I was thinking more in terms of real live telemarketers.
But I was actually thinking that telemarketing firms should be required to put in place a method for detecting when a person they’ve called pushes the number 1, automatically removing their name and number from their dial list and disconnecting the call.
No automated system in place, no permit to do business as a telemarketer.
When I have the time I use the Abe Simpson method:
One trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere. Like the time I took the fairy to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you’d say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.”