Auto-dialer

This one auto-dialer tricks me every time! It is so infuriating. It basically goes like this:

*my phone rings: from unknown local number*

I answer "Hello"

*4 second pause*

confused voice on phone "hello? hello?"

*short pause*

I answer again "Hello"

voice on phone "Oh hi! *laughs* I'm having a little trouble with my headset. The reason I'm calling is you qualify for ..."

Click to expand...

They whole thing is a well timed recording. I've gotten the exact same exchange three times now. It gets me every time. I guess it would piss me off more if the psychology of it wasn't so darn interesting. It keeps getting me because I am so darned conditioned to the protocol of a "phone call" my brain doesn't expect a recording to engage in that protocol exchange. Once they get to the "reason I'm calling part" I figure it out and hang up, but while I'm in the protocol exchange its like I'm locked into it.

If they would have kept the interactive exchange going on longer it would have been very difficult for me to disengage the call. It is a clever mind hack that thankfully they don't do better.


Just felt like sharing.

Everytime I detect an auto-dialer is calling me I immediately begin pressing 9 and hope that its the "take me off this list' button. There have been times where I had to mash every other key to get it so sometimes it's a little game of "Which key does this autodialer respond to?"