Introduction

Telemarketers call me several times every evening. Since I do not have or need a fancy phone with caller-id or any blocking features, I just answer them. Often, when I answer, I hear nothing but phone system noises and clicks. Sometimes, it eventually connects to a person. I do not say hello again when the person comes on the line, because I already said hello, and I know it is a telemarketer, for whom I have little sympathy. Other times, the phone system eventually hangs up. When it does connect to a person, for amusement, I've decided never to hang up. I do not say anything rude. I generally answer any of their questions honestly. However, I've always managed to get them to hang up on me.

Today, I've received 4-5 telemarketer calls that never connected to a person.

Then came the one that inspired me to start this blog. When I answered the phone, a recording for something that I didn't pay attention to started. At the end of the recording, it said to press 9 to speak to a person. So I pressed 9. After being on hold for a few minutes, I got connected to a man. I said, "Why should I pay attention to you?" The man said, "Are you retarded? Go back to watching television. Is someone holding a gun to your head? Look to your right. Look to your left. Look behind you. Is there someone with a gun?" When he was done being snippy, he hung up.

After that, I thought, this type of pointless anecdote is just the type of thing that can go on a blog. And my phone is next to my computer, which makes it very convenient.