roy@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) (08/05/90)
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > Our gentle Moderator is precisely correct. This is exactly how I > handled the {San Jose Mercury} and their telemarketing-run-amuck. So > far it seems to have worked. It went like this: [Oh god, Martha, > another story...] Do newspapers have some kind of secret agreement to use sleazy tactics? Last year, I got a call ... the fellow says "Hi, this is George, with the {Anchorage Times}. I spoke with someone there last week, and they said I should call back today about starting your subscription." Innocuous enough, I suppose ... but not good enough. I replied, "George, let me fill you in here: I live alone, just me and my answering machine. If you had talked to _anyone_ last week, t'would have been me. So you're lying to me right out of the box. I don't like your paper, I don't like telemarketers, and I'd appreciate never hearing from you again. Have you got all that?" George mumbled something, and I hung up. Must have worked, though ... I never got another call from the Times. Roy M. Silvernail now available at: cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu