machinehead Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 "President Bush on Tuesday signed legislation creating a national 'do-not-call' list intended to help consumers block unwanted telemarketing calls." Freedom from pests Only one slight problem: "Charities, surveys and calls on behalf of politicians would be exempt." Dontcha just know, every sales call will start out as a "survey" now. And the alumni association will still be pounding on you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxCaster Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 I for one I'm glad to turn over a database of all consumer calls to the government. They've always been so trustyworthy with following the letter and spirit of Congress's intent. Take Social Security, for instance. Prohibited by congress from using the SS# for anything except Social Security, the government promptly used the numbers to geographically tag all its citizens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregFokker Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Only a sucker would add their info to that list, or any list for that matter. Anonymity is the greatest of all freedoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinxter Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 GregFokker Posted on Mar 11 2003, 04:45 PM-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Only a sucker would add their info to that list, or any list for that matter. Anonymity is the greatest of all freedoms. I guess that rules out Benetton clothes for you! (Link) Tuesday March 11, 3:49 pm ET By Jim Krane, AP Technology Writer Benetton Clothing to Carry Tiny Tracking Transmitters for Inventory Control NEW YORK (AP) -- Clothes sold at Benetton stores will soon contain microchip transmitters that allow the Italian retailer to track its garments from their point of manufacture to the moment they're sold in any of its 5,000 shops. ... In a scenario reminiscent of the personalized advertising seen in the movie "Minority Report," an RFID tag could be programmed to store information about, say, the person who bought a garment. It could allow a retail chain to take note each time that garment was worn into a store, said Ted Zwibel of Psion Teklogix, a British maker of supply chain software involved in the Benetton system. For instance, a sales clerk might be tipped that a person in a pair of RFID-tagged slacks is a frequent customer. The salesperson could give that customer priority, and make sales suggestions based on the company's idea of clothes that match the slacks, Zwibel said. I find this disturbing. Very. It's like telemarketing but SuperSized! [Future vision: "Mr. Sphinxter, howareyoutonightgood, we noted today that you lingered near the women's undergarments for 12.3 minutes in store 714 and wondered if we could interest you in a timeshare opportunity with some friends of Merciless...Oh, you're married...well we have an opportunity for 'couples' too..."] Hey, maybe this won't be so bad afterall..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxCaster Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/article...leview/269/1/1/ Jan. 20, 2003 - The news that The Gillette Company plans to purchase 500 million radio frequency identification tags was widely reported around the world. One result has been a growing opposition to the use of RFID in consumer products. http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/article...leview/275/1/1/ I predict opposition to RFIDs will be short and forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxCaster Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Supermarket "club cards" pose a problem for the privacy-minded: Is it worth a few dollars in savings to let the store track your purchases of TV dinners and home pregnancy tests? Rob Cockerham, a graphic designer in Sacramento, has decided that the best way to maintain his shopping privacy is to get lost in a crowd. So he has cloned his discount card and used his Web site to recruit a small army of Rob Cockerhams whom he has unleashed against the Safeway chain, which has more than 1,650 stores in the United States and Canada. His team of about 180 card-carrying fellow travelers has used Mr. Cockerham's discount account to ring up more than $5,000 in purchases at more than 50 different Safeway stores. The plan was hatched in December, when Mr. Cockerham printed some stickers that carefully replicated the bar code on the back of his Safeway Club card. He then sought recruits via his Web site, Cockeyed. com, where he has developed a following by documenting his wacky science experiments and pranks. "Together," he wrote on the site, "we might amass a profile of the single greatest shopper in the history of mankind." http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/10/business...nt&position=top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threadbare Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 When telemarketers call I have lots of fun. But only if they're rude. It's delightful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumpabuck Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 My tactic with Telemarketers is to interrupt the beginning of their spiel with "Excuse me, could you hold for one second?" then I just leave them hanging...and hanging. Burn up their time holding. Make them pay. :grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinehead Posted March 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 My tactic with Telemarketers is to interrupt the beginning of their spiel with "Excuse me, could you hold for one second?" then I just leave them hanging...and hanging. Burn up their time holding. Make them pay. :grin: If you switched on the sound track of a heavy-breathing porn video, you probably could get them to hold quite a bit longer. :shocked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 I have caller I.D. so if it says "number unavailable," I just don't pick up and it clicks off by the 4th ring. If, by accident, I do pick up and they ask for me (and they always have that goofy cadence and tone that tells you exactly what they are), I just say in a plaintive tone, ". . . Mousey passed away." Ends pretty quickly from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AssMaster Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Sometimes I play with them, but usually I just tell them this: "Thank you very much, but I'm not interested. Goodnight." Then hang up. It's far more tactful than they deserve. If it is a young woman, I may blab to them for a bit just for practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefywiefy Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 My tactic with Telemarketers is to interrupt the beginning of their spiel with "Excuse me, could you hold for one second?" then I just leave them hanging...and hanging. Burn up their time holding. Make them pay. :grin: I used to bait them into thinking i was interested in their pitch and then say "could you hold on for a second". i would then give the phone to my three year old and tell them this man/woman would like to talk to you and when your done hang up the phone. Made my kids happy as hell to talk to someone. Sometimes he'd be on the line for ten minutes before hanging up. I loved telemarketers. Gave me enough time to suck down a beer in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrawDaddy Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Only a sucker would add their info to that list, or any list for that matter. Anonymity is the greatest of all freedoms. My phone book lists me with a 'fake' name. My friends and relatives have my phone number and if anyone calls asking for the 'fake' I know that they've farmed my number from the phone book database. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threadbare Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 Funny! Speaking of heavy breathers on the phone, Mhead. I recieved an obscene phone call a couple of decades ago, while watching a movie on the telly with my mother. I don't know what possessed me, but I started laughing my head off at the absurdity of it. I said "You know this has been really great, could you call me back later, I'm watching a movie right now." My mother was horrified, but I assured her the perv would never bother us again, and he didn't. Now rude telemarketers, you can engage them in long stories about your health problems. That works wonders. If you get a call and the telemarketer wants to speak to your spouse, tell them, "sorry , my spouse is mute" I actually had one persist, saying "That's okay, I'll do all the talking". To which you reply. "But they're also deaf." You get to thrill to the sound of their brains blowing a gasket trying to work around this little problem. I'm going to miss rude telemarketers, but political groups and people doing market studies and surveys are fair game too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alceringa Posted March 12, 2003 Report Share Posted March 12, 2003 My favorite thing to do with telemarketers is to say, "Wait a minute, let me get him/her", put the phone down and walk away for say, a couple of hours. I figure if they are waiting for someone to pick up the phone, they aren't on the line bothering someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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