Remember back in the days before Caller ID and *69 when you could call someone and say something offensive then hang up without any recompense? Well, now telemarketers have an arsenal of war dial devices at the ready.

My favorite is the lady who’s having trouble with her headset. The call starts with a “Hello, hello?” Then an apology that her headset isn’t working correctly and she asks for a confirmation that you can hear her. If you say yes then it’s a go-ahead for her (the robot) to begin the sales pitch. The second time she called I said, “Didn’t you call me an hour ago?”. The robot replied, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that, can you please say yes or no”. Once I knew it was a voice-activated prompt, I began asking all sorts of questions that she couldn’t process. Finally, I talked so much that it disconnected me. However, I still get calls from time to time.

Typically, if I don’t recognize the number, I will just silence my phone or double-click the power button to send it to voicemail. If the caller is not in my contacts and it’s an important message they will leave me a voicemail. However, these robots are now starting to leave voicemails. My call block list is growing exponentially.