How to not get someone to pay a bill

Since we moved from our old house to our new home, we lost or missed some bills that we thought we had paid. This means that my wife has been receiving some insistent phone calls from people we don't know, and we respond by politely informing them of our new address, please send us, blah blah blah. Then, there are those people who feel that they were contracted to be abusive. Of course, after having been through the year we experienced in 2007, the likelihood of our responding with the expected results to an intimidating phone call is close to about zero.

The very best way to ensure that I become completely intractable is, of course, to attempt to use military interrogation techniques over the phone. I used to be in the service, and was subjected to interviews and knew about more extreme measures employed at the time- though nothing like we do today. So, when I get a call from a man who jumps between reasonable bonhomie, to foul-mouthed irratibility, to carefully modulated giggling, all in response to various changes in my own responses and voices stressors...well, I get peeved. I get even more peeved when the noises in the background also match the caller's jarring attempts at getting me to come off balance and acquiesce because it is the easiest thing to do. Instead, I dig in.

Nothing makes an interrogator more upset than their interviewee anticipating their methods and using them against them. You can tell with US interrogators because the weak ones will resort to threats. The funny thing is that I just got done being threatened by the IRS, itinerant robbers, my ex-landlord, diabetes, and death all in one year. Some strange guy tittering on the phone to annoy me into giving up my bank account information isn't likely to have much success. I almost felt sorry for him, and then drew out the conversation for another 15 minutes before he caught on and ratcheted up the threats, at which point I bid him goodnight.

The good thing that came out of this is that I was able to explain another piece of my past to my wife. She has disliked our government's policies in dealing with interrogations (torture), and I was able to now give her an example of what our pre-torture interrogations might be like- with, of course, the exception that you would be face to face in a little room and it would go on for days or weeks until you broke. My wife's experience on the phone was important to me, because I had known some people who were into the shady side of military operations when I had been in the Army. It left an impression on me, knowing people like that, but it's easier to explain it to Pam when people give you examples.

So, to the gentleman claiming to be from Western Credit (if that is really who you were), we salute and thank you for your time in the service, and are glad that you can find gainful employment using your skills in a slightly less devious and hurtful fashion.

However, we still don't pay unless we see something in writing. Have a nice day