Mom on the Phone
on June 29, 2023
at 12:00 am
Update 6/30: I almost never do this, but I have edited the last line of dialogue in this strip since publishing it. Based on the response I’ve gotten, it seems nearly everyone thought the original version was a joke about telemarketers, when it was intended to be a joke about how Mom is badmouthing Lena to a completely random person. And when everyone misunderstands the joke, the problem isn’t with everyone – it’s with the joke. Apparently I failed to convey it properly, so hopefully this slight rewrite gets the point across. For anyone curious, the original version can be read here. So was this an improvement? You tell me.
a very good response for this unwanted calls, acting like they get involved into something they don’t want. in my country the electric and energy companies are famous for this.
just ask if they call about the overtime I made for them and act if you think they are the HR department. never give your real full name. after 3 months they don’t call anymore. And answer slow, they get paid for minutes so you cost them money.
Here in the U. S. A. we have the “Do Not Call Registry” where you register your phone number and telemarketers are SUPPOSED to check the list monthly. Unfortunately some don’t bother. For about 3 years I was getting calls from health insurance company for the person who had my number before me. I kept telling them to stop calling. I checked the web and I think I found the guy died in late 2019.
I used to get 2 to 3 dozen sales calls a day on my cellphone. They stopped when I swapped out the SIM card with another one and got a new phone number. We still get these cold calls on our landline and I had to rebuild my contacts list, but it was totes worth it!
Damn what did Lena do to that poor telemarketer?
In my country we have this don’t call me register too, but not all telemarkers are following it or “forget to check” it . So anoy them, & cost them will work very effective.
The ones that ignore/forget to check it are scammers, not legit business. They get the sass.
I just don’t answer the phone anymore if it’s an unknown number and I’m not expecting a call.
If it’s important, they can leave a message. If there’s no message left, I assume it was just phone spam.
I like both version, to me the wrong number people is more to random strangers calling, but the telemarker version is a bigger topic in some countries,
People with call the wrong number happens about 2 a 3 times a year to me.
I thought the joke was about how to get rid of telemarkers.
Either way, Lena now knows how her mom really feels about her. However, Lena’s guilty look could leave one to believe she is guilty of SOMETHING bad.
Honestly I think the (accidental) telemarketer joke worked better.