Subj : Re: Telemarketers To : August Abolins From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Feb 25 2021 11:41:00 August, AA> That is a good trick. It may work better for people who hold AA> such designations. Having the voice for it, helps too. AA> Back in the day when tape-based answering machines connected to AA> home-phones were common, some people had a lot of fun with intro AA> scripts that were pretty funny. Some were purely imaginary or AA> used celeb voices: Spock, Shatner, etc.. There's a YouTube video of a Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant, doing the Looney Tunes characters after the flight has just landed at its destination, and is on its way to the terminal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCVV4pRmvFE AA> But there is no law against having fun with your own version of AA> "hello". I originally had a recording with various sound effects. "Hello there. This is Daryl Stout". [static, then audio from "Terrible Tuesday", the film about the Wichita Falls, Texas F-5 tornado on April 10, 1979, when a ham radio operator, Glenn Whatley, first spots the monster tornado (although the video at the time was from Cabot, Arkansas in 1972)]. "Anyone within the sound of my voice...there is a tornado on the ground. Please take cover". (I cut out the part about "near the Sikes Center in Wichita Falls, Texas"...that was a big shopping center, and it was right in the path of the monster tornado (a mile and a half wide). Shoppers inside knew the tornado was coming, but tragically did NOT know what to do...as a result, panic ruled). The full video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoJqVEylxto -- the part of the audio is at the 16:55 mark]. [tornado siren revving up and steady in the background] "Unfortunately, this is the time of year in Arkansas...when severe thunderstorms with large hail, high winds, flash flooding, and tornadoes...can develop, and move into an area very rapidly". There is another film on the Super Outbreak of 1974, where Xenia, Ohio was blasted by an F-5 tornado...called "The Day Of The Killer Tornadoes"...it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UArq6EGEn6s It was 148 tornadoes in 12 hours...The Weather Channel also had a program on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGVS8t04yI Another one is the on the EF-5 Greensburg, Kansas tornado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3azBlCKusE [tornado siren revving down, switching to sound of howling hurricane force winds] "Because of this, I'm currently gathering important weather data, and can't come to the phone at this time. So, please leave your name, message, and callback number after the tone...and I'll get back with you as soon as I can. Thank you". Years ago, two of the local TV meteorologists were Ron Sherman (who now runs Ron Sherman Teleproductions in southwest Little Rock), and Tom Bonner (who now is on the board of Arkansas Children's Hospital). One of the local TV anchors (formerly a DJ at a local radio station), created the character "Sherman Bonner". So, that's who I was referred to as by my brother. :) Ironically, our spring tornado season starts Monday, the same day as the start of meteorological spring. Ironically, on March 1, 1997, we had "The I-30 Tornado"...from just south of Interstate 30, it ravaged portions of Arkadelphia, then moved northeast, just missing the Little Rock National Airport, before it dissipated. We've also had tornadoes in the dead of meterological winter (which starts December 1). Dec. 2 and 24, 1982 -- it was unnerving hearing tornado sirens during Christmas Eve services. The sky was dark green with hail nearby from the Dec. 2 storm. Jan. 21 and 22, 1999 -- 56 tornadoes...most in just a 6 hour period on Jan. 21. One of them was only a mile from my home (I saw the rain wrapped curtain around it, just down the street; that's how close it was). That same storm dropped a tornado just south of downtown Little Rock...and dropped another tornado on a high school at Beebe, northeast of Little Rock. They had been playing a basketball game there, but had been monitoring the ham radio operators and Skywarn Spotters traffic. They stopped the game at halftime, and evacuated the premises. Thirty minutes later, the tornado made a direct hit on the school and gym, flattening both. A pharmacist at a local store was killed when the tornado hit the building, but glass bottles on the shelf were untouched. Feb. 5, 2008 - a 122 mile long (a state record) F-4 tornado from west central, northwest, and north central Arkansas. AA> Omg. I (still) hate those kinds of calls. There's a post I've shared out in the past, in numerous ways to get even with telemarketers. Ask them "Do you enjoy getting annoying phone calls at home?". When they say "No", you reply "Neither do I", and hang up. This was before you told me about that jollyrogertelephone.com deal. AA> Some of those calls just work their way through the phonebook, AA> alphabetically. My name actually appears twice in the phonebook, AA> one right after the other. When I hear both phones ring, I can AA> be pretty sure it's a survey! I like where this one comic strip (I think it was "Shoe") had the character recording a message for the answering machine. He said "Leave your name and number at the sound of the frap". He then drops his pants and underwear, and lets out a huge fart...then says "That should make some telemarketers consider career changes". AA> Did it pay well? I know that was directed to Joe, but as I recall, mine did. JM> I got a fella one time who was drinking at the time and the more we JM> talked the more he drank and he was pretty sloshed when we finally JM> finished. I could hear the sounds of ice cubes put in yet another glass, JM> his pouring whatever, sipping, etc. AA> Some entertainment for ya! Whoopee!! Daryl .... Deliver a pizza? Whoever heard of a liver pizza? === MultiMail/Win v0.52 --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (1:19/33) .