Leave a message on the sly.

In an awkward situation, it’s the ultimate confrontation-avoidance trick. A new phone service called Slydial gets you out of that graceless “It’s not you, it’s me” talk by letting you skip straight to any mobile phone’s voicemail. Just call Slydial, punch in the cell number of the poor schlub you’re brushing off and voila! You can give your uninterrupted spiel without any fear of him or her picking up. The message shows up as a voicemail a few minutes later. MobileSphere, the company offering this terrifically passive-aggressive technology, guarantees the calls can’t be answered and also guarantees you can use the service as often as you like for free, as long as you’re willing to listen to a few advertisements.  —M.K.