How to deal with cold-callers in Hong Kong
There are a number of ways to handle phone pests – from swearing in Cantonese to singing. If that doesn’t do the trick, try putting your two-year-old on
We’ve all done it – knowing full well we shouldn’t. Caught off guard coming out of the shower or going into a meeting, returning from the supermarket with an armful of groceries, or preparing dinner for family and friends, we’ve answered that call from “No caller ID” or prefixed with the number “3”.
Yes, it could be the boss checking in from abroad, an important client or even a long-lost relative – but then the inevitable blitzkrieg of babble ensues from the telemarketer on the other end of the line.
Worse still, how many of us, drilled in the art of cold-call recognition, have barked a gruff “Hello” at a suspected telemarketer only to find that, to our embarrassment, it’s a genuine call from a colleague or client?
One says she waits for the caller to ask, “Do you speak Cantonese?”, then swears in Cantonese and hangs up. Another reverses prank-call psychology and does some heavy breathing of her own.
