My Strategy For Telemarketers

When I get a call on my cell phone from a number with which I am not familiar, I do not say 'Hello.' Instead, I speak in a voice as monotone as possible, as if I were a computer, and I say: 'You have reached a number that does not accept solicitations. If you are a solicitor, please add this number to your Do Not Call list, and hang up now. Otherwise, if you are not a computer, but a real human, please prove it by singing any song by Willie Nelson or George Strait.' I seldom have to say the entire thing before they hang up. Usually, I don't get past the word 'Otherwise', but last night I did get all the way through. There was a pause, and then a man started singing 'On the road again...'