While it's certainly illegal to call 911 without an emergency, I would also imagine that it is illegal to impersonate 911 dispatchers. Points for cleverness though.

She actually didn't fall for it.

Have a laugh folks, geez. :)

I handle phone calls from strange numbers by answering them in Italian. Works every time. (Do not try this with Spanish - it's too commonly spoken.)

If the caller turns out to be someone who has a legitimate reason to contact me, I make a few clattering noises, come back on the line in English, and say it was my housemate.

Sheesh. Looks like some people have too much time on their hands.

Just screen your calls and don't pick up the phone. What's the BFD?

Believe me, the telemarketer on the other end does not care how cute or creative you are. They have a job to do and they've heard it all.

That is funny. I live in a Spanish speaking country and I always speak in English to telemarketers and they hang up on me.

These are hilarious! :) I never thought about answering in a different language! Maybe i'll try that soon. Telemarketers have been cleaver enough to get through my call screening before so now i have a weapon at my dispense. LOL

Even better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIMRKq2eZI

I've pulled answering as the local police dept. and a department of defense transfer line.
Another good one is to start your answering machine message with the phone company phone number error/disconnected tones and then continue the message. It tricks the computer doing those auto-dial/automated message calls to delete your number from the list and stop calling you. Just remember to tell the people you want to call you to ignore the tones if they're they type who hang up the moment they hear them.

aychihuahua - Screening calls doesn't always work.

In my last job, I sometimes received as many as 100 nuisance calls PER DAY from telemarketers. Unfortunately, there seems to be no legal penalty for calling a business that has asked them to stop, and when I screened those calls, their frequency went through the roof.

(I couldn't answer the phone in Italian at work, since I also received legitimate phone calls. I finally started telling them "I am not being paid to have you tie up my phone line; I am being paid to do my job. If you want to take up my time, you have to pay me for it." No one who heard that spiel ever bothered me again.)

We have a 'do not call' listing option in Canada.You register your number and marketers are not supposed to call you.It has cut down the amount of calls we get.However,anyone you have done business with IS allowed to call.So,you can still get tons of calls from places like Sears.Some marketers buy the list and then sell, it to companies located outside the country.They will and do call.Very annoying.I also hate calls from corps. you are dealing with who call to offer new services or 'how are we doing?' surveys.I don't think anything ever rids you of these calls.

I usually screen the calls out, but sometimes I have to answer because family may be calling me from phone numbers and places I don't recognize.

If the telemarketer is calling me at a "decent hour" I politely say no and politely hang up. They are actual people, after all, and trying to make a living.

If they call too early or too late, then I am still polite, but complain about the timing and ask for a supervisor (they always hang up when I ask that).

While this is all pretty dang funny, I like to try and have some empathy for people who are trying to make ends meet at a job that's gotta suck.

If they're deceptive in what they're calling about etc. though, I will politely ask them to let their boss know that it's not appreciated and that I plan to blog about the company's marketing practices.

I find that simply saying, "It's not a good time," or "I don't respond to phone solicitations" does the job and doesn't force me to be rude or deceptive.

Well, good for you, Splitty. Most of us haven't been that lucky.

Before I resorted to demanding compensation from marketers, most of them simply refused to stop calling. One guy made 10 calls in a single day - that's harassment, plain and simple.

I usually answer calls I don't recognise, that I get multiples from with "County Morgue" Usually does the trick.

I usually just interrupt what they're saying, and say, "I'm not interested, thank you!" and hang up on them. I find it works. A friend of mine used to just say, "Well, I want to talk to you about Jesus!" and go on from there; the telemarketers always hung up on her.