Granted, it appears that kambuckta let her ire run away with her words in her posts, people, but comments like this from Shodan:
don’t help your side of the debate very much. In fact, I admire her guts to speak up as someone who is in that line of work, so venomously despised by you, and give her opinion.
Turn the ringer down, for pity’s sake, if you don’t want the telephone disturbing the kiddies. Invest in some kind of an answering machine that isn’t so loud. And try directing your ire at the companies who have the policies by which the telemarketers work, not the workers themselves. They’re not lining up in some room, working out which poor schmuck with bad nerves and a low prescription to ring next – they’re working. Sometimes for charities so the community keeps functioning, sometimes simply with the end result that a new brand of chewies end up on the supermarket shelf for you to buy.
If you have your phone number on a publicly-available list – you are inviting the public, including telemarketers, to call. If you’re getting unsolicited calls on an unlisted number, then get with the snarls and gripes, and complain to the companies for breaching your privacy.
It is a worry when something so relatively minor as a telemarketer call gets people in such a wind-up that they rant at a TV for two hours afterwards. Sounds like the stress of being a caregiver is being taken out on the caller.
But we don’t, do we? No. 'Cause then we’d be an asshole, like kambuckta.
And honestly, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass who or what cause she’s dialing for, and the philosophy of “she’s just doing her job.” She chose this profession. I don’t care how slim the job pickings were; the fact is she chose to do this. That makes her one notch up from a hooker in my book. What makes it worse is she’s sticking up for it. If she offered apologies (‘Yes, it sucks, I know, but someone’s gonna do it, and I decided to be one of them, so sorry’) I’d have some respect for her. Not much, but some. But she’s vehemently defending herself and blaming us for being rude to her/other telemarketers. Now they’re the victims.
The only comfort I have is knowing she’s in a bottom-feeder, dead-end, low-paying, shitty job which no one respects.
That is as admirable as the fool that rung my doorbell at 9.15 this morning looking at me undressed telling me it is not too early to ring my bell. If you want my business (or money) do not argue with me that you are right to come to/call my home univited to sell me anything. Just move along.
This falls under the Just cause you Can do something doesn’t mean you should catagory. There is no defense for telemarketing.
That is as admirable as the fool that rung my doorbell at 9.15 this morning looking at me undressed telling me it is not too early to ring my bell. If you want my business (or money) do not argue with me that you are right to come to/call my home univited to sell me anything. Just move along.
This falls under the Just cause you Can do something doesn’t mean you should catagory. There is no defense for telemarketing.
It is amazing that you are able to judge my personal ‘worth’ and integrity from the job I work at flyboy88. Perhaps you should look into a career as a Profiler.
And while you have no respect for my job, or for me by the sounds of it, I hope you never need the services of some of the charities I work and have worked for. I hope your home is never threatened by a disaster, 'cos if you need to call in the Red Cross, you’d better think again. I hope you don’t have a child born with cerebal palsy, or develop multiple sclerosis or osteoporosis in your lifetime. I hope you don’t expect a cure for any of these diseases/disorders. If you happened to be travelling in a remote area of Aus and fell ill, our wonderful Flying Doctor Service would be available for your transport and/or treatment. Perhaps it was my ‘low-paying, shitty job which no-one respects’ that helped provide the resources for your rescue.
Telemarketers are for the most part, hard working and decent people. Just like most of the rest of the community. Oh, except for me, 'cos I’m an arsehole, right??
Hey kambuckta, we may have spoken recently. I am afraid to say that charities cold calling (and door knocking) has the opposite effect in my world, I give nothing to anyone who asks in either fashion, instead I sit down monthly, choose my charity and how much I have to spare and call them to make a telephone donation or look for a way to do that on the web. I will just tell you no thankyou and hang up though, I will not rant and rave or call you names.
I never give to anyone who has called me recently. Please do not tell me I have no right to ask for help from your charities should I require just because I dislike their methods of extracting donations. I would rather they used your wages to help people or to be more civilised about going about collecting. How many newspaper ads/posters/ tv commercials could they get for the wages of you and your cow-orkers? Donations should be given freely, not extracted by someone calling me with a chirpy Hi, how are you, crippled kiddies will be doomed without your support speel.
Cold calling is not the only way to collect money for a good cause but it is one of the most despicable. I am pleased you have flexible work but I do hope you just think of it as a job and not a calling with a higher purpose as it would appear from your posts. I have done shitty jobs for a wage (think tax collector), there is no shame in that unless you try to make yourself see it as something else just to be more comfortable sitting in it. Your job is not you, I know this, I have met you and I was not tempted to hang up on you but I will hang up on your job.
I choose this post as pretty much representative of the bilious phlegm that has been spewed up in this thread. Just because one person won’t accept the holier-than-thou declarations posted here, there have been those who feel it’s okay to reflect their biased, personal, and in some cases vile opinions on her. Oo! Telemarketers! Let’s slag off them this week, then we’ll do the Christians, and then the foreigners …
Tch.
I don’t think there are any employment courses in high school for “how to be a telemarketer to ruin lives”. I don’t think there are kiddies wishing to be a telemarketer someday. It’s just a niche our society has created, yours and mine, based on our consumer-based civilisation. I don’t think, in the main, the ordinary folks on the other end of the phone, in those anonymous rooms, set out for work each day/night with the thought, “Oh, cool! Who can we piss off today?” They’re doing a job, earning their own way, and not relying on welfare. A brief interruption to your busy schedules helps to feed them and their families. They are people, not cartoon villains
When you denigrate the man or woman who stands before you, you reveal much about yourself.
No, it would be much easier if you just didn’t call me.
I no longer answer the phone, my intense dislike for telemarketers has made it so I don’t want to answer my OWN PHONE. Somehow, some people named “The Henderson’s” gave out this number and I am BOMBARDED with calls, 2-3 a night, every night.
Last night, my boyfriend had to work late at an offsite location, far from home. Since his car isn’t terribly reliable, I made the mistake of picking up the phone twice last night, once at 8 and once at 8:30.
I can not tell you how loathsome and intrusive I find these calls. I despise telemarketers. I am rude, I am loud, I tend to use bad language. I direct them to never call me again, but the calls never stop.
No, it would be much easier if you just didn’t call me.
I no longer answer the phone, my intense dislike for telemarketers has made it so I don’t want to answer my OWN PHONE. Somehow, some people named “The Henderson’s” gave out this number and I am BOMBARDED with calls, 2-3 a night, every night.
Last night, my boyfriend had to work late at an offsite location, far from home. Since his car isn’t terribly reliable, I made the mistake of picking up the phone twice last night, once at 8 and once at 8:30. BOTH TELEMARKETERS. Both with that annoying habit of never stopping to take a breath to give me the chance to say NO.
I can not tell you how loathsome and intrusive I find these calls. I despise telemarketers. I am rude, I am loud, I tend to use bad language. I direct them to never call me again, but the calls never stop.
If you choose to participate in such a despicable and loathsome profession, rudeness is what you get, this is what you deserve.
Fine, you want to be a telemarketer and annoy people at home? Keep calling, I’m thinking of buying a whistle.
Nah, **Thylacine, ** I’ve been stuck calling the Brighton/Sandringham region for a little while now! When I get to the northern areas, I’ll post a warning on G’Dope!!
And I think you misinterpreted my previous post. I respect everyone’s right to donate or not donate to whichever charity they choose or not choose, and would not even suggest that the delivery of services be dependent upon such patronage. What I WAS suggesting, that the ‘lack of respect’ that **flyboy88 ** had for the likes of me and the company/ies I work for seems somewhat harsh when the charities provide many valuable services. That’s all.
In my original post, I was merely commenting on gratuitous rudeness. Funnily enough, the absolutely overwhelming majority of folk that I speak to in my job ARE polite. In my over 12 years (on and off) doing telemarketing, I have encountered only 5 people who were complete arseholes. That’s not bad. I’ve seen more venom and arseholishness HERE, condemning telemarketers as somehow a species apart.
I’m the first to admit it is just a job. I certainly do not feel some sort of ‘higher’ calling…sheesh. But at the same time, some of the other posters were suggesting I should feel a need to apologise for working at such a despicable job. I felt that was uncalled for, and thus wanted to remind them that the very people and organisations they are quick to denigrate, are in fact working to help (albeit in a limited way) many members of the community who are disadvantaged.
(As a slight hijack, our doctors find it very useful to block their own home phone numbers from showing up on their patients’ phones and allowing the patients to call them back at 3 AM because “they still have a runny nose.” And I spend probably 10% of every pediatrics phone call telling Mommy or Daddy how to disable anonymous call blocking, so that the doctor can get through to them. I really don’t like the phone company selling that service and not telling people how to turn it off. )
That said…the way our business works is that we pay for phone lines. Our clients (the doctors, lawyers, etc.) have their own numbers forwarded to these lines when they are not in the office, and we answer their customers and patients when they call. These numbers of ours are not given out, they are not published anywhere.
Today, we had a telemarketing recording that called a large number of our phone numbers (the numbers are in sequential order). Because of this, it took us overworked operators about 5-10 seconds longer to answer each legitimate incoming call. We take calls from people who are out of oxygen in their oxygen tank, who are having chest pains, who are not sure if their kid drank some bleach. And today, we were slowed down by some fucking mortgage company trying to sell us refinancing about 300 times. This isn’t just an inconvenience, this is endangering lives. It’s like selling their damn lemonade in the driveway of the fire station.
Being woken up at home (and I work the night shift, so when they call, they DO wake me up) is quite annoying. But I just don’t see how anyone can sleep at night knowing that someone’s grandmother might have suffocated because they were tying up an emergency phone number trying to peddle their wares.
As much as I may respect you for working Kambuckta and respect the charities you work for in general I can not respect cold-calling by anyone. I am entitled under law to the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of my property, cold calling deprives me of that in a way my friends calling does not. While I would never be rude to a telemarketer and do not condone such behaviour I do understand it to some degree.
You suggest getting a silent/unlisted number, I already pay for my phone service, I should not have to pay extra and be unfindable to old friends to avoid telemarketing. The practice should be banned.
Your post did sound a tad zealous and missing of the point, I don’t care if you are trying to sell me a subscription, widgets or solicit donations, I do not want you on my phone. I invite you in when I watch commercial television, listen to commercial radio, read newspapers, surf the net (though I am at war with popups famously) or wander into billboard country. I accept advertising is necessary. I will never accept that cold calling is necessary or moral. One on one contact is too close when I have not invited you in to do that. My guess is that you call me by name, you ask me how I am, I am trying to work out who you are (not sure if I should know you or not) and then when we are sounding friendly you reveal yourself. Sly and not a little sleazy.
I am not saying you are immoral, you need work, this is work, it suits but I will not support your employers in protest and I wonder if they realise that.
I used to live in your calling zone, say hi to everyone for me, I haven’t been back for a while
All I have are your words, and the attitude I see conveyed through those words, kambuckta. That’s how I’m judging you. And perhaps my previous posts haven’t been clear: it’s not so much what you do (clearly I hate it, but that’s not what ticks me off like this), it’s how you defend it and your attitude in doing so (and, now that I think of it, your tendency to hide behind your charities).
Ice Wolf, I believe in calling a spade a spade. If you think I’m an ass, just come out and say it instead of making inferences. I have no problem doing the same for kambuckta, and if that makes me look bad in the eyes of people like you, then so be it. Just because you’re a person doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be judged on what you do or how you act. This is exactly what judgements should be based on.
flyboy88, where in any of my posts have I ‘defended’ telemarketing? I came into this thread to ‘defend’ the rights of telemarketers to be treated in a civil manner, and to defend my right to work in what is still a legally sanctioned job, that was all. (I also wanted to clear up the ‘please take me off your list’ debacle, just for good measure.)
I just find rudeness, from anyone and under any circumstances absolutely uncouth, especially when a ‘No Thanks’ would suffice. If I’m an arsehole for that, then so be it. :rolleyes:
kambuckta, you may be a really nice person, but you missed the point here. I was understandably upset because I was called by a telemarketer at an UNREASONABLE HOUR. Can you imagine a door-to-door salesman knocking on your door at 9:00 pm?? You’d have the law on him!! Justifiably!! And yet you would not feel the same if someone came pounding on your door to inform you of an emergency, now would you? If I turn off my phone to avoid unwanted calls, then I run the risk of being unavailable in case of an emergency! Same thing if I turn off my answering machine.
And the day I say, “No thank you” to a telemarketer and they reply, “Thanks anyway, goodbye” is the day Big Bird will be elected president. IT’S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!!! I’ve tried, believe you me. Short of being rude, I have found no effective way of getting off the phone quickly. And as a very non-confrontational person, I find it difficult to be out-and-out rude to someone, which makes it hard to get a telemarketer to take NO for an answer.
Maybe you don’t have personal information on the people you are calling, but common sense should tell you that people do NOT want to be called with a sales pitch at 9:00 at night!! Sales (telephone or otherwise) is a difficult enough job without setting yourself up to get a pissed-off customer on the other end of the phone! And I guarantee that a late night call will yield more “go to hell” responses than it will positive ones. At least I do have an answering machine and caller ID, but not everyone does. And someone who jumps out of bed to answer the phone–figuring (logically) that any call this time of night is bound to be important–only to be asked if they are interested in purchasing a septic tank maintenance system is not going to say just “no,” but “HELL, no!!”
The upshot is, telemarketer calls are annoying at any time of the day, but there should damn well be a time when we can reasonably expect to be left alone in peace. And we should be able to expect common sense to rule–there are a plethora of reasons that nighttime calls are a bad idea, whether you know anything about your quarry’s personal history or not. You shouldn’t have to be told that.
And finally, it wasn’t YOU who had to stay up for two more hours trying to get a baby back to sleep, trying not to cry (and not very successfully) because you were so damnably exhausted that you could hardly bear it. I believe that was ME, and if I want to blow off a little steam over it, well, that’s what this forum is for!!
Judgement on action is one thing. Judgement on who you are, calling someone, effectively, a low-life and a prostitute because they’re trying to earn a wage in a job which you, personally, loathe is wrong.
All your fist-waving and vehemence should be aimed at the companies who adopt this method, and who are the ones, effectively, who have the behaviour that makes you so angry. The cold-callers have a crappy-enough job to do without being the target as well.
But at the same time, some of the other posters were suggesting I should feel a need to apologise for working at such a despicable job. I felt that was uncalled for, and thus wanted to remind them that the very people and organisations they are quick to denigrate, are in fact working to help (albeit in a limited way) many members of the community who are disadvantaged.
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