[Ipg-smz] This dodge works surprisingly well.

[Stephen Satchell]

Like many of you, I work from home.  For the past three months, I've
been drowning in incoming telephone calls, with one in fifteen being
"legit" in some way.  In a small handful of cases, I hear a robo-call
pitch, sometime the sound of another number being called...but most of
the time I get a disconnect -- a disconnect that my answering machine
sometimes interprets as a message, sometimes not.

So I recorded a custom greeting:  "Hello <pause> If you are a market
research firm or a telemarketer, please add this number to your
do-not-call list.  Otherwise leave a message at the tone."

The call volume has dropped marketly, as well as the useless "messages"
caused by my answering machine software.

Now, I do check caller ID, and if I recognize the name or the number, I
will pick up immediately.