{"id":1668,"date":"2016-02-07T06:30:47","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T14:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=1668"},"modified":"2016-02-07T06:30:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T14:30:47","slug":"sunday-soapbox-a-great-solution-to-stop-telemarketers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=1668","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Soapbox–A Great Solution To Stop Telemarketers!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I do enjoy purchasing online, but there is nothing more annoying than getting phone calls from telemarketers. \u00a0I have actually turned off my land line because the only people calling it were telemarketers and CVS letting me know my prescription is ready.<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0There are “Do-Not-Call” lists, which I have joined, but still they persist. \u00a0So a guy decided to fight back and has started a Kickstarter campaign<\/a>\u00a0for a robot program which answers the call and keeps the telemarketer busy for as long as possible. \u00a0Your phone never rings but you get the satisfaction of knowing you wasted the time of the person calling you (which is even worse than hanging up on them.)<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 I’ve posted a couple of the calls below, but there are many more on YouTube if you want to listen to them. \u00a0Occasionally the caller will figure out it’s a robot, but most of the time they just can’t help themselves and continue to try making their pitch. \u00a0While I feel sorry for the poor people who are making a living making these calls, anything to keep companies from making unwanted calls is fine in my book!<\/div>\n
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\u00a0 \u00a0 If you start boiling over in frustration at the mere thought of telemarketers, you\u2019re not alone. Roger Anderson of The Jolly Roger Telephone Company<\/a> was so sick of unwanted callers, he created a robot to deal with them. The Jolly Roger bot is brilliantly simple: When telemarketers call, it keeps them occupied for as long as possible, using a few pre-recorded words and phrases like \u201cyes,\u201d \u201cuh huh,\u201d and \u201call right.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Anderson has made something of a hobby out of recording these calls, and a few of them are pretty hilarious. In addition to non-committal phrases like \u201cyeah, uh huh,\u201d the bot has some more complex tricks up its sleeve to keep telemarketers on the phone. Frustrated or suspicious telemarketers get strung along for just a bit longer with lines like \u201cHold on, there\u2019s a bee crawling on my arm,\u201d or \u201cSorry, I just woke up from a nap.\u201d The idea isn\u2019t to torture human telemarketers\u2014the robot is extremely polite\u2014but to waste the time and money of the companies who employ them.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the moment, use of the robot is free and instructions are available on Anderson\u2019s website. However, Anderson has dreams of turning his robotic telemarketer repellant into an actual paid service that anyone can use (right now, he\u2019s using his own money to keep the bot going). He\u2019s currently raising money to expand the project on Kickstarter. Learn more about his project here<\/a>, and listen in on one of the robot\u2019s calls below.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n