The cliche of call-centre work is that it's mainly older people who will stay on the line to talk to you. Whether through loneliness or good manners, they tend to allow you to finish your sentences, hear you out.

If a bright-coated fundraiser was hassling a confused pensioner in the street, people would see, some hero would intervene. But it's happening in living rooms on landlines, and it will continue.

Sometimes people give to charity because they have been persuaded to believe in a cause, sometimes just to get rid of you and sometimes because they are befuddled and confused.

Sara Pascoe Quotes