<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p align="center">&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;">Here are a few little tips to make life a little less annoying as a result of unwanted calls and junk mail.&nbsp; Courtesy of my husband who has a pathological hatred for cold callers.&nbsp; <br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #ff00ff;">(1)</span> Three little words: "Hold On, Please..." Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that sales would grind to a halt. &nbsp;Just wait for the "beep-beep-beep" tone, and then you can hang up your handset.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #ff00ff;">(2)</span> Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no-one on the other end?&nbsp; This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.&nbsp; It is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" salesperson to call back. If you notice that there is no one there, immediately start pressing the <strong>#</strong> button on the phone, 6 or 7 &nbsp; times, as quickly as possible. &nbsp;This confuses the machine that dialed the&nbsp;call and it kicks your number out of their system.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #ff00ff;">3)</span> When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the post for everything from credit cards to bank loans and similar type junk, <strong><em>do not</em></strong> throw away the return envelope. Many of them come with a prepaid return envelope.&nbsp; It costs more than the usual postage if they are returned. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these postage-prepaid return envelopes and post them back.&nbsp;&nbsp;You can also send back the empty envelope; after all, it is their property.&nbsp; To remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you return.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;">The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the post, but we need to overwhelm them, in order to stop them. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3366ff; font-size: small;">This will also help keep the Royal Mail busy. &nbsp;Since the Royal Mail is saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, let's help them so they will not need to increase postage costs again.&nbsp; </span></p>