liked the time Calvin answered a call with, “Yes, I’d like to order a large sausage and mushroom pizza with extra cheese!”

He then hung up on the stunned caller, and remarked, “I like to make everyone’s day a little more surreal.”

When I used to have a land-line, my comment to telemarketers when they paused was, “I’m sorry I’m not interested but thanks for calling.” Then I would hang up before they could say anything.

I gotta try that.

Calvin, you got anything like that for spam? Not here, the silence has become truly golden - I mean for whoever it is that shanghaied (no pun intended) my e-mail account (twice) this week to offer Canadian meds.

Could we get Spammer-ID installed here at this site? Please!

I still occasionally do the, “Goodbye cold cruel world!”, and flush the toilet gag. It works because they don’t call back!

Oh, there are countless ways to play pranks on callers. LOL I particularly like the ones in how I respond to survey callers.