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Fun With Telemarketers

Crowd-Sourced Strategies for Dealing With These Time Wasters

Roz Warren, Writing Coach
4 min readJan 6, 2021
Photo by LumenSoft Technologies on Unsplash

After spending five minutes of my life that I’ll never get back again trying to politely get rid of the slick-talking dude who’d phoned, intent upon selling me seasons tickets to the opera, I asked my Facebook pals, “What’s the best way to deal with telemarketers?”

Many had ideas for dispatching them swiftly:

Hand a 3-year old the phone and tell them it’s Santa

Just tell them you don’t speak English. In English.

I like to belt out a show tune. “If I Were a Rich Man” is nicely ironic.

Heavy breathing works for me.

Say that you’re broke, unemployed and being evicted. Then try to sell them your car.

I ask them to describe what they’re wearing. That usually shuts them down.

I say, “He’s here, and I know he’ll be very interested in your offer. I’ll get him.” Then I put the phone in a drawer.

This is why the Tuba is the best instrument EVER.

Some folks take the opportunity to have a little fun:

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Roz Warren, Writing Coach
Roz Warren, Writing Coach

Written by Roz Warren, Writing Coach

Writing Coach Roz Warren (roSwarren@gmail.com) helps Medium writers craft better, more boost-able stories. Roz used to write for the New York Times.

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