Boards
Playing verbal chess with sales people
I pick up the phone at work from time to time - I'm not an autocrat.
A fair proportion are sales calls, and although I never put these through to the person they're asking for, I don't like to be rude and just hang up - again, I'm not a monster.
However some are quite hard to shake off aren't they, and you can end up in a funny little game where they are pretending not to be salespeople without explicitly lying, and you try to get them to say what they actually want, like:
Me: What's it regarding?
Salesperson: I just wanted to catch up with them about XXX
M: OK, have you spoken to her before?
S: I've contacted her before yes.
M: Are you offering a new service?
S: I just need to give her some information.
M: JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT I CAN'T JUST PUT YOU THROUGH TO THE MD WITH NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER CAN I?
I don't really say that last bit, I'm not a tosser.