Now that was funny..... What a moron!

The homicide investigation prank is another way of ruffling some feathers.

i wish i could pull something off like that...i couldn't get half way thru without laughing....good job......

Yes

Hahahahahahaha. I'm glad the telemarketer messed with him too.

@Joafu: yes...?

@timmus: Haha thanks, that was some funny shit.

Moron, indeed. So now it's noteworthy that this jerk amused himself by tormenting some poor guy who's trying to earn a living, you know, make some money to buy gas, pay the rent? Put yourself on the do-not-call-list, hang up if you get a call anyway, but don't be an a-hole.

OMG... thank you guys for making my day. The Police Investigation video is absolutely hillarious. "was a flaming homosexual" OMG

Absolutely hilarious? - yes!

Great response by the telemarketer. Telemarketer: 1, annoying prank guy: 0

My favs are still pretending you just got back from a rock concert and yelling at them that they need to speak up or pretending to be the paranoid conspiracy freak demanding to know how they got your number.

Of course there is also the whole just ditching the land line and avoiding 99.9% of the problem all together...

I have to agree with Momma.

A telemarketer is trying to earn a living. Keeping him / her on the phone is simply using their time that could be spent dialing the next person and perhaps leading to a sale.

You have the option of not answering your phone and who doesn't have caller ID today.

Teasing those less fortunate for your own amusement is not the mark of a decent civilized person.

How about gluing a string to a quarter and tossing it in a homeless person's cup, then yanking it back?

Big time fun, huh?

Judge Judy sound board. Hell, any sound board.

Brilliant.

For all those complaining -- this guy was trying to get his SSN. Do you really think this was a legit call?

Telewhores get what they deserve.

"Do you really think this was a legit call? "
@mizmoose: But he was trying to offer him a valuable goods and/or services. ;)

@MommaJ: Some people get stuck with jobs like this. They know going in that they are going to make people angry. Would you rather have someone joke around with you like this or have them yell at you? When I was in high school I did telemarketing and I would have LOVED to get someone with a sense of humor rather than someone cursing me out.

@SkokieGuy:

Horrible analogy, unless the homeless guy actually came to your door asking for the quarter. In that case, you may be on to something.

@SkokieGuy:

Get over yourself, this is funny - telemarkters waste people's time, but somehow their time is too valueable to have a trick played on them?

The excuse that he's trying to earn a living doesn't make parasites like telemarketers any more tollerable.

@Riddler: Point taken.

But really, aren't all us smart consumers on the do not call list?

Who answers a telephone from a phone number they don't recognize?

P.S. My favorite is when I dial a cell phone number (in error). The other party of course answer & when I hear the voicemail, I know it's a wrong number, so I disconnect.

Invariable I get a call back instantly, "Who is this". I find this totally hilarious.

DirecTV used to call me 3 times a day. I finally got fed up and acted like I was interested on one of the few times there was actually someone on the other end of the line. I kept the woman on the phone for 45 minutes asking if they have channel x, then channel y, etc. She was looking through the channel guide for each one (and I had pulled up the guide on my TiVo and was just going down the list). I would even occasionally repeat a channel just for the hell of it. Finally, toward the end I came across a channel they didn't have (and I had no actual interest in). My response was, "oh I LOVE that channel, so not having it is a deal breaker for me. Sorry" and hung up. They never bothered me again.

Yes, I know they're trying to make a living. But calling me 3 times a day for months and hanging up when I answer just pisses me off.

@SkokieGuy:

aren't all us smart consumers on the do not call list
- I don't think I'd qualify as a smart consumer, but I am on the list

Who answers a telephone from a phone number they don't recognize?
- I've never had caller ID (except for automatic caller ID on cell phone) because I always though it came at a cost, and I was trying to mimic smart consumers by not paying for something I don't need. Nonetheless, I fail by buying something I don't need like the Wii Fit. [Do, I really need that? My wallet says no, but my slightly expanding tummy says YES.]

@mizmoose: Well, just the last 4 of his social. I've heard of that before. Probably was legit.

@Hate_Brian_Club: My point is no one does telemarketing by choice. In many cases it is a job of last resort for those that are barely employable.

We live in a society where making fun of others has become acceptable.

There have been people on Consumerist that advocate punching the receipt checker at Walmart if they dare to detain them.

Not answering your phone when it's an unrecognized number or simply saying 'no thank you' and hanging up not only doesn't waste the TM's time, it also doesn't waste yours.

If you want to really know about about a person, don't watch how they treat their boss, watch how they treat the janitor.

@SkokieGuy:

Invariable I get a call back instantly, "Who is this". I find this totally hilarious.

Hilarious but also REALLY annoying! I remember back in the days of *69 this happened to me. "Why did you just call me and hang up?!" I dialed the wrong number! You just wasted 75 cents, idiot!

Other people "just trying to make a living": Drug dealers, Prostitutes, Pimps, The Squeegee Guy, Thieves

I don't think it's appropriate to do things like blow an airhorn into the phone, but screwing with them has to be fair game - they called you on your phone!

"and who doesn't have caller ID today."

-Hey, I can't afford the $8/month Verizon charges for it here in NJ. Therefore, every time the phone rings, it is a mystery to me!

Am I the only one who thinks the entire thing was staged?

@SkokieGuy: Sometimes ignoring them doesn't make them go away. I had an unlisted number come up on my caller ID six times a day for three days in a row until I finally picked it up and told them I was not interested in renewing the magazine subscription that isn't even set to expire until 2010. When I politely asked the telemarketer to please not call me anymore, he hung up without so much as a "Sure, no problem."
I'm already on the Do Not Call List.

@timmus: That was funnier than the video Consumerist posted. I was laughing hard. Very funny.

@Hate_Brian_Club: As someone who used to have a job classified as a telemarketer (I was an agent for New York Life) , I can tell you that someone acting like this would not be appreciated. Especially since in my office, you were rated on your calling ratio--how many dials vs. contacts vs. apps you could make in a given amount of time.

As far as telemarketers wasting people's time, that's what the do not call list is for. We had to use a telephone system that scrubbed our calls through the federal, state, and company do not call lists. It wouldn't let a call be made if it was on one of those lists. (also, the company would cover us if the system screwed up and we got fined; if we called off the system and got fined, it would come out of our own pocket). And whose time is so valuable that they can't take three seconds to say, "Thanks, I'm not interested. Bye."

@BlondeGrlz: You're right, I have the same problem.

But keep in mind that when you are a jerk to a telemarketer, you are likely guaranteeing that the harassment will continue.

That's why people who fall victim to scammers often get scammed again. The phone number and info of an easy mark gets sold and passed around. You don't think the number of assholes and jerks get passed on too?

Kinda like pissing off a waiter and worrying about if they'll spit in your food, it's just not prudent to mess with someone who already has your phone number and likely lots of other demographic info.

If you 'mess with' a telemarketer selling magazine subscriptions, don't you think you're tipping the odds that you're going to be (wrongly) signed up for LOTS of magazines? That's typically how these people get paid and by the time you start getting invoices that person has likely quit and moved on to another job.

Back in the day I used to have a spare phone line we used for internet. When DSL came available we tacked it onto our phone line, but never got around to canceling the spare line, so my little brother used it to call his friends, but we didn't carry any long distance on it because we never used it for LD.

Sprint suddenly decided that we needed long distance on that line, so called it at 5:30 pm EVERY DAY.

I kept explaining over and over that we don't make long distance calls on that line, we have AT&T on the main line, 0 interest in sprint. Keep getting calls. I looked online and found out if they keep calling after being asked not to you can file a complaint with, er, someone, don't remember who. So I started informing them every day when they called that I was filing a complaint and letting them know which code they were breaking and the fines involved. (and I did fill out the complaint, every day... never heard a word back of course.)

I figured eventually they'd get the hint.

Finally one day this guy calls, I go through my schpiel... dude erupts. Goes absolutely insane cussing and telling me I can't do that, that he's going to hunt me down and kill me if I do that, etc etc etc...

So I hung up. Called Sprint. Asked for sales. Asked for the highest manager they have available. Let them know one of their sales reps just threatened to kill me for filling a pointless complaint form out about them calling me every day. Manager takes my phone#, comes back, tells me the situation has been "dealt with."

Lots of groveling ensued by the manager and I never heard from them again.

After that I got rid of the land lines and went with a cell, so never had any fun experiences with telemarketers. :(

@NameGoesHere: I was thinking the same thing, especially right at the end. Either way, it made me laugh!

I like pie.

Yes.

mmm pie.

yes.

yesyesyes

pie pie pie!

Gimme pie!

I feel bad for them too. Think about it. Where the hell else are they going to work?

Although I have to confess that I almost always tell them the person that are looking for "is no longer with us".

I love the ones who say "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. How about you though, do you think you might want to give something to the Police Activity League?"

@SkokieGuy: The telemarketer has the option of not calling in the first place. He chose to be rude and make an unsolicited sales call. I have the option, the right, to respond in kind.

Making money at it is NOT an excuse. But I guess if my brother paid me a quarter to whack you upside the head, you'd have to stand there and take it politely because I was paid to do it, and you had the option to duck.

you made our day walters! My boyfriend and I were just lauging out butt off. Funny indeed!

@nytmare: Making an unsolicited call is not rude. Rudeness would be the conduct of the telemarketer on the phone.

The telemarketer likely does NOT have the option of not calling you. They probably have a computer that dials the number and the telemarketer has no 'choice' as to who receives the next call.

We have a choice when driving, if we let others change into our lane when we see a turn signal.

We have a choice of walking a little faster than the elderly person and getting to the checkout counter ahead of them.

We have a choice in how we respond to an unsolicited phone call.

I think what we choose says something about the kind of people we are.

I've never denied that you have the option of being rude, I'm disagreeing with your choice.

May you never lose your job and have the only work available to you be telemarketing.

hahaha very nice. i'm going to try that now.

@tjevans:

And whose time is so valuable that they can't take three seconds to say, "Thanks, I'm not interested. Bye."

Mine. Don't call me. If I wanted your product or service, I'd call you. When I want a box of cereal, I go to the store and buy one. I don't need advertisements to tell me that Rice Krispies now have less sugar... when I am looking for the product, I discover it for myself.

When I need more life insurance, magazine subscriptions, or want to donate to the shriners, I'll look them up.

I'm sorry that telemarketers work for companies that suck, but when I call a customer service line and am pissed off, I'm going to tell the CSR how i feel, not because I dislike them or think they are below me, but because when you work for a company, you represent them. If you don't want to feel the brunt of that, work for a company that doesn't annoy people.

I hear from my clients when my company makes unpopular decisions, why should I treat telemarketers any differently?

@timmus: that is so funny, has to be a better way of ending it though

@SkokieGuy:

I don't agree with your analogy. Telemarketers are helping themselves to my time, and they're helping themselves to the use of my phone line for which I bear all costs. And to help themselves further, many will obscure or falsify the caller-id information in the hopes that I will be fooled into picking-up the call. And when they're politely told you're not interested, that's some how interpreted that I'm not interested at this particular instant, but they'll call back tomorrow just to check if I've changed my mind about debt consolidation. .

Quite simply, a telemarketer is not in a position to whine and cry about having their time wasted when they're wasting mine with their unwanted calls on MY phone line. And really, does anyone take telemarketers seriously any more? All I can think about are the sales calls Shelley Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross scored from lonely people who just liked to talk. Not exactly a producing set of sales leads.

Interestingly enough, as I was watching this the Army called. I'm 17 so I get these military phone calls all the time. I was tempted to only say 'yes', but better judgement ruled out and I went the 'I'm not interested in the military; I don't have any friends who are' route. I'm a good person, huh.

@Coles_Law: if that is all the evidence you need to verify something is legit.... have I got a deal for you.

*Please* don't defend people who take horrible jobs like calling people and trying to sell them things. Everyone knows it's annoying, the "deals" are frequently a complete racket, and there are few worse ways to try to make a living for yourself.

If you take this job (or sympathize with those who do) you facilitate the continued existence of a truly detestable method of making money. Whining that someone has the temerity to "waste" the time of a telemarketer or make them feel sad is ludicrous.

@SkokieGuy: "May you never lose your job and have the only work available to you be telemarketing."

Would that mean McDonalds and Walmart finally went out of business?

Can I interest you in DirectTV?
Can I interest you in Pastafarianism? Have you been touched by His noodly appendage?

Where is Roy D. Mercer when you need him?
Cause if I don't get about five hundred dollars...I'm gonna have to come down there and kick...your...ass!

@SkokieGuy: Telemarketing is never a last resort. McDonald's et al. are always hiring.

And yes, unsolicited phone calls are rude. Just like random people knocking on your front door offering to sell you magazines are rude. Just like credit card companies sending you trash through the mail are rude. Just like companies sending you spam are rude.

I think it's rude to try and push products or services onto someone in such an invasive manner. Like Secret Agent Man said, if I want something, I'll take it upon myself to get it.