# Ask the person who calls people--telephone surveys **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 17, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056 "2012-10-17T20:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![furdmort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@furdmort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furdmort)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/281 "2012-10-25T15:05:03Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > You pay for _incoming_ callings in America? > > If so, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon of saying screw telemarketers. We only get one company try to call us at home, and although it’s only a few times a month (no, we haven’t been in a car accident that wasn’t our fault in the last three years, but good guess), if I had to pay money for the privilege I’d be pissed off. > > If not, then I’m a dullard who can’t read good. In the USA, cell phone owners pay airtime on received calls. On a regular phone, the telemarkerters are still using your time on equipment that you bought over a telephone service that you are paying to use - and that counts for pretty much any phone, anywhere. The phone is there for my use. My time is my own. I pay each month to use the phone. No where in there is implicit that anyone else has a right to call me on the phone and waste my time for his purposes. Telemarketing just needs to fucking die already, and the telephone polls can go right straight to hell with it. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/282 "2012-10-25T15:17:54Z")
Gotcha, thanks for clarifying. I’ve experienced the cell phone charges in America (5 cents to _receive_ a text I didn’t even want? Piss right off!), but I don’t have any knowledge of landlines. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/283 "2012-10-25T16:13:08Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/284 "2012-10-25T19:30:14Z")
> [@Double\_Foolscap](#): > > Gotcha, thanks for clarifying. I’ve experienced the cell phone charges in America (5 cents to _receive_ a text I didn’t even want? Piss right off!), but I don’t have any knowledge of landlines. Yep. I have a cell phone because there are almost NO public phones in the US any more. Not working ones, anyway. So if I have a problem, I need my cell phone. The thing is, we get text marketers here, too. I’ve never sent a text, never seen any reason to. I’ve never received a text from anyone that I know. However, I’ve received lots of marketing texts. When I got a new phone, I had the nice tech remove the texting capability. I no longer receive texts, which were costing me 10 cents per text to receive. I’m also on a fairly limited number of cell phone minutes, but that’s less of an urgent problem. For landlines, in most places, local calls are free to send and receive. An outgoing long distance call will cost an additional fee, based on how long it is. Incoming long distance calls will not cost anything, unless they are collect calls (which must be accepted by the callee). Back in the Dark Ages, all calls, local and long distance, used to be charged per minute, from what I understand, with local calls being cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/285 "2012-10-25T21:48:43Z")
I pay about a grand every month to my phone company, and I earn my living by billing out my time by the minute (I wasn’t kidding about it being fifty bucks every time I pick up the phone), so yes, aside from the inconvenience, the telephone harassers are riding on the services for which I pay, and more importantly, they are keeping me from selling my time to earn my keep by making me unavailable to my paying clients, and by making me unavailable to speak with potential new clients who will simply call one of my competitors instead of hiring me. It’s really quite simple – pay me my regular rate, or fucko off. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/286 "2012-10-25T21:54:55Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > It’s really quite simple – pay me my regular rate, or fucko off. That is exactly how I feel. Pay for my time or get lost. These shitty companies want people to volunteer our time for them for free. Fuck that. When I volunteer my time it’s for a [good cause](http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1440). It’s not so some cheap assholes can get marketing information they don’t want to pay for. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/287 "2012-10-25T21:58:43Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I pay about a grand every month to my phone company, and I earn my living by billing out my time by the minute My divorce attorney offered email over phone. Way more efficient, and she preferred it. Four minutes to deal with an email, versus 10 minutes for a phone call? And yet she told me 75% of her clientele turn down her offer of email correspondence. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/288 "2012-10-25T22:10:10Z")
I’m not a telemarketer, never said I was, nor do I work in a call center of any sort. I did surveys for a few months several years ago. I’ll be along to repeat myself again later. Apparently some of you read about as well as you cope with telephones, you poor things. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/289 "2012-10-25T22:14:28Z")
Email is terrific for clients who have specific questions for which there are unambiguous answers, but often they have difficulty forming their questions, or their quesitons do not have discrete answers, which then leads to chains of emails, so I don’t have a preference, and instead vary my approach depending on the client and the issues at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/290 "2012-10-25T22:31:55Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I’m not a telemarketer, never said I was, nor do I work in a call center of any sort. I did surveys for a few months several years ago. I’ll be along to repeat myself again later. > > Apparently some of you read about as well as you cope with telephones, you poor things. Gee, Davey, you’re so smart! BTW, it makes no difference whether you are calling a mark to sell a product or to obtain information – either way you are a telephone harasser. Of course you are welcome to try to differentiate yourself from the product pitchers, and they are welcome to try to differentiate themselves from the likes of you, but either way, that’s no more than two parasites quibbing about which is the least parasitic. The surveyor thinks that his behaviour is acceptable because there are some marks who are happy to complete the survey, while the salesman thinks that his behaviour is acceptable because there are some marks who are happy to purchase the product. Whether you are a telemarketer or a surveyor, whether you work out of a call centre of out of your home, and whether you think you are providing a service or a product to your marks, you remain a telephone harasser, for it is your actions rather than your deluded self-image that define you. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/291 "2012-10-25T22:55:28Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I’m not a telemarketer, never said I was, nor do I work in a call center of any sort. I did surveys for a few months several years ago. I’ll be along to repeat myself again later. > > Apparently some of you read about as well as you cope with telephones, you poor things. That’s why I called you a phone prick. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings by mislabeling you. And your reading comprehension needs a boost too if you haven’t yet figured out that your unwanted intrusion into people’s time is the issue, not your reason for doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/292 "2012-10-26T00:27:01Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Gee, Davey, you’re so smart! I try. For example, I try to read the posts I’m responding to, a step several people evidently skipped. > [@](#): > > BTW, it makes no difference whether you are calling a mark to sell a product or to obtain information – either way you are a telephone harasser. There’s a legal difference, at any rate. > [@](#): > > Of course you are welcome to try to differentiate yourself from the product pitchers, and they are welcome to try to differentiate themselves from the likes of you, but either way, that’s no more than two parasites quibbing about which is the least parasitic. The surveyor thinks that his behaviour is acceptable because there are some marks who are happy to complete the survey, while the salesman thinks that his behaviour is acceptable because there are some marks who are happy to purchase the product. I imagine this will be about as useful as trying to teach a pig to sing, but just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s not useful. I’ve already acknowledged that there are genuine concerns about both telemarketers and pollsters. It does not mean that all are illegitimate, parasitic or pearl-clutchingly just awful. I have no doubt that are people for whom phone calls are a major issue, and I envy them. If only my problems were so easily remedied. > [@](#): > > Whether you are a telemarketer or a surveyor, whether you work out of a call centre of out of your home, and whether you think you are providing a service or a product to your marks, you remain a telephone harasser, for it is your actions rather than your deluded self-image that define you. The tense of this passage leads me to suspect that you missed the part where I said that I did surveys in the past, not now. I mostly goof around with spreadsheets and document management these days. That makes me a bureaucrat and I know they’re not popular either. Doesn’t matter, I still have that whole “gotta eat somehow” syndrome and so do my kids. Chances are that the person calling you-- and it is a person, not a robot in the cases I’m talking about-- isn’t happy to have the job they have. We’d all like to do something rewarding in life, and getting rejected 20 times an hour for chump change isn’t rewarding. I only lasted a little while at the job, but I learned that if you’re only an asshole to phone monkeys, you’re still an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/293 "2012-10-26T00:33:27Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Chances are that the person calling you-- and it is a person, not a robot in the cases I’m talking about-- isn’t happy to have the job they have. Dude stickin up a liquor store would rather be Donald Trump. Your point here? ETA: and it would be a dude. Some reason, chicks don’t stick up liquor stores. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/294 "2012-10-26T00:56:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Dude stickin up a liquor store would rather be Donald Trump. Your point here? > > ETA: and it would be a dude. Some reason, chicks don’t stick up liquor stores. Well, for starters, one’s illegal. For another thing, surveys provide important information for all sorts of research fields. They aren’t just limited to marketing and push polls, despite the misinformation in this thread. I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about telemarketers but I can at least manage civility, even a bit of sympathy, when I encounter one. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/295 "2012-10-26T01:07:23Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > That is exactly how I feel. Pay for my time or get lost. These shitty companies want people to volunteer our time for them for free. Fuck that. When I volunteer my time it’s for a [good cause](http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1440). It’s not so some cheap assholes can get marketing information they don’t want to pay for. You _really_ like wasting time to no good effect, don’t you. Their numbers didn’t seem right, _at all_, so I decided to run them. I just looked up the commodity price of rice, and found that it seems to run at a rough average of 500 USD/metric ton. Which calculates out to 1 USCent for 20 grams. I pulled out my 1/100g scale, and found out that rice grains run 3-4 _hundredths_ of a gram per grain. I then weighed out 1 USC worth of rice. I would spend less time _counting_ those _hundreds_, and coming close to _thousands_ of grains than you spend answering trivia questions at 3 _tenths_ of a gram per question. Hell, I’d spend less time _cooking_ that 20 grams, which would amount to a small mouthfull, than it would take me to answer trivia questions sufficient to ‘earn’ that much rice. You would be better off pouring some rice in envelopes and _mailing_ it to them. And you would get more rice, at a lower price, into their stomachs. That site is bullshit. Advertise your own stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/296 "2012-10-26T01:11:02Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Well, for starters, one’s illegal. For another thing, surveys provide important information for all sorts of research fields. They aren’t just limited to marketing and push polls, despite the misinformation in this thread. > > I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about telemarketers but I can at least manage civility, even a bit of sympathy, when I encounter one. That don’t explain why chicks don’t stick up liquor stores. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/297 "2012-10-26T01:59:09Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > You _really_ like wasting time to no good effect, don’t you. Their numbers didn’t seem right, _at all_, so I decided to run them. I just looked up the commodity price of rice, and found that it seems to run at a rough average of 500 USD/metric ton. Which calculates out to 1 USCent for 20 grams. I pulled out my 1/100g scale, and found out that rice grains run 3-4 _hundredths_ of a gram per grain. I then weighed out 1 USC worth of rice. I would spend less time _counting_ those _hundreds_, and coming close to _thousands_ of grains than you spend answering trivia questions at 3 _tenths_ of a gram per question. Hell, I’d spend less time _cooking_ that 20 grams, which would amount to a small mouthfull, than it would take me to answer trivia questions sufficient to ‘earn’ that much rice. You would be better off pouring some rice in envelopes and _mailing_ it to them. And you would get more rice, at a lower price, into their stomachs. > > That site is bullshit. Advertise your own stupidity. The site is endorsed by the UN. I’ll take their word over yours. > [@](#): > > [Freerice - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freerice) > > One month after the inception of the viral marketing program, users had earned enough points for one billion grains of rice. The United Nation’s World Food Program stated that this amount could feed 50,000 people for one day,[4] since it takes 400 grams or about 19,200 grains of rice to feed one adult for a day.[5] Using this calculation, enough rice was donated in 2008 to feed over 6,000 people daily for each day of that year.[6] Since its inception, as of March 16, 2012, Freerice players had earned sufficient rice to feed nearly 5 million people two meals for one day. That sounds pretty good to me. The site has been a great tool for my nine year old. My eldest has learned geography, vocabulary and multiplication tables that way. I don’t think helping a young lady learn both new knowledge and the awareness that others are not as fortunate as she is bullshit. In fact (assuming the damned hurricane doesn’t cancel it) she was so inspired by this fact she’s participating in the [Unicef Trick or Treat program.](http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/) Again that hardly sounds like a stupid waste of time for a 4th grader. YMMV of course. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/298 "2012-10-26T02:11:54Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > You _really_ like wasting time to no good effect, don’t you. Their numbers didn’t seem right, _at all_, so I decided to run them. I just looked up the commodity price of rice, and found that it seems to run at a rough average of 500 USD/metric ton. Which calculates out to 1 USCent for 20 grams. I pulled out my 1/100g scale, and found out that rice grains run 3-4 _hundredths_ of a gram per grain. I then weighed out 1 USC worth of rice. I would spend less time _counting_ those _hundreds_, and coming close to _thousands_ of grains than you spend answering trivia questions at 3 _tenths_ of a gram per question. Hell, I’d spend less time _cooking_ that 20 grams, which would amount to a small mouthfull, than it would take me to answer trivia questions sufficient to ‘earn’ that much rice. You would be better off pouring some rice in envelopes and _mailing_ it to them. And you would get more rice, at a lower price, into their stomachs. > > That site is bullshit. Advertise your own stupidity. I know you mean snark but this is actually a good point I might bring up with my eldest. Still the site has value to her in helping her practice her multiplication tables and learn about other subjects like chemistry, vocabulary and geography. She loves the section where she can identify paintings. I might sit her down and see if she can figure out your point on her own. Then maybe we can think of a way to help others in a more direct and possibly more effective way. But the site still has enormous value as a source of learning that she and other kids can do on their own and enjoy at the same time. My little girl was so proud of herself when she mastered her times tables all the way to twelve last year! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/299 "2012-10-26T02:33:53Z")
That makes her overqualified for a career bugging people on the phone – they only have to know the first ten digits, and don’t have to know how to multiply. Great way to help her develop a social conscience. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056/300 "2012-10-26T07:13:21Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > The site is endorsed by the UN. I’ll take their word over yours. Don’t just take my word for it, buy yourself a scale like mine. It cost just under 30 USD at a head-shop. It’s been quite useful. Then you can weigh and calculate shit for yourself. If the UN endorses it, and it _proves_ to be bullshit, then I guess that demonstrates that the UN is bullshit, too. I’m not surprised, here. > [@](#): > > That sounds pretty good to me. Congradufuckinglations. Doesn’t sound very good to _me_ now that I’ve actually checked it out and weighed the fucking _rice_. But you can do as you please. No matter how useless. Have fun, but you’re tilting at windmills, here. UN endorsed windmills, but there you go… > [@](#): > > The site has been a great tool for my nine year old. My eldest has learned geography, vocabulary and multiplication tables that way. I don’t think helping a young lady learn both new knowledge and the awareness that others are not as fortunate as she is bullshit. In fact (assuming the damned hurricane doesn’t cancel it) she was so inspired by this fact she’s participating in the [Unicef Trick or Treat program.](http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/) > > Again that hardly sounds like a stupid waste of time for a 4th grader. YMMV of course. Great for your kids, but you’re fooling yourself if you think you’re doing anything to actually _feed_ anyone in the process. But keep on fooling yourself. I’m sure _they_ don’t give a shit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-person-who-calls-people-telephone-surveys/638056.md?page=16)