• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

More irritating than creationists!

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.
 

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
Yep, I get all the above from time to time. They come in waves.

I was particularly amused by the one from Tax Canada saying that a bench warrant had been issued for my recently deceased mother. I laughed and said, "Good luck on serving that warrant." The caller actually got angry and asked if I thought it was a joke - which made me laugh harder.

This video is great! The kid is 16 years old and they are calling about his back taxes. LOL.
 
Last edited:

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
FYI. I know for a fact those block lists are used as calling lists. Turns out that the telemarketers get a better response rate from then than from most calling lists, so they acquire them (under the pretext of using them to sort out who not to call).
 

whirlingmerc

Well-Known Member
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.

The call from the IRS was a common fraud tactics trying to get you to send emergency money for relief. Sadly in the US a high percentage of elders are targeted by such fraud
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
I had a "free resort stay," because I allegedly stayed at one of their resorts, and no matter how hard I tried to explain to the lady the impossibility of that and the same of all her "reasons," she kept trying to push me in that direction and didn't shake from her base once.
Another thing I found about irritating was when I went to an Ace Hardware for some things for a project, I got a card thingy, gave her my phone number, and their system had the rest of my information.
 

suncowiam

Well-Known Member
I don't know... Creationists do their hardest to be pretty irritating.

I had an automated call saying some police officer will get me if I didn't pay back taxes.

I made a mistake by not reporting one source of income so I know exactly how the IRS responds to this. They do it by mail.
 

whirlingmerc

Well-Known Member
I don't know... Creationists do their hardest to be pretty irritating.

I had an automated call saying some police officer will get me if I didn't pay back taxes.

I made a mistake by not reporting one source of income so I know exactly how the IRS responds to this. They do it by mail.

Creationists are much nicer
 

whirlingmerc

Well-Known Member
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.


Creationists are nicer
I see eye to eye with Solomon to 'remember your creator in the days of your youth'
Eccesiastes how to be happy
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
We could all do without telemarketers, but for some of us, creationists can be a real day brightener. Who here hasn't enjoyed some of their attempts to foist the logic of creationism on us? Heck, if it wasn't for creationists we'd be reduced to quibbling over the meaning of obscure Bible passages, or groaning over the last god-awful lie Trump just told. But with creationism on the table we not only have the issue itself, but creationists themselves to banter about.

Nope, to me creationists are not only much nicer people, but provide interesting fodder for discussion; even if it can get tiresome. So I say:


LONG LIVE THE CREATIONISTS
MAY THEIR FLAG OF MISPLACED
CERTITUDE FLY HIGH AND MIGHTILY

(just don't try to sneak it into public schools)

.
 
Last edited:

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.

Don't know if your provider does this but mine provide a way to block hidden numbers. Cuts down unwanted calls dramatically.

Before we turned the block on we were getting 5 to 10 a day, now we get maybe 5 a year (clever ones who don't hide the number but change it regularly).

The only time (that we know) we missed an important call was the bank trying to contact me. They wrote instead.

Perhaps worth talking to your provider (after a few hundred "your call is important to us, you are 236 in the queue, please wait" and see if they offer the service.

Edit : i forgot to mention, im british living in france. Before the block i always answered in english first. That was usually enough to cause the line to go dead.
 
Last edited:

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
FYI. I know for a fact those block lists are used as calling lists. Turns out that the telemarketers get a better response rate from then than from most calling lists, so they acquire them (under the pretext of using them to sort out who not to call).
In Canada, the federal government runs the do not call list. It's against the law for telemarketers to call any number on it and there are some pretty stiff penalties if they use the list as a calling list.

Canada's National Do Not Call List
 

David T

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.
I love when they call. I start asking them questions that popeadope posts. They get annoyed and hang up. I cackle madly
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
In Canada, the federal government runs the do not call list. It's against the law for telemarketers to call any number on it and there are some pretty stiff penalties if they use the list as a calling list.

Canada's National Do Not Call List

I don't know whether it's against the law to call a block list here in the US. But I've read in industry magazines the lists are being used, and why they're being used.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I hadn't had a land line in years, but signed up for an internet-phone-tv bundle through...I don't want to mention any names, so we'll just call them... "Shleptrum."

No one had the phone number, so it rang every two to three days with a telemarketer. Whenever I picked up, I asked that they refrained from calling me again. Eventually, the calls increase to 3 to 4 per day, and eventually the phone would wake me up in the middle of the night. I turned the ringer off, and after a month or two, more times than not, when I walked by the phone, it had an incoming call illuminated on the display.

I will never get another land line.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Yep, I get all the above from time to time. They come in waves.

I was particularly amused by the one from Tax Canada saying that a bench warrant had been issued for my recently deceased mother. I laughed and said, "Good luck on serving that warrant." The caller actually got angry and asked if I thought it was a joke - which made me laugh harder.

This video is great! The kid is 16 years old and they are calling about his back taxes. LOL.
There are some YouTubers that regularly make videos of them wasting the time of these operators. They will keep them on for a half an hour or more and at the end the scammer will tend to get a bit abusive.

If enough people did that these scams would quickly die. I have done my part at times, but I get bored after the first five or ten minutes.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I never have a hard time with telemarketers. It takes me five seconds or less to figure out they're telemarketers, another five seconds at most to tell them I'm not interested and hang up. Ten seconds in all -- at most. Of course, I wish they wouldn't call in the first place.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
I never have a hard time with telemarketers. It takes me five seconds or less to figure out they're telemarketers, another five seconds at most to tell them I'm not interested and hang up. Ten seconds in all -- at most. Of course, I wish they wouldn't call in the first place.


I often can tell just from the telephone number. Lately they have found how to give a false telephone number and name. Regularly I see the name of a local hospital. Since I have known people that have been there recently it would cause me to jump and to answer it. Now I see that and there is still a short emotional response but I know that it is probably a scammer.

If you don't want scam calls there is a relatively simple cure. Most of them dial multiple numbers at once and the first person to answer is the "winner". I usually wait a couple of rings and more often than not there is no one there when I answer.
 

oldbadger

Skanky Old Mongrel!
So far ...
  • I've received a a very important phone call alerting me to the fact that I am eligible for a better credit card.
  • I've received a courtesy call from Microsoft warning me of a computer virus on my home computer (which is an iiMac).
  • And my wife and I have each received a call from the IRS threatening us with immediate action.
And it's only a little after noon.

And it's after many months of putting such phone numbers on a now rather substantial block-list.

More irritating than .......?
Bird song at 4am? If you shut your double glazing you're hot, if you open it........ trill trill trill?
Adverts in the middle of your telly programs?
Cold calling salesmen at your door?
Religious callers? Heaven is free and that?
You buy a newspaper and half of it is adverts?
............................ and it goes on.........

The trick is, to enjoy it all........ it's life.

When you wake up in the morning, first thing you gotta do is brush your teeth (whatever) AGAIN? Enjoy it. In fact you can enhance your life amazingly by enjoying every part of it................ including posts like this one. :)
 
Top