Have you found my credit card?

Was this thing made for communication or pestering?

"Good afternoon Sir!" I am Bubbly calling from Lena Bank. We have a new international Gold Express Lifetime Free Credit card, sir! And we have a special offer for your company...Are you interested, sir?

Do you know how many times I've heard this? Is the majority of the population in credit card business? I mean come on! How many times the same person from the same bank have to call me on the same number before they can comprehend the simple sentence: "I don't need a credit card!

"Usually people will get frustrated to the point that they shout to the other end. I've seen people who scream their lungs off..."I'm not interested! Don't call me!". Dozens of replies come to my mind too. Like "Ya baby! I'm interested! So where do we meet?" But you know, its rude to be rude to people, eventhough they are rude to you. Thats how you knew they were rude in the first place. Anyways...

After the telemarketing boom in other countries, now it seems its India's turn. Some countries have even made it illegal to make such calls. In India, one can go to consumer court with a complaint, an many have successfully done so. But who has the time to go through all those hectic processes, right? Exactly the same thought that these guys take advantage of. Losing a couple of ten thousands over a case do not weigh against the millions they make from this market. Anyway, I've been fed up of this pestering phone calls, and had to do something about it. So after much careful thought, I devised a brilliant strategy to cope with these phone calls. Here's a sample:

Hello Sir! This is blah blah...blah blah blah...so are you interested sir?

Hmmm...sounds interesting. Which bank did you say you were from?XYZ bank Sir!What card was it was again?Gold Express Lifetime free credit card, Sir!

Oh...that one...but I already have it for 4 months now.

Pause.

I guess they have no way of verifying whether I'm a customer or not. As I've heard, these guys and gals pick up the phone and just dial a random number, in the hope that a fish will take the bait. Or they take a company EPBX prefix and randomly dial extensions. So there you go, dead end!

So finally she has to admit defeat - "Ok sir, have a nice day!

Same to you too...goodbye!

Ok, so may not be such a "brilliant strategy". But hey, it works!. And in my experience, they wont call again for atleast a few weeks. Good enough for me.