"I'd be so very appreciative if you resolved not to contact me again!"
Some years ago, a person in my household who shall not be named made the mistake of buying some drugs off the internet. Now, with ever-increasing frequency, we receive calls from illicit on-line pharmacies. all hours of the day, sometimes one after the other. Telling them not to call doesn’t work; telling them we are going to report them doesn’t work. I have warned the callers of dire consequences to future callers, and now have to find some actual consequences to inflict.
My new practice, when they reveal who they are and their purpose, is to give a blood-curdling, high-pitched scream directly into the phone, as loud as I can make it. I am certain this is startling (I have a great scream), and I hope it is painful. I would not be sorry to learn that it bursts an eardrum or seven. Plan B…an airhorn.
Is this unethical?
Ethics Alarms 
I wrote out a big rant about not inflicting harm on the little guy in the scenario, based on a bad experience I recently had at work. But then again, I don’t work as a telemarketer for a sleazy drug company. I doubt this will stop the problem.
I wish you could block numbers from your phone the way you can block spam emails. Why is that not an option?
So, the dog was ordering cheap dog biscuits?
First, you must use the magic words “place me on your ‘do not call’ list.”. Saying, “don’t call me” doesn’t work. Then, start punching the # sign as many times as possible and hang up. We use this with robo-calls. It supposedly screws up their computers. But I like the primal scream idea. May have to try that myself.
Jo, that is the problem at my abode, the blankety-blank robo-calls. No one to say “No, and don’t call again,” to. No one to make loud noises at, or berate, or threaten consequences to. Just an indifferent machine that neither listens nor cares. I will try punching the # button repeatedly, and hope for the best, but I have real doubts about it (hope springeth eternal, though). As Jack said in a different posting, meet me at the bridge, I’m jumping at noon.
Unethical?! I only wish I had thought of it! I settled for speaking another language, feigning inability to understand – then ultimately ended up changing my number. I have a spinal cord injury that will require lifelong pain medication. When my insurance changed, I was left to my own devices for a month and ordered tramadol online. I was shocked to receive an email only 9 days later telling me I could order another month’s supply (!) and was then inundated with emails and phone calls soliciting orders for my pain medication AND offering me a variety of other medications. I tried to explain that I no longer needed their services, as I now had my prescription back in place. No use – had to change my email address, too. You go right ahead and handle it that way – include an extra one for me.
My tactic? Well, when I heard an airhorn may burst the poor bastards eardrum, I nixed it… So I instead I do what the Rock does, I stop then in mid sentence and ask what their name is. As they tell me a name, I cut them off and shout “It doesn’t matter what your name is!” (Classic The Rock tagline). You can follow it up with a continuous rant, but always close with “If ya smeeeelll, what the Rock, is cookin'”
This is probably an even better approach, if you have the time and acting skills …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl5uhjJFTiE
You may not be surprised to know that I’ve done this sort of thing too….but it’s too time consuming, and the jokes get old when you have to do it six times an hour. Plus these drug-pushers barely speak English.
Actually, having given this some thought, I would tend to think that your actions are unethical (although it is by no means a clear-cut case). The guy on the phone is not the mastermind behind the profit-making scheme … he’s probably just some kid making minimum wage who’s reading from a script. At the very least he’s getting a nasty surprise and a shot of stress in his system … if he’s unlucky he might also sustain damage to his hearing. Going by the golden rule (Do unto others … ) I think that could be a fail …
No, if I ever invade people’s privacy selling illegal prescription drugs, I HOPE someone breaks my eardrum. (By the way—it is virtually impossible to harm anyone’s ears with a noise over the phone.)
So you really think it’s ethical for people to take jobs doing unethical things as long as they’re not paid much? Not me: the employee is also accountable for what he or she agrees to do. Come on: this is the “I was only following orders!” rationalization. I thought we put that one to bed at Nuremberg and Andersonville.
I was wondering who was going to be the first to mention Nuremberg.
Rather than go the air-horn route, or scream your lungs out — just use a police whistle . . . it will be equally upsetting to the irksome caller. I don’t
think ethics enter into this situation.
I’m going to have to lean toward unethical, even if I like the idea. This is like Kansas all over again. Maybe try the consumerist’s advice:
http://consumerist.com/2008/08/hey-how-do-i-sue-telemarketers-who-ignore-the-do-not-call-list.html
http://consumerist.com/2011/05/if-telemarketers-dont-supply-do-not-call-policy-you-can-sue-for-500.html
I tend to think that doing something highly annoying to them will only make them mark you “CALL THIS GUY MORE AND AT MORE ANNOYING HOURS” instead of have you removed from the auto-dialers’ list. When I was in a low-wages job and people were rude, I would never spit in their food, but it didn’t inspire me to improve the service I was giving to my platinum standard, either. But I was shlepping ice cream and banquet food, not in control of whether their phone rings at 3 am 7 times in a row…
They can call me on that line as late as they want…it’s not ringing.
May I suggest saying something like, “Excuse me for a moment”… and then play a soundtrack from a violent scene of any Schwarzenegger movie you’d care to mention. Screams, curses and automatic weapons fire have a way of deterring all but the stouthearted. That category would not include these over-the-phone parasites.