I sort of know what you mean, laviticus. I used to do door-to-door sales and telesales. Whenever I spoke with an old (er) person, they’d keep me on the doorstep / telephone for ages. You had to move on to the next house but was sometimes difficult to break away, esp when they told you they’d not spoken to ANYONE in over a month, and all you were doing was trying to flog doulble glazing or security alarms.

V.sad.