Here in Denmark almost all phone sales are against the law. There are a few expections, but in general you’ll never (or at least rarely) get an annoying sales person on the phone.
Imagine my surprise when I got a call from an Indonesian sales lady today. What the F!?. She had my name and phone number (probably gleamed from looking up whois information), and was trying (I think, her Engrish was less than prefect, yes) to sell me some kind of stock options in some shady business in some dubiuos country.
When I clearly told her I didn’t have the 10 minutes she ensured me was all it’d take to hear this offer of a lifetime, she continued to extol the virtues of the offer. I had to cut her off. I hate being rude like that, but I hate people wasting my time even more.
Man, I’m glad we live in a country that outlaws that behaviour, now to get the rest of the world to follow suit. Fat chance, eh?
Interesting. Less than an hour after posting this entry, it received a “nice site” comment linking to a Pakistani “stock guide”, which seems to nothing but an Ad site. Could there be a connection, or just a mindless spambot scouring the internet for “stock” references?
There seems to be a rash of stock scams in the past couple of weeks. I have received countless spams about stock deals of the lifetime - only $0.04 per share and that sort of thing. Some are quite funny (funny enough even to post on my blog), but none are nearly as obnoxious as being called on your cell phone. Denmark is very smart to outlaw such outdated practices as phone solicitation. (Though I think it must put a damper on legitimate non-profit fundraising work, but that's another topic.)