WTF!

[Mary Fisher]

Part of being polite is to make the customer think that s/he's right :-)

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Oh I DO like that!

I'd like to think I'd remember it ...

Mary

[PeTe33]

We have always refused to see anyone as a pair.

Going down the other line of the thread, I had extremely good fun in the shop with one of the many Indian call centers allegedly calling on behalf of "British Telecom" by using the the method "attack is the best form of defence" print off the following and keep it handy.

's amazing what you can get out of people.

:¬))

[Zoinks]

Simply make a real show of deadlocking the front door and insisting that he/she sits on a large plastic sheet at all times. Tell them that you don't often get company. Close the curtains, irrespective of the time of day. Ask them to stand up while you measure them with a tape-measure, write it down. Chuckle a lot.

Z.

[Zoinks]

The main problem is that the person that answers the phone or door (read "you") are put on the back-foot from the very start. The natural response is annoyance ("bloody cheek of it !"). But if you actually welcome the entertainment on offer it can be quite funny and challenging to weird these people out.

They want to get in, sell something and get out. Just don't let them Always tell salesmen that you are taping the conversation for later playback in the pub, where you will judge their selling technique and probably laugh at them.

When people to wring up offering me crap products I usually adopt a non-linear style of answer. A good example is the Two Ronnies sketch about answering the question-before-last.

If they claim to know your name ("Hello, is that Mr Williams") always deny it. If they ask if you are the homeowner always say no because it's an official Government residence, office, shed, prison cell, whatever.

Z.