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Sometimes these telemarketing people go over the top. For instance I got a call from a telemarketing company that was trying to sell me some search engine marketing for my website. I told the guy that I didn't have a web site, but that didn't really seem to matter to him, he just kept telling me about how they could maximize my exposure and about pay per click ads and on and on. He barely took a breath and when he did I again tried to tell him that I really didn't have a website and how did he get my name and could he please take me off his call list. Well, he said fine and hung up and that was the end of that or so I thought, but the next night while I was eating Chinese take out with my girlfriend, she answered the phone and got the same thing all over again. Again she tried telling them that she didn't have a web site and then after a few minutes they agreed to take the name off the list again and on and on.

It reminds me of that old Jerry Sinefeld where he answers the phone for a phone solicitor and he says I am sorry this is not a good time, why don't you give me your home phone number and I will call you back later. When the solicitor refuses, he says why won't you give me your number, oh, I guess you don't want people disturbing you at home, do you, and he says well neither do I, and he hangs up on him. I just think that is the funniest thing, the idea of calling these people at home just to ask them to buy a product or service. In any case, I don't think that phone solicitation is probably the most profitable marketing option, but it must be doing something for these companies, or they wouldn't consider doing it. I don't really like shopping over the phone, and I am also a little bit uneasy about giving personal information to someone who calls me on the phone representing a large company from an undisclosed 1-800 number. I always worry, what if they are not who they say they are, and they take all the money out of my account and run, what will I say, somebody called me and asked for all of my personal information and I just gave it to them. Well, I figure I am better safe than sorry.