Interviewing the Telemarketers

Boing Boing's got a link to a delightful Telemarketer Counter-Script, which you may download, keep by the phone, and use to guide you through conversations with telemarketers -- they've got scripts, too, so then everything's fair.

Then, when you've tallied the results of your investigation, you can send them to Amsterdam, where they do something with them, I dunno what, probably throw them out.

Lovely script, though. You ask your interviewers what sort of toothpaste they use, and ask for their phone numbers so you can do follow-up calls. And if they get feisty, there's a script for that, too -- "I appreciate your hesitation, Mr./Ms...., however, this is an important piece of information used for verification purposes and I will handle it with strict confidentiality. With that in mind, would you reconsider and provide me with the information?"

And then, later, "I can appreciate your concern, Mr./Ms...., but aren't you calling me?"