### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/62 "2002-12-17T19:53:36Z")
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> Why get so worked up about telemarketers?
Although the efforts of one person probably won’t make a lot of difference, the collective efforts can make changes happen. Many states have a do-not-call list. You can also ask to be put on the do-not-call list when the telemarketer called you. And you can only get telemarketing calls between certain hours (8 am to 9 pm?). If everyone just said “Oh well” when a telemarketer called, none of those things would have happened.
I personally don’t give the telemarketer’s calling me a hard time, but one effect that it can have is to make the turnover at the call centers higher which ups their costs and makes it a little less effective means of marketing.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/63 "2002-12-18T14:23:00Z")
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> \*Originally posted by pestie \*
> \*\*When I’m rich I’m going to offer a better job to every telemarketer who calls me, I swear to \! I don’t know yet what I’ll do with this workforce, but there must be _something_ I can do with them that doesn’t involve irritating the bejesus out of people. \*\*
Get rich soon! I’m rooting for ya!
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/64 "2002-12-18T20:02:30Z")
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> \*Originally posted by filmore \*
> \*\*For those of you in telemarketing, you have to know that some number of the people you’re calling resent the intrusion. Some of you have said that some people like getting the calls. Is there some ratio which you think makes it alright? Like as long as you get one person who liked the call, it’s okay to deal with five “toerags”? What if 50, 75, or 100 percent of the people were toerags. Would you stay at your job if 100 percent of the people were upset that you called?
> \*\*
Well, let’s put it this way. On a ‘good’ day, for every two people I speak to, one of them will make a donation to the charity I am collecting for (on a _really_ good day, the ratio will be higher than that!)
On a bad day, it may go down to one in three or even four. And of these, only a _very_ small proportion are apparently disturbed by my call, and of _these_ an even smaller minority are ‘toe-raggy’ enough to be abusive or threatening.
So, in fact (at least as far as I’m concerned), I proabably deal with only one or two people every WEEK who reaaaaally don’t like telemarketers, and I’ve only been _seriously_ abused about 5 times over the years. Maybe it’s just my superior marketing/communications skills 😉 , or maybe people are laid-back enough to not really give a toss whether they get called or not.
As I’ve said in previous threads on the same topic, given the worries that most of us in this post-modern world have to contend with on a daily basis, saying ‘No Thanks’ to a telemarketer doesn’t really rate as a crisis. 😛
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/65 "2002-12-18T22:14:17Z")
The FTC is going to create a [national do-not-call list](http://money.cnn.com/2002/12/18/pf/ftc_telemarketing.ap/index.htm) which will help reduce the number of telemarketing calls you get.
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### Author:  [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/66 "2002-12-19T01:16:20Z")
**Kambuckta** , I
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> reaaaaally don’t like telemarketers
but you as an individual calling me would not know that and would likely put me into your
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> people are laid-back enough to not really give a toss whether they get called or not
category as I would never abuse you, the person doing an icky job. I will possibly swear as I return to whatever I was doing before you barged into my loungeroom but never at you.
Please do not assume that you are welcome just because I do not tell you to go felch a goat. I will tell you goodnight and hang up, feel free to interpret that as
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> my mother brung me up proper
please do not interpret that as
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> keep up the excellent work and please call me again soon
your arguments are terribly flawed as they were last time we engaged on this subject. Look, many of us have done icky jobs. The secret is to recognise we do an icky job and not try to convince the world our job is not icky when it is without a shadow of a doubt. There is no shame in doing an icky job, the shame is in pretending it is not and trying to convince all of us when the truth is right there every time you dial for your employer.
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/67 "2002-12-19T10:24:44Z")
I don’t think anyone is trying to convince anyone of anything.
Kambukta, Snoopy and myself are talking about Snoopys new job and responding to posts from people who really shouldn’t click on thread titles that cause them to have conniptions.
I don’t think anyone is presenting a particular argument either, this is not a debate. What I see Kambukta doing, and what I have been doing is saying a little about how it feels on the other end of the line. I guess it’s like asking a bin-man if the rubbish smells, he is probably going to tell you it doesn’t smell as bad as you think. Or something…
Join the DNC list and hope for the best.
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### Author:  [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2002, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/68 "2002-12-19T12:08:29Z")
I am polite to telemarketers strictly because I have always assumed that they must be in relatively dire straits to take the job. I usually wait until they take a split second to draw breath, and then say, “Thanks, but I’m really not interested.”
Anyone who answers their phone while they’re in the midst of dinner/great sex/a cool film is obviously egotistical enough to think that they’re SO important they have to take ALL THEIR CALLS, without waiting for the answering machine to do it for them.
These are the same people who walk around screaming into cell phones because they really think their lives are that hectic and important.
Either way, the solution is simple: Hang up the phone and get over it.
(And no, I am not and never have been a telemarketer. I just think that anyone who gets this pissed off by a phone call really needs to take some anger-management courses.)
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/69 "2002-12-19T15:56:38Z")
> [@](#):
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> Anyone who answers their phone while they’re in the midst of dinner/great sex/a cool film is obviously egotistical enough to think that they’re SO important they have to take ALL THEIR CALLS, without waiting for the answering machine to do it for them.
This is not necessarily the case. When the phone rings, I cannot evaluate the importance of the call by the ringing sound. I must pick it up to find out if the call is from work, a friend, a relative, or a telemarketer. In addition, I have children and if one of them is out of the house, you better believe I’m answering every call that comes in. Often times I’m not in the same room as the answering machine so letting it pick up is not an option.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/70 "2002-12-20T16:04:37Z")
Interviewed for another “legitimate” job yesterday, got turned down. Oh, well, it’s back to the phones.
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### Author:  [@panache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/71 "2002-12-20T16:52:44Z")
Hhhhmmm, have we got some Dopers with persecution complexes? Sorry ladies and gents, I never buy stuff over the telephone, but that doesn’t mean that every telemarketer who has ever called me a) knows this, b) is calling me anyway to piss me off, and c) should be punished for the audacity of finding my HOME NUMBER which is publicly listed.
I used to work a phone job, not selling stuff, but talking to a lot of people, and I was mistaken for a telemarketer all the time. Some people were great and made me laugh, others were so rude that I’m convinced they were raised by jackals!
If you REALLY hate receiving calls, then ask firmly to be placed on the do not call list, and proceed with your life. If you do not want anyone calling you whom have not given direct permission, get an unlisted number.
Of course, in the case of **InternetLegend** and PBS, mistakes will get made, but giving yourself an aneurism over it will hardly fix it. I at least respect **IL’s** efforts to keep supporting a worthwhile cause…
Sure after the obligatory “Hello I’m…” and your reply of “Thank you for your time, but I’m not interested, please put me on your do not call list.” the response you get OUGHT to get is “I’d be happy to, let me confirm your number so that you aren’t contacted again.”
If I get a different reply that starts with “But…” I usually ask if they’ve accepted \ as their personal savior…Works like a charm!
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### Author:  [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/72 "2002-12-20T16:58:45Z")
Any organisation that calls unbidden is immediately on my donation black-list.
There’s plenty more fish in the charity sea.
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### Author:  [@panache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-telefundraiser/142734/73 "2002-12-20T17:03:48Z")
**Bluecanary** , I completely understand if YOU would like to be removed from the calling list of anyone/everyone/and their extended families, but many worthwhile charities get a lot of support from phone pledges or donations. Would you like to personaly make up the difference if they give up telemarketing?
_ **pestie** , perhaps you can work on this after employing all the former telemarketers? After I get 2 months rent in the bank, I’ll help out!_
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