![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/teletoon.jpg\")
Over
\n the years, I have tried a variety of brushoff techniques with those pesky
\n telemarketers. For a long while I used five simple syllables: "No hablo
\n Ingles", but then the Spanish-language calls started coming in as well.
\n Abusive venting can be a therapuetic outlet for some, but I just don’t
\n feel comfortable using that kind of language on the phone, afraid perhaps,
\n after all these
\n years, that my parents are listening in on another extension.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I use lame-ohs like "I’m just housesitting" or "they moved
\n away." For a long time I kept a little tape recorder with the 60-second
\n scream from Pink Floyd’s “Careful With That Axe Eugene” looping around over and over next to the phone.
\n Nowadays, when I am in a bad mood or feeling rude I just hang up, but
\n lately I have
\n been
\n having
\n a
\n lot of
\n success
\n with
\n the
\n following
\n line:<\/p>\n
"Gee, I’m kinda busy right now, but if you don’t mind giving me your
\n home phone number I would be happy to call you back sometime when you
\n aren’t
\n at
\n work and I am." I must’ve used that over a hundred times so far, and
\n only two of the telemetiches gave me their "home" numbers – the rest
\n hurriedly hung up, suspecting madness or some sort of reverse sting.
\n Both numbers, of course, were fake.<\/p>\n
The Great Dave Barry has gone me one better. He printed the home Dave Barry’s Aug 31 column<\/a><\/p>\n article from AP about the furor since<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the years, I have tried a variety of brushoff techniques with those pesky telemarketers. For a long while I used five simple syllables: "No hablo Ingles", but then the Spanish-language calls started coming in as well. Abusive venting can … Continue reading
\n and office numbers of several major telemarketers, not coincidentally
\n those who had been calling his home, in his column
\n of August 31<\/a>, which
\n appears in hundreds of papers. Thats when things got interesting.\n <\/p>\n