Cold calling never ceases to irritate

Times are tough for small businesses. I have found recently that business can vary from one week to the next, and the only guarantee is that nothing is guaranteed.

In such times, of course, business look for more work. I can certainly understand that, but it is still very irritating to get the cold callers on the phone:

"We're not selling anything..." yeah, right.

"You're a [Telecoms network provider] customer. We think we can offer you a better deal..."

"Do you play golf? We have some great deals..."

"We can offer you cut-price accountancy..."

I try to be polite (no, I really do), but when more than one person from the same company rings you within a couple of days of each other, a saint's patience would be tried.

I know they're only trying to do their job, but go away and try it on someone else - please.