Daryl wrote --

While the scammers are likely to change their numbers more than one
changes their underwear, I'm going to keep blocking those numbers.

I love how quick they hang up when I answer, in an authoritative voice,
"Lt Mackey speaking". Silence. I repeat that and "click" they're gone. I have the power to get telemarketers to hang up on me! :)
A co-worker said he wished he could do that and I said merely answer with officer/sergeant so-and-so.
In the late '90s I worked one winter for a survey company. We weren't selling anything, but asking about products and services, sometimes
businesses.
The vast majority of the time the people were nice about it.
I got Joan Embry's answering machine once. She was with the San Diego
Zoo and on tv often with some critter.
I also got the answering machine for a state supreme court judge in the
state of Washington.
In those cases we just marked down AM (answering machine) and the
computer dialed the next number.
They were dialed in sequence starting with xxx-xxx-xxxx1 then
xxx-xxx-xxxx2, and so on.
We traveled across time zones as the shift wore on, with PST being the
last.
These surveys lasted from two to five minutes, except for the one
everyone hated, the dreaded alcohol survey.
Usually the script was "I'm calling about Brand X. Do you now or have
you in the past used it? What is your opinion of it?" and so forth, paid for by the maker of that brand.
The alcohol survey could last up to an hour or more and almost always
someone would agree when it was close to quitting time. We could tell when someone got one at that time for the sighing and language from that caller. :)
They went into deep questioning about brands, types, how often one used
it, how they used it, etc.
I got a fella one time who was drinking at the time and the more we
talked the more he drank and he was pretty sloshed when we finally finished. I could hear the sounds of ice cubes put in yet another glass, his pouring whatever, sipping, etc.
We had no names of who we were calling or anything.
Joe

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Joe,

I love how quick they hang up when I answer, in an authoritative
voice, "Lt Mackey speaking". Silence. I repeat that and "click"
they're gone. I have the power to get telemarketers to hang up on me!
:)

Rank has its privileges, sir. <G>

A co-worker said he wished he could do that and I said merely answer with officer/sergeant so-and-so.

If it was with Trade Wars 2002, it'd be "Fleet Admiral". <G>

In the late '90s I worked one winter for a survey company. We
weren't selling anything, but asking about products and services, sometimes businesses.

I worked for a survey firm many years ago.

I got a fella one time who was drinking at the time and the more we talked the more he drank and he was pretty sloshed when we finally finished. I could hear the sounds of ice cubes put in yet another
glass, his pouring whatever, sipping, etc.

As W.C. Fields noted "Inflation has gone up over a dollar a quart",
and "Someone left the cork out of my lunch". <G>

Daryl

... If it WALKS out of your refrigerator, LET IT GO!!
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August,

not all 1-800 numbers are toll-free ;)

That's true...some of those get routed to 900 numbers.

I've never heard of that! I couln't find anything about that on
the 'net.

It likely has been hidden away. Before my wife died, we'd buy porn
videos (we called it "Adult HGTV" <G>). First, if you have an underlying medical condition, it's going to affect your libido (never mind the
story of the woman who filed a lawsuit against this place, because she
claimed "in falling off a barstool, she lost her libido" -- that's as
bad as the woman who sued McDonald's when she ended up spilling hot
coffee in her lap).

So, what we'd do, "to prime the pump", we'd watch these, and they
always had these "ads" at the front end, before the main show started...
just like the movie theaters would do with the previews, etc.

We'd make comments over things like:

1) The woodworking with the bed (some of it was of very intricate craftsmanship, with the carved patterns).

2) The pictures on the walls.

3) The chandeliers on the ceiling.

4) The behavior of women wearing these high heel shoes during sex.
I've heard some say that "the women felt sexy wearing the shoes"...
as a guy, I'd be afraid of getting impaled!!

Yet, as the country song noted "I had all the love a man could
want, waiting for me at home".

But, back to the topic of this message, the majority of the "porn
lines" in the vidoes would be a number with a 900 or 976 area code.
While these porn lines claimed "no charge with an 800 number", it
reminded me of all these "hidden fees and items" in contracts, bills,
etc. Ever take a look at your utility bill, and notice all the extra
taxes and fees??

Daryl

... The scales in the doctors offices offend me. Remove them!
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