to think that 'blasting' a whistle, down the phone, into the ear of someone in a call centre is abusive?

[twinklingfairy]

An old school friend has delightedly put this as her status. That her husband had the whistle ready and BLAST = call centre caller with tinitus, lol ??
How is that funny!?
My DH had someone scream into his ear, as a teenager, and has tinitus to this day. That's over 20yrs later!
I wrote a reply giving this story but omitting that it was my DH and was told to , calm down. She has been putting up with the abuse of the constant call for months etc. And that she had suffered it herself, after a rock concert.
hmm not quite the same, I think, as having a high pitch put straight into your ear that could abuse Long Term damage.
But it would seem I am a kill joy
DH says leave it, but I can't help feeling very angry on his behalf. Not to mention the poor soul, though I don't deny the calls are annoying, no one deserves abuse like that when it could cause lasting problems.

Yanbu.

Horrid thing to do.

I hate cold calls, but no need to do that.

I briefly worked as a cold caller. One lad I worked with had a whistle blown in his ear. The whistle blower got lots of taxis and pizza deliveries that day.

I was just going to post something similar RalphGnu. They have your friends' telephone number.

Your friend is an idiot, but she should look out for persistent nuisance calls, deliveries, calls at 3am etc.

I filled in the TPS stuff too, and the only cold calls I get now are from the overseas 'computer fixers' (?scammers) - and like I said upthread, just placing the phone in a draw for a while whilst the lady says 'hello? hello?' is quite satisfying enough.

Blowing a whistle into someone's ear and boasting about it is horrible.

YANBU, as annoying as cold callers are, that is an awful thing to do.

Incidently, despite being on the telephone preference thing, we still get cold callers and they are often very rude, short and bark at me.

I have imagined doing this for a long time. Cold callers are so irritating. However I would never do it as it not very nice for the person on the other end of the phone doing their job.

Dont think you make a big deal out of it though.

YANBU, that's a horrible thing to do.

We signed up to the telephone preference service, and most of our cold calls stopped. I usually just pretend I can't hear the caller for the remaining ones. It usually only takes 3 or 4 goes of "Hello? Is anyone there?" before they hang up.

YANBU - that is wrong, people in call centres are just trying to make a living like all of us.
It is annoying but your friend should just get call blocking of certain numbers from her provider; & screen all other calls.
She should also learn to deal politely & quickly with call centres if she does choose to answer.
If her name is used by a cold caller (ie not a company who provide her with a service already) she should just say, 'i'm not X, wrong number, can't talk too busy & very skint, sorry bye'.
If they don't know her name then she should say, 'i'm too busy too talk, v skint, thanks anyway, bye'.
I say that i'm too busy to talk & skint if it's a service provider of mine calling to offer new products / deals too. It's true usually.
Most important is to be apologetic & polite - i find they NEVER ring back then. If you are rude then they may put you on a call list for others just to piss you off.
That's if they don't put the phone down straight away!

I have to answer calls listed as 'WITHELD or PRIVATE number' as it can be my workplace, the doctor's surgery, or one of the hospitals i attend.
I've had approx 3 or 4 spates of calls over past few years listed as 'INTERNATIONAL number' but no phone number. Accidentally answered the first one i got & it was a foreign call centre of some kind.

I've never answered those since but let the phone ring - after 3 or 4 attempts at ringing they give up.

BE CAREFUL - i once answered the phone to a salesman when i was ill & off-guard, who let me believe he was my mobile phone provider. I can't remember his exact words but it was very clever & i nearly fell for it - except I suddenly realised that he didn't seem to know enough about my current contract. I told him i'd guessed he was lying & he never phoned back.
He may have been trying to commit fraud or may have been representing a rival mobile network; my Mum's manager fell for tricks played by a company who pretended to be BT - luckily my Mum realised & sorted things out.

"Abuse"?

There's a simple way of preventing this from happening. Don't make unsolicited sales/survey calls. If you do, I will blow a whistle down the phone at you.

My mum is ex directory and still has four or more cold callers a day. It is ridiculous and when it gets that bad I'm not surprised some people snap. I don't agree with what they have done, and the fact that they are bragging about it is horrid.

My mum now plays games with her cold callers - she told one cold caller that she was actually a burglar and not the home owner as she had pushed the home owner down the stairs. The guy didn't once deviate from the script, and my mum was most impressed and conceded defeat. Either that or she puts them onto my DD (3yo) who will happily waffle to them for 20 minutes.

What a douche. If she doesn't want cold calls then get TPS!! It's not hard and it's free and you don't get cold calls anymore. It irritates me that people are so rude to usually young kids on minimum wage just trying to get paid. The law says they can call but if you don't want to be called that is what TPS is for. It's your own fault if you don't get it.

I briefly worked as a cold caller. One lad I worked with had a whistle blown in his ear. The whistle blower got lots of taxis and pizza deliveries that day.

And I am sure that the taxi company and pizza place whose time and money that was wasted in a pathetic tit for tat was very grateful.

I am fed up with unsolicited calls.I am ex directory, hardly anyone has my number, I decline all marketing and am on TPS and I STILL get disturbed. I start off polite, but I find them harder to shift. I am also fed up of them telling me that the TPS doesnt apply to them . I do get rude at that point.

I want peace in my own home to eat dinner/watch TV without being subjected to surveys/eejits trying to sell me something I don't need/want/care less about.

I wouldn't ever blow a whistle down the phone, but let me tell you, I HAVE been tempted :o (joking)

Being exdirectory is irrelevant. They don't get the numbers from the telephone book. The numbers are bought from companies that you have signed up with for other reasons, eg you sign up to a catalogue and don't tick the small print then that company sell that data to telemarketers.

YANBU - it's a dreadful thing to do to anyone, I don't believe anyone on here really would do anything so awful.
Tinnitus is horrible and that whistle would cause pain as well

Think the fb friend should be shown this thread as a fuck you and farewell

We are also ex-directory and registered with the TPS.

And we also still get some calls, usually after using a comparison site for insurance or whatever, because even when you think you have ticked all the boxes they have usually hidden another one somewhere and you miss it.

It has never once crossed my mind to blow a whistle at the people making those calls and it never will because it's a vicious thing to do that only a total shit would seriously contemplate, let alone actually do. I can't believe that people on this thread are saying they would do it.

"The problem with just saying 'no thanks' or putting the phone down is that it doesn't stop the same companies from calling. They phone back, even when you ask them to remove your number from their system"

And the problem with blowing a whistle down the phone at someone means they will still have your number and to top that they may well decide to prosecute you. Much better solution

Well said NoOnesGoingToEatYourEyes

BTW TPS does work quite well.

Moving house also seems to work but quite an expensive solution....

I have had this done to me, I was off work for weeks as I became temporarily deaf in my right ear. 15 years later and I still get bouts of tinitus.

Anyone who does this or condones it is a complete and utter cunt.

I suppose some people will be condoning stabbing chuggers next!

Oh and it is quite clearly abuse as it results in the physical harm of another person. I don't get why some people can't understand this.

oh OP, there was a similar thread last year with a women who complained about the way she was treated by the people she cold called and she got crucified.

YANBU and some people are vile and other vile people will defend them

I wonder what halo-worthy jobs/past times other posters on here have?

Whistle vile. Giving phone to toddler (not screaming) ok. I just tell them they have the wrong number.

jaquelinehyde that's terrible

Bad people do bad things. :( How heartless of her.

I was on TPS and MPS for years and it did not stop nuisance calls at all.

We had to endure anything from solar panels sales to ppi companies and they are really persistent. Told them many times "no interest" and politely put the phone down only to have another member of their staff calling several days later. Finally tracked down the marketing company that was selling my details, which came from The White Company (cancelled the catalogue immediately) and Experian. I am happy to name those companies because I have confirmation that they were selling my details to the said company in writing.

I would not whistle down the phone at anyone, but does my heart bleeds for these people? ...ummm, nope.