Jan 8, 2013
You don't have to answer the phone. I don't. And I have an answering machine that provides a message PLUS an option for the caller to leave a message. Oddly, I don't have that many problems with this sort of thing (anymore).
You don't have to answer the phone just because someone has called you. Scrutinize CID. Do you like what you see? If the caller leaves a message, does it make any sense? That is, are they trying to sell you on a refinancing for your mortgage but, as reality would have it, you are a renter? Is it a debt collector trying to find someone who you have never heard of? Is it a 'mediator' who wants to 'settle' your student loan debt although you have no outstanding student loan debt?
People. don't answer the phone. You'd be surprised how little time passes before they start calling less, and less, and less, and less...Really, that's what I did. I went from nearly 24 hour calls to next to nothing and I have an answering machine so it's not about the phone being picked up. It's about the ability of the 'picking up' to provide money (i.e. a credit card number).
Life is difficult enough - don't feed the trolls. Don't give them the satisfaction of talking to a 'live voice. Give yourselves a break and let the trash wear itself out.