I don’t know... this is not a “social skills” thing. It’s a very simple rule that should be easy for anyone to follow: never talk to any business who calls you. Ask who they are, hang up, and call the official customer support number. That’s it. No wizardry, charisma, or smooth talking ability needed. Get who they are and hang up.

Personally, I don’t even answer the phone anymore unless the number is one of my contacts. Looking at the last 30 days of call history, a good 95% of my incoming calls were spammers who didn’t leave a message or spammers who did.

The last time a legitimate number called me I didn’t recognize was probably a year ago. It was my daughter’s school. They left a message and I called them back immediately. That’s probably the safest way of dealing with the security trash fire called the phone system.