Gotta go—just crashed my car

It’s not often that my mother demos a great new gadget for me, but this morning, it actually happened. While on the phone figuring out good Christmas gifts for the grandkids, she introduced me to the “Get Off the Phone Excuse Machine,” a portable gadget, originally launched over the summer, that comes with six loud sound bites, all of which have the purpose of getting someone annoying off the other end of the phone. The sounds, which can be sampled here, include: police siren, crying baby, doorbell, Chinese food delivery, static and my personal favorite: car crash. Helpful instructions about the best use of “car crash” appear on the site: “Play this one, and just hang up. (Perfect for bill collectors.)” You may laugh, but the sounds were amazingly convincing. Just the thing to rid those telemarketers who somehow have circumvented the “Do Not Call” list from your life.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

December 8, 2005 | Permalink