Telemarketers. We all freakin' hate them, right? The only people who don't hate them are those who actually are them. And even that aint definite.
In my house, my home phone is in another room to my bedroom. If I am in my bedroom, writing a blog or something, and I hear the phone ring, I have to rush and run to it in the hope that I will get there before it rings four times. If it rings four times, it will go to messagebank... and, as around 50 percent of the population is incapable of leaving a message (what gives?), this means I will miss the call altogether.
Anyway, I was sitting in my room, working on some writing, when I hear the phone ring. So I run, and I trip on something, hurting both my toes and my ankle. It hurts, okay? Anyway, I manage to reach the phone just in time. I think to myself, 'this better be good!' Anyway, there seems to be no one on the phone, it's just silence and I'm standing there angrily shouting 'Hello! Hello!' (You make me run for this?) Eventually the call connects and I get the standard Indian-accented fellow looking to give me some new mobile phone deal.
"Hello, is this Mrs. Bartolo?"
"There's no one here by that name".
"I'm sorry, this is the residence of Mrs. Bartolo?"
"Look, a Bartolo lives here, you have the right number, but there's no Mrs".
"Oh, I'm sorry, you are Mr. Bartolo?"
"Yes"
"Sir, today I am calling you to let you know that in three days you will be receiving a new mobile phone..."
(ooooh, this makes me angry, my toes throb in anger! A telemarketer! On a Saturday!)
"How did you get this phone number?"
A moment of silence. "I got it out of the white pages"
"No you didn't, this is a silent number. How did you get this number?"
The phone clicks off into silence. It comes back again, "Sir, if you want me to take your number off our list I can..."
"No, this is a silent number, how did you get it?"
Silence. The phone clicks. He's gone.
And yes, I do have a silent number. I never chose for it to be silent, it just came like that when I moved into the house. I didn't think of it until I stood there on the phone while this chump peddled his scam to me, and he got scared when I mentioned it. Well, maybe not scared, but he definitely sounded worried - and he hung up, not me. That's gotta be some kind of first, right? Telemarketers almost never hang up on anyone, it's usually the other way round.
Anyway, this begs the question, how do these guys get our numbers if it isn't out of the White Pages? How do they get silent numbers? Who sells them these numbers? Our phone companies? Telstra? Optus? The electricity board? Someone is, and it stinks to high heaven.
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