FORT Koffee Klatch

[ArchieComic Fan]

myrosie, I have caller id too and sometimes when I don't recognize the number and figure it's a telemarketer I'll just pick up the phone and hang it right back up. I don't listen or anything, just up and then back down. It keeps the phone from continuing to ring (which is an annoyance if I don't feel like answering) and very seldom does anyone call right back. I also like Newf's suggestion .

[MRD]

People that I don't know usually have an easier time with me than those I do, at least initially. I don't know how many times my business partner/ex-wife has been privy to the ends of conversations--I'll pick up the phone, but then act as if Gustav and I are talking about something . . .

"NO, GUSTAV!! NOT MAYONAISE!!"
"I'll get your head unstuck in a minute, I'm on the phone right now!"
". . . and that's why revenge sex is the best sex of all!"

Stuff like that. Or I'll make up some odd-ball business name:
*Turtle Towers Upper Observation Outpost #3

I usually won't answer if I don't recognize the caller ID, so they get the machine:
"You have reached (real name) at (real phone number). I have no idea why anyone would want to talk to me, so leave a message and enlighten me."

Oh, the possibilities you have given me Newf!!!

Love it.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I am going to start having fun with this instead of seeing it as an annoyance.

[Bunny555]

I like the suggestion that you ask the telemarketer for their home number and tell them you'll give them a call back when it's more convenient for you.

[doxie]

I admit to the juvenile tactic of making static noises into the phone. A simple "I'd be perfectly happy to answer your SHSHSHSHHSSSSS... What's that? SSHSSSSSHHH.... I think something is wrong with your phone... SHSSSHHHH" generally gets rid of them and they NEVER call back.

[GingerLVNV]

"NO, GUSTAV!! NOT MAYONAISE!!"
"I'll get your head unstuck in a minute, I'm on the phone right now!"
". . . and that's why revenge sex is the best sex of all!"

Stuff like that. Or I'll make up some odd-ball business name:
*Turtle Towers Upper Observation Outpost #3

I usually won't answer if I don't recognize the caller ID, so they get the machine:
"You have reached (real name) at (real phone number). I have no idea why anyone would want to talk to me, so leave a message and enlighten me."

You crack me up!!!

[Gutmutter]

Hi anemone! I answer the phone with the 2 second rule - if I answer and get no response in 2 seconds I hang up. Telemarketers usually have an automatic dial thing and are patched through when someone answers. If someone real is calling me and is rude enough not to be ready to talk when I say hi, they can call back. If I'm not fast enough and get a telemarketer I'm polite but brief - "Thanks, but I'm not interested" *click*. Only takes a second.
Here's a cool idea for anyone with difficult veins. After having 4 veins blown for an MRI on Weds. I was worried about the C.oscopy yesterday, so I took a Mother's Day gift with me. My daughter got me heating mitts at Bath and Bodyworks. You are supposed to slather on moisterizer, put water in the mitts and then put your hands in and do up a little tape at the wrist. The water activates a heated gel. Anyway, I used one of them on the hand they needed to use for an IV (sans the lotion) and she got it on the first try! It gets much hotter than the pathetic heated towels they usually use that last all of about 10 seconds. These last 20 min.

[MRD]

Hi anemone! I answer the phone with the 2 second rule - if I answer and get no response in 2 seconds I hang up. Telemarketers usually have an automatic dial thing and are patched through when someone answers. If someone real is calling me and is rude enough not to be ready to talk when I say hi, they can call back. If I'm not fast enough and get a telemarketer I'm polite but brief - "Thanks, but I'm not interested" *click*. Only takes a second.
Here's a cool idea for anyone with difficult veins. After having 4 veins blown for an MRI on Weds. I was worried about the C.oscopy yesterday, so I took a Mother's Day gift with me. My daughter got me heating mitts at Bath and Bodyworks. You are supposed to slather on moisterizer, put water in the mitts and then put your hands in and do up a little tape at the wrist. The water activates a heated gel. Anyway, I used one of them on the hand they needed to use for an IV (sans the lotion) and she got it on the first try! It gets much hotter than the pathetic heated towels they usually use that last all of about 10 seconds. These last 20 min.

Gut, that's a great idea. I have resorted to telling the nurse to let me up and use the sink in the cubicle to run hot water over my hand and arm, they pop up everytime because those hot blankets just don't work very well, but hot water can get them to stand up in no time.

So how was it? And what did you eat when they were finished and let you go?

[Gutmutter]

Everything in the house.

[MRD]

Everything in the house.

I think the hardest part of that test is the jello and broth. I can remember my mother dieting in the 60's when you ate broth, melba toast, cottage cheese and a pear slice on a lettuce leaf. And my grandmother thought that jello was a vegetable, so we had to have that with almost every meal. So those not too happy memories have really ruined me for broth and jello. (I don't eat melba toast either. I wonder if you can even still buy that? I haven't seen it in the stores, but then again, I don't look for it either. )

I have a question for those of you my age or maybe a little bit older.

Do any of you remember your mom putting a bag of wet laundry in the "icebox" overnight? My mom used to iron my dad's dress shirts (ONLY white dress shirts back then. ) and she said that you had to wash them, starch them and put them wet in the refrigerator over night so that you could get a better crease the next day when you ironed them. I can remember being threatened within an inch of my life if I spilled anything on those shirts.
Anyway, it was something about the starch in the cold refrigerator overnight that made it really work better or something.

Thank goodness I don't have to do that. Isn't that what the dry cleaners is for? Or even more importantly clothing that does NOT have to be ironed.

[PGM35]

I think the hardest part of that test is the jello and broth. I can remember my mother dieting in the 60's when you ate broth, melba toast, cottage cheese and a pear slice on a lettuce leaf. And my grandmother thought that jello was a vegetable, so we had to have that with almost every meal. So those not too happy memories have really ruined me for broth and jello. (I don't eat melba toast either. I wonder if you can even still buy that? I haven't seen it in the stores, but then again, I don't look for it either. )

As a matter of fact, you can! I used to eat it all the time. They have the "planks" still but now also have circular shaped crisps. They have other flavors too - garlic, sour cream/onion, wheat. The crisps aren't bad at all!