Unwanted Phone Calls

We all receive many annoying and unwanted calls. From telemarketers. From people who do surveys. From scam artists. From fund raisers. From credit companies to give us their cards. From banks to give us loans.

What do we do when we receive such calls? Depend on our mood. Sometimes we just hang up. Sometimes we just ask a question for which they don’t have an answer in their script and they blink.

I have used some funny tricks. I will ask them if they can hold for a few seconds. Put the phone down. Don’t pick it up for 3 minutes. They are gone by then.

Sometimes, I would reply in Tamil as if I don’t know English. That used to work perfectly until many of these centers moved to India. Nowadays if I reply in Tamil, and if the call is from India, they bring a Tamil speaking guy or girl to talk to me. Ahaaaa. But they are no match for me. If a guy talks to me in Tamil, I will answer like this:

Yaendappa. Unakku kalyanam aacha? Un appa amma kitta solli un jadhagatha anuppu. (Hello young man. Are you married? Please ask your parents to send your horoscope.) That’s it. He hangs up thinking an illiterate man is answering the phone.

Recently had a strange but pleasant experience. I got a call (not from an Indian center) when we were about to go for a movie. The caller said she is doing a survey and want me to answer a few questions. I told her to get lost and not to waste my time. I then hung up. I thought that was the end of the story.

But no. A week later I received a letter. Picture of that letter with its attachment is posted here.

Since you cannot read from the above picture, I will type a few important sentences from this letter.

We’re sorry if we upset you with our recent telephone call. We only want to ask you about your opinion on Radio listening. Enclosed we have included a small gift to express our regret for having disturbed you. We want you to know your participation is very important. We will try calling again. Your opinion counts.

The letter came with a one dollar bill (gift).

I was pleasantly surprised. Will certainly respond to their survey next time they call. Not for their one dollar bill. Impressed with their unique tactic. We all would make a few dollars if every telemarketer follows this tactic.