sent from: London, UK. destination: San Diego, CA

It’s someone from BT, my mother said, he wants to ask you some questions, she gave me the phone. The man on the end of the line was amiable, polite – hello sir, I know you’re not a BT customer, but I wanted to know – CLICK. I didn’t let him continue, I hung up on him.
My mother looked distressed. What? I don’t want to waste my time, I don’t want him to waste his, and I don’t want to tell him to piss off, so I have a policy of just hanging up. This didn’t convince her – well, I think you did tell him to piss off – she said these last words tentatively; she hates swearing. I said – he’s not my friend, it’s dinner time, I’m in the middle of something, it’s pure sales call, they’re intruding uninvited on my personal space – I owe them as much attention as I would give a piece of unsolicited spam email or a flyer through the door. Getting into a conversation of ‘oh, no thank you’ brings it onto their terms, they’re trading on rules of polite behaviour that don’t apply here. They’re just doing a job, I have no reason to be rude, but the best thing I can do for both of us is to let them move quickly onto the next call that may be more fruitful for them. Salesmen, con artists, all rely on basic societal rules of politeness to gain your trust, and people’s natural inclination not to want to disappoint, not wanting to say ‘no’. I’ve been doing this for years and no-one has yet called back to complain. Since I have you here now, can I mention something to you? I have an amazing blog you should be – CLICK