I RECEIVE at least one phone call a week from banks enticing me with waived credit card subscriptions. Despite my constant refusal and the number of times I have asked Singapore banks to remove my contact details from their calling list, I still receive calls - even from the same bank.

It can be frustrating when these calls interrupt you in a meeting, or when I am on an overseas assignment. There are also roaming charges. Some calls do not reflect any number on my caller ID display, as they are dialled on a 'masked number' line, which obliges me to take the call.

Once, when I politely told a telemarketer I really had to hang up as I was in a meeting, she told me to 'shut up' - and hung up.