Of ducks and chickens
We get spam calls often for “A1 duct cleaning” services for our air-conditioning and heating ducts. These calls originate from call centres in India and use fake caller-ID, so there is no way to block them. And these calls keep coming on my home and cell phone numbers.
Recently my daughter started receiving them on her cell phone number as well. It is often frustrating as these originate from local numbers so we need to pick them up lest we miss an actual call.
Finally, instead of frustration and anger, my daughter found a way to counter these offers. First, she started telling them a standard answer “we only got cleaned them yesterday” and they would cut the call. Then she started informing them that their competitor “B2 duct cleaning” was here cleaning our ducts right now as we speak. I started doing this too for my calls, but it has made these calls more interesting.
But a few days ago, my daughter topped it all. She told them “we have no ducks, only chickens - do you clean them?” and even before she finished the sentence, the caller hung up. It is interesting how she could turn something annoying, irritating, and frustrating into something fun and manageable. It is something that even an old dog like me could learn from.