We sometimes get such calls. My wife is really very rude to such people. I'm nicer but worse (yes, we're on Do Not Call).

We got a call to have a photo taken of our (non-existent) children. After the nth time I pretended to sob and the caller asked what was wrong? I answered that while we desperately wanted children I had been wounded by a castrater mine in Vietnam and....

Another time I was going to wear a suit to work for change, got a call from the boss asking me if I'd clean out the gutters (ya do it all in libraries!) and so I was madly changing clothes when the phone rang -- it was someone selling something. I told them that anyone who would sell whatever he was selling over the phone would put a popsicle stick in his turds and freeze them for a turdsicle snack later on. (Mind you, my day had started badly got downhill from there.)

Ethical companies don't call you at home if you're on a don't call list, and I do NOT give money to phone solicitors -- ever.

If you have an answering machine let it answer and listen to the message -- if it's someone you want to talk to you'll know and if it's someone selling something the automated dialing machines will recognize an answering machine and hang up.