"..and I'm talking to?....."
"Who would you like to talk to?"
"..and I'm talking to?....."
"What is the purpose of your call?"
"..Are you the Manager?"
"No I'm the owner, what are you trying to sell?"
"bla bla bla....some sort of sales pitch..."
"So to whom am I speaking?"
"I told you at the beginning of my call...."
"Oh really..sorry I bugged you when you phoned me....good bye"

What ever happened to the..
"Hi my name is Fred and I represent abc limited and we are interested in flogging you this dead horse that only died three days ago......"

I seem to be getting this type of call on a regular basis these days, where all the sales marketing people seem to have been on the same course that insists on opening the conversation with a question as to whom they are speaking to. The call generally degenerates into a question and answer session where the person doesn't even get to first base with why they are calling.

Have I missed something or is this confrontational marketing working out there?
I just think its bad potty training, designed to raise the hackles and put one on the defensive before the sales pitch is lobbed. They may feel they are engaging with the potential client, getting him/her to open up. I certainly battle to keep my cool and so far the score is about 1000 to zero in my favour of never having listened to the blurb.
How do you handle this type of call or am I the only anal retentive respondent when it comes to issues like this?