Q: What is wrong with Americans?

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A: They answer their phones for unknown callers.

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My phones are 30-40 years old. Every inbound call is “unknown”. Besides caller ID can be faked.

Simple rule I use, never say “yes”. When someone calls and asks if I am me, I don’t say “yes”. I say “who is calling?” If they say “can you hear me?” I say again “who is calling?” A couple days ago, a call came in, asked if I was me, then asked if I could hear her. I said again "who is calling?:, then “what company are you calling for?” She hung up.

Steve

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I hate phones. Always have.

Probably genetic because dear old Mom (a politician!) detested them as well. When she took office she had to have training and therapy and vigilant staff to survive just sitting in her office.

I use lots of my cell phone apps, but adamantly take no calls except from an itsy bitsy tiny list. Want to talk to me? Come and meet me at the local gorditas stand near me in Central Mexico, and we will grab some and take a nice walk by the riverbed. Failing face to face, writing is better for everybody unless sex is involved. Often enough, even then.

d fb

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Many do need to pick up unknown calls due to professional/ business / social reasons, unless they use answering services/ secretaries etc. to handle their calls

I simply auto reply with a text message saying ‘Text me who you are and what you want’

That takes care of 90% of spammers :slight_smile:

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You actually answer the phone? I never answer the phone; I have the ringer turned off. If someone wants to reach me they better leave a message. I miss a lot of text messages that way since I’m never alerted.

JimA

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Back when I had a landline that couldn’t tell me who was calling I’d answer:

Hello? If it was someone I didn’t want to talk to or “commercial” call I’d wait a second then interrupt their schpiel with: HELLO! HELLO!? Nothing heard Then hang up. Never got a call-back. I think that goes on their list as a bogus number or a number not to waste time on.

Anther one I’d use was to answer the phone with: Command post.
Usually I’d get a confused sounding, halting, “Is this mr so-and-so…?” I’d say: No, you got the command post. End of call. Never got any call backs and again, it probably got nixed as a number not to call…

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Right now, I answer the phone, because I am expecting a call. Parts ordered for my car on June 18th, have been stuck in limbo since the car dealer IT hack on the 19th. Someday, the parts will appear. Meanwhile, i received a call from a cousin I had not spoken with for several years, so we had some catching up to do. As soon as the car parts are received, the ringer on the phone gets turned off again.

Steve

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One of the greatest inventions, other than the mute button on the remote control, is the phone answering machine. I use it, and seldom answer my phone. I refuse to be interrupted in whatever I am doing to respond to my device. My life takes precedence. However humble, it’s still mine. If there’ an emergency, they should call 911.

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Mark Twain would have agreed with all of the above.