Are You Frustrated by Telemarketers? Here are Three Ways to Ease the Pain.

My wife and I have just arrived home from a hard day at work after battling traffic and crowded buses. We change into comfortable clothing and head downstairs to the kitchen to prepare supper.

As the potatoes and vegetables near the point where they are almost done, the phone rings . . . by the way it rings, we know it's long distance. We, like most of you, have families living away and don't want to run the risk of missing an important call. One of us picks up the receiver. There is a pregnant pause, then an unfamiliar voice, announces that he/she is calling on behalf of your bank or whatever else, and has a great deal for you. You politely tell the person that you're not interested. He/she keeps on talking. Meanwhile, the potatoes have boiled dry. You tell the person, once again, only more firmly, that you're not interested. You might as well have talked to the "man in the moon." Finally, in frustration, you hang up.

Your meal is now nearly ruined and your stress level is elevated. You salvage the edible items and settle down in front of the TV to catch up on your favourite show. Midway through the meal, the phone rings. It's long distance . . .

Does the above scenario sound familiar?

If so, I have three suggestions that have helped ease our frustrations:

- if, when you answer the phone, there is a pause after you say "hello", hang up.It's more difficult for the telemarketer to redial than it's worth. If the call is from family, they'll call back and then you can answer;

- Buy an answering machine and let all calls go to it. If the call is important, the caller will leave a message; and

- Lastly, in Canada, you can register your phone numbers with a government web-site, https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng , and the majority of the telemarketer calls will be terminated. It takes about a month, but is well-worth the time to do so.

For us, the above three methods have proven to be invaluable in helping eliminate the pesky, intrusive telemarketer calls. As a last note, don't give out your phone number to stores, etc.

Talk to you later and keep smiling . .

Gary