THREE LITTLE WORDS.. I suppose some degree of commerce would grind
to a halt if telephone solicitors weren't able to call people at home during
dinner hour. But that doesn't make it any more pleasant.

Now Steve Rubenstein, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has
proposed "Three Little Words" based on his brief experience in a
telemarketing operation that would stop the nuisance for all time.

The three little words are "Hold On, Please." Saying this while putting
down your phone and walking off instead of hanging up immediately would
make each telemarketing call so time-consuming that boiler rooms would
grind to a halt.

When you eventually hear the phone company's beep-beep-beep tone, you
know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently
completed its task. This might be one of those articles you'll want to
e-mail to your friends. Three little words that eliminate telephone soliciting.

MORE GOOD IDEAS:

When you get ads in your phone or utility bill, include them with the
payment let the companies throw them away.

When you get those pre approved letters in the mail for everything from
credit cards to 2nd mortgages and junk like that, most of them come with
postage paid return envelopes, right? Well, why not get rid of some of
your other junk mail and put it in these cool little envelopes!

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send the
pizza coupon to Citibank.

If you didn't get anything else that day then just send them their
application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your
name isn't on anything you send them. You can send it back empty if you
want to just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their
junk back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get junk
mail, and the best of it is that they're paying for it! Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they say e-mail is cutting
into their business, and that's why they need to increase postage again!