Someday I may just tell them I'm in.

I've been playing a little game with the telemarketers over the last, oh, six months or so. As far as I can tell, they are all legit: they are from the credit card company, the cable company, or the phone company. There might be a couple politicians and a survey in there.

Anyway, the game is that I tell them I'm not home and ask to take a message. When I do this, the following happens:
1. They're generally pretty polite.
2. They don't try to sell me anything.
3. They don't tell me who they are or what company they represent.
4. They don't ask me when I'll be back.

Occasionally, they'll ask for Mr. koalabear100. He's unavailable too, for the unspoken reason that he's nonexistent.

Let me say this: I am all for globalization. I am all for giving everybody the opportunity to earn a few beans by being an annoying telemarketer.

Now let me discuss what I've noticed over the last six months:
1. The early callers had rather thick non-American accents. As time progressed, the accents became more Americanized.
2. The early callers were fairly curt. As time progressed, the callers became politer.
3. The early callers had a knack for calling when I was chewing a mouthful of dinner. Not before taking a bite, not after swallowing, but during the actual chewing. As time progressed, the calls came at slightly more opportune times of the day. (As if there were ever an opportune time to decline DSL from the same company from whom I cancelled my DSL service because it was too slow and flaky to be worth the beans.) They also started calling during the day.

That said, this morning beat it all. They called at 5:30 AM. I was sorely tempted to pick up and tell them I wasn't in. However, I was not motivated enough to crawl out of bed.