# In which Mangetout takes the upper hand with telemarketers. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 18, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919 "2004-10-18T22:11:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/81 "2004-10-19T21:55:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Spamming is illegal. I don’t believe that this is true. What countries have laws against unsolicited email? There are a number of laws against some of the more egregious methods of sending spam but not sending unsolicited email. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/82 "2004-10-19T22:01:21Z")
> [@The world's most deadliest...](#): > > I’m afraid I have to point out that your comparison is flawed on the following points: > > 1. Spamming is illegal. Telemarketing is (unfortunately) not, as long as the company follows the laws in place to regulate their behavior. Say what now? Since when? > [@](#): > > 1. Generally, spamming is a one or two man operation. You don’t need to hire people to staff the phones (or computers, as it were), in a one-to-one ratio of rep to potential sale. One spammer can reach thousands of people in a matter of seconds. Hardly a work ethic, especially when you consider the ramifications of point 1. Great, so spam involves an economy of assholes, as compared to telemarketing. How does this invalidate **BubbaDog** ’s analogy? > [@](#): > > 1. Precisely because spamming is a low-cost-investment “business”, some reports put the amount of spam worldwide at 60% of the total volume of email sent and recieved each day. I sincerely doubt anyone gets telemarketing calls 60% of the time on any given day. Before I got on the DNC, at least 75% of the calls I received in my home were telemarketers. At least. I regularly had days where I’d get a dozen or more telemarketers. > [@](#): > > 1. And even if you do get telemarketers 6 out of every 10 calls, there is a very effective national registry to sign up with that will effectively eliminate those calls. There is currently no way to sign up for a no-spam registry - see point 1. True enough. I haven’t had a genuine commercial telemarketer call me in over a year. If this keeps up, I figure sometime around 2009 I’ll have finally spent all the accumulated anger and frustration that have been built up over close to three decades of constant pestering by telemarketers, and I may be able to address the subject calmly and rationally. On second thought, better make that 2012. > [@](#): > > Equally annoying? Sure. But still apples and oranges for the purposes of your argument. It comes back to stopping telemarketing at the source. If you hate it that much, work to make it illegal. I favor a two-pronged attack. Work to make it illegal, sure, but in the meantime, I can also work to make it unprofitable. Which is why I signed up for the DNC, and verily, the lamentations of bankrupt telemarketing firms are as hossanahs unto my ears. Back when I didn’t have that option, though, I had to settle for making the jobs of telemarketers as unpleasant as possible, thus increasing employee turnover and forcing their employers to waste even more time recruiting and training replacements. I doubt my actions ever did anything to hurt one of these firms, but there are a lot of people out there who feel the way I do, and it starts to add up after a while. > [@](#): > > :rolleyes: Okay, I agree with you about the seal clubber comparison. Because, at the end of the day, at least the seal clubbers have helped to make some really nice fur coats. Telemarketers can only dream of being so useful. > [@](#): > > While this may be true, how\* effective\* is it to getting your point across? The answer is not effective at all. While they are representatives of the company, these callers have no authority whatsoever to stop the company from using telemarketers to boost sales. Let’s repeat that: > > No. > > Authority. > > Whatsoever. > So you expend the time and energy to be an asshole, thus pissing off both you and the rep that gets the brunt of the abuse, for no discernable gain on your part whatsoever. You just made someone else’s day that much worse for what amounts to “because I can! And they should expect it!” Yep. Calling me at home to sell me something is being an asshole. I don’t care how much you need the money. That’s why we have welfare. Or, failing that, pimps. And anyone who acts like an asshole to me, gets treated like an asshole themselves. Don’t like it? Don’t fucking call me. > [@](#): > > Which is fine if that’s how you want to live your life, but I can imagine you’re going to be one miserable human being after 60-odd years of feeling entitled to be a jerk about something so inconsequential as telemarketers. I dunno, after twenty-eight years, I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Give me another thirty, I should be so happy I’ll be down right insufferable. Tell ya what, gimme a call in 2034, and I’ll let you know _exactly_ how I feel. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/83 "2004-10-19T22:08:15Z")
Don’t the telemarketers try to keep a track record on their victims? I mean, if every time a telemarketer called my house, and I said no, do they register that anywhere (Mr. Loopy: Declined purchase of in-the-peel tomato juicer; desire for hydraulic garlic press unlikely)? I mean, do they figure out after a while it’s a waste of time to call me? And if I could somehow get myself blacklisted by pretending I’m being dismembered, or perhaps always bringing the conversation back to the fact I’m not wearing any underpants, isn’t that a goal worth pursuing? Well, I think so; but only if the blacklist exists. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/84 "2004-10-19T22:39:32Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Don’t the telemarketers try to keep a track record on their victims? Funniest thing I’ve read on this thread. 😃 Seriously, though. I doubt it. Dig up my previous rants against Popular Science Magazine. When you tell the schmoe to take you off their list, it will miracously reappear the next week and the person you talked to will seem to have never existed. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/85 "2004-10-19T23:09:35Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Great, so spam involves an economy of assholes, as compared to telemarketing. How does this invalidate **BubbaDog** ’s analogy? Because a telemarketer has to do more than just push a button to offend people. If spammers had to type up each and every spam individually, then BubbaDog might have a valid comparison. Since they don’t, he’s just a common-or-garden asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/86 "2004-10-20T00:56:25Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > Because a telemarketer has to do more than just push a button to offend people. If spammers had to type up each and every spam individually, then BubbaDog might have a valid comparison. Since they don’t, he’s just a common-or-garden asshole. So, your argument is that the more effort I put into annoying someone, the more excusable that annoyance becomes? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/87 "2004-10-20T01:27:03Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > I got rid of a polling call last night in a different way: he was doing a survey about video/DVD rentals. Told him (quite truthfully) that I have no TV, VCR or DVD player so my weekly rentals would amount to zero. He was not expecting that. On a slightly related note, I’d been getting newspaper solicitations every three weeks for a year or so, including one awesome conversation that went something like: SVEN: Sorry, I don’t read the paper. THE PHONE: Well, how do you get your news? SVEN: The Internet. THE PHONE: Well, what if the power was out in your area and you couldn’t read the Internet? SVEN: For the power to be out in my area for enough time that it would meaningfully affect my ability to get news, it would have to be some sort of serious emergency or calamity. Given this, getting the paper wouldn’t be my highest priority, besides which, in such a situation, it probably wouldn’t get delivered anyway. THE PHONE: uh… Finally, I got sick of it, and just told the guy who was calling that I couldn’t read and thus had no use for a newspaper. They never called again. The next time somebody calls to ask about my long-distance plan, I’m going to tell them I don’t have a phone. ---
**Author:** ![The\_world\_s\_most\_deadliest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@The\_world\_s\_most\_deadliest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_world_s_most_deadliest)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/88 "2004-10-20T02:56:09Z")
Just thought I’d pop in to admit that, as **gazpacho** pointed out, I did misspeak earlier on one of my points. > [@](#): > > The CAN-SPAM Act is a new anti-spam law that sets national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. The bill’s full name is the “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003.” > > The bill permits e-mail marketers to send unsolicited commercial e-mail as long as it contains: an opt-out mechanism, a functioning return e-mail address, a valid subject line indicating it is an advertisement, the legitimate physical address of the mailer. The bill includes many other provisions, such as the formation of a national do-not-spam list, and the prohibition of certain email address collection methods. From [this site](http://www.tech-encyclopedia.com/can-spam-act.htm). What I should have said was “unsolicited email that is obviously a scam”. However, since I run a number of websites, I end up getting massive amounts of truly ridiculous v1@gra spam, which is what this bill targets, and what I immediately thought of when I read **BubbaDog’s** post. In addition, the pledge of a national do-not-email registry is mentioned, but I’d like to see how they manage to make it effective. > [@Miller](#): > > Before I got on the DNC, at least 75% of the calls I received in my home were telemarketers. At least. I regularly had days where I’d get a dozen or more telemarketers. My specific quote (cite [here](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=408840)) was: > [@me](#): > > some reports put the amount of spam worldwide at 60% of the total volume of email sent and recieved each day. While I did follow up by saying that I doubt anyone gets that equivalent in phone calls each day (and I still think yours is an extreme case, considering the average American gets [2 to 3](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:a28syADMg7QJ:archive.wispolitics.com/freeser/pr/pr0306/jun06/pr03060614.html+%22telemarketing+calls+per+day%22&hl=en) ), a more apt comparison to this statistic would be “telemarketers do not account for 60% of the total phone calls made each day.” Unfortunately, from what I’ve been able to find, there is no concrete data on how many calls are made each day, at least according to the FCC: > [@FCC Trends in Telephone Service](#): > > Most subscribers purchase service with unlimited local calling. As a result, most calls are not metered and estimates of total calling are subject to wide margins of error. So there’s a moot point to go over with a fine tooth comb. The purpose of my response to **BubbaDog** was to point out how the analogy he used was a poor one, which I still believe. And for the record, statements like this one: > [@Miller](#): > > Yep. Calling me at home to sell me something is being an asshole. I don’t care how much you need the money. \*\* That’s why we have welfare. Or, failing that, pimps.\*\* And anyone who acts like an asshole to me, gets treated like an asshole themselves. Don’t like it? Don’t fucking call me. sound like some standard tough-guy posturing to me. I’d rather hang up on a telemarketer than have them clog up welfare. As for the pimp comment…that’s classy. I realize you (hopefully) said it in jest to ram home that fuck 'em all attitude, and you don’t truly, seriously feel that way. > [@me](#): > > So you expend the time and energy to be an asshole, thus pissing off both you and the rep that gets the brunt of the abuse, for no discernable gain on your part whatsoever. You just made someone else’s day that much worse for what amounts to “because I can! And they should expect it!” > [@Miller](#): > > Yep. Again, I say: if that’s the way you want to spend your time. Sounds pretty jerky to me, but that’s just my opinion, and who am I, the Morality Police? Just seems like less trouble and stress all around if you just hang up the phone. Or put the phone down and watch TV. Or pull a **loopydude** and scream randomly. Or anything except make someone that probably already feels shitty about their job and lot in life feel even worse, for no reason besides you feel you can. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/89 "2004-10-20T03:05:17Z")
MoveOn called me this morn at 8:40. I told them I was taking my son to school and hung up. Usually I can tell a telemarketer; they get my parents name wrong. May I speak to Mr. Soandso? He can’t talk, he has no voice(true) Okay, I’ll call another time. Don’t! He still won’t be able to talk! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/90 "2004-10-20T04:12:48Z")
_puts on flame-retardant hat and coat_ Hello, my name is **brianjedi** , and I am a telephone survey researcher. First off, don’t even try to lump me in with those scuzzy bastards hawking the latest piece o’ crap or ripoff phone deal. 90% of the work I’ve done has been contacting people for customer attitude surveys on behalf of utility companies (I’m limited in what I can share here, due to a confidentiality agreement I signed as a condition of employment.) I don’t have an auto-dialer, I’m not calling 90 people at once. Hell, I don’t even have a computer. It’s me, a phone with a headset, a phone list, a survey script and an answer form. I dial every number myself, I write the answers down with a pencil on the answer form and I apologize when I interrupt something. So don’t go spouting off about how telephone surveys are just as bad as telemarketing. If you’re not happy that you’ve been called for a survey, understand that most times it’s because a company you use wants to make sure you’re happy. Other times it’s about a serious issue facing your community. And the money’s not even that good. But if you’d like to buy me groceries, pay my rent and light bill so I can just worry about school, go right ahead. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/91 "2004-10-20T04:32:41Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > You’re not serious, right? I’ve worked as a telemarketer before; not because I wanted to, but because it was a source of income until I found something better. The other option was to go on welfare. The humanly decent thing to do would have been live off the state because telemarketing was beneath me? I hated that job with every ounce of my being, but at least I was earning my keep. This is a serious, not snotty, question. For the telemarketers out there, does it really pay that much? More than say waitressing, bartending, receptionist, temp assignments, babysitting, that sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/92 "2004-10-20T04:53:25Z")
> [@The world's most deadliest...](#): > > While I did follow up by saying that I doubt anyone gets that equivalent in phone calls each day (and I still think yours is an extreme case, considering the average American gets [2 to 3](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:a28syADMg7QJ:archive.wispolitics.com/freeser/pr/pr0306/jun06/pr03060614.html+%22telemarketing+calls+per+day%22&hl=en) ), a more apt comparison to this statistic would be “telemarketers do not account for 60% of the total phone calls made each day.” That’s great cite. Real beaut. What the fuck is it supposed to prove? > [@](#): > > I’d rather hang up on a telemarketer than have them clog up welfare. Better that than my phone line. > [@](#): > > As for the pimp comment…that’s classy. I realize you (hopefully) said it in jest to ram home that fuck 'em all attitude, and you don’t truly, seriously feel that way. Oh, yes, I do, truly, seriously, feel that way. I can respect a whore. It’s an ancient profession, with a rich history, and a vital role in society. Telemarketers are just parasites. > [@](#): > > Again, I say: if that’s the way you want to spend your time. Sounds pretty jerky to me, but that’s just my opinion, and who am I, the Morality Police? Of course it’s jerky. So’s telemarketing. They want to engage me on that level, I’m more than willing to sink to it. > [@](#): > > Just seems like less trouble and stress all around if you just hang up the phone. Oh, it’s a great stress reliever. Nothing relaxes like abusing a telemarketer. Speaking of which: > [@](#): > > Or put the phone down and watch TV. Or pull a **loopydude** and scream randomly. I would classify **loopydude** ’s story as classical telemarketer abuse. Just yelling obscenities is fun, but lacks imagination. The ideal form of telemarketer abuse is the mind-fuck. Back when I still got telemarketing calls, that was my standard approach. > [@](#): > > Or anything except make someone that probably already feels shitty about their job and lot in life feel even worse, for no reason besides you feel you can. If it weren’t for people like me, they wouldn’t have any reason to feel shitty about their job. And then where would we be? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/93 "2004-10-20T09:24:38Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > So, your argument is that the more effort I put into annoying someone, the more excusable that annoyance becomes? No, my argument is that comparing telemarketers to spammers is like comparing Lee Harvey Oswald to the commandant of Auschwitz, and that anyone who finds that comparison valid - e.g. **BubbaDog** - is a twitching, dribbling cretin. Yes, I get annoyed by telemarketers even though we’re on the TPS and have been for years. I get even more annoyed by fax-spammers, especially since _we don’t have a fucking fax line_ and yet _they keep calling anyway_. But as has been pointed out, cold-call centre staff are desperate to work and they’ll do anything. I’ve been unemployed for long stretches of time, and I can sympathise with that. Meanwhile, you call them parasites, but then suggest they should claim welfare instead. Either you need a better dictionary or a brain enema, because that’s not logically consistent. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/94 "2004-10-20T10:07:48Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > This is a serious, not snotty, question. For the telemarketers out there, does it really pay that much? > > More than say waitressing, bartending, receptionist, temp assignments, babysitting, that sort of thing? I tried several restaurants, couldn’t get a waitressing job. I was (at the time) inexperienced as a receptionist. It was more stable than temping, paid more than babysitting, and for bartending you need a license. I got paid a dollar over minimum, plus they had some fancy shmancy bonus system for those who were any good. It was possible to make (at that company) up to 12.00 an hour. This was back in 1994, so 12/hr was pretty decent. I did it for a month or two while I continued my job search. I never made more than the basic wage. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/95 "2004-10-20T12:33:26Z")
> [@InvidiousCourgette](#): > > If you think it is ethically or morally wrong to earn a living doing a shitty job that you probably do not enjoy, can you explain why? Because telemarketing consists of annoying the shit out of people, using their resources (time, phone) in a way that they never intended, as telemarketers know. > [@](#): > > Untill you do, a big “fuck you sideways” for shitting on people who want to earn an honest living. It is not an honest living. It consists of using a piece of equipment that people instal for other purposes for your own purposes, knowing full well that 99% of the people you are doing this to don’t want you to. And annoying the shit out of them at the same time. Your line of argument that telemarketing is OK because it is a way to earn money and because the person who does it doesn’t enjoy it can be used to justify bank robbery. There is no logical connection between the fact someone will pay you to do something and the question of whether it is OK to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/96 "2004-10-20T12:41:14Z")
> [@InvidiousCourgette](#): > > If there are people who are willing to pay people to do stuff you do not like, fuck with the employers not the employees. How difficult is that? When a telemarketer calls me, they annoy me. They know that 99% of the time what they are doing is calling someone who doesn’t want to be called. But I must be polite back. I must not show my true feelings. Why is that? Why should I hide the fact that the telemarketer is annoying the shit out of me and I am not happy? Please do not be so silly as to say: “to make their life happier”. See the first two sentences of my last paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/97 "2004-10-20T12:44:16Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > Because a telemarketer has to do more than just push a button to offend people. If spammers had to type up each and every spam individually, then BubbaDog might have a valid comparison. Since they don’t, he’s just a common-or-garden asshole. What complete and utter drivel. I killed someone with my bare hands but what I did isn’t bad because someone else committed genocide using machine guns, which is much easier. Does that make sense to you? Do you actually have any logical relevant difference between Bubbadog’s analogy and telemarketing? ---
**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 20, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/98 "2004-10-20T12:51:23Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > would love to talk to you about your **vacation plans** and life insurance… Well since you asked - I leave this morning for [this.](http://www.sandcastledays.com/) > [@The world's most deadliest](#): > > …but I can imagine you’re going to be one miserable human being after 60-odd years of feeling entitled to be a jerk about something so inconsequential as telemarketers. I’ve disliked mosquitoes my whole life too. Not miserable about it in the least > [@The world's most deadliest](#): > > The purpose of my response to BubbaDog was to point out how the analogy he used was a poor one, Man, I knew I was stretching with the baby-seal-clubbers comment (they’ll probably kick me out of the union) but I thought using an extreme would refute the statements that you should not hold people libel for the jobs they are forced to take. I repeat my statement - If somebody is paying you to be an asshole, you should not be surprised if you are treated like an asshole. Turn the other cheek is golden advice but the reality of life is that when somebody is affronted their first reaction is usually to reply in kind, not have a warm fuzzy excuse session for the affronters behavior. > [@Evil Death](#): > > BubbaDog might have a valid comparison. Since they don’t, he’s just a common-or-garden asshole. But I have aspirations to someday be a smug-self-righteous asshole like you > [@brianjedi](#): > > First off, don’t even try to lump me in with those scuzzy bastards You’re not. You’re calling existing customers. While your calling may sometimes interrupt people I believe that you have a valid reason to call. > [@Evil Death](#): > > BubbaDog - is a twitching, dribbling cretin. Still…the hot babes come a runnin when they see me. Must be the cologne. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/99 "2004-10-20T12:53:38Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > for bartending you need a license. Really? Is this in Connecticutt? I’ve worked in restaurants/bars in serveral different States and never heard of such a thing. Seems ridiculously complicated to have to license every individual bartender. I can understand the restaurant/bar needing to have a liquor license, but a bartender’s license? Is this still the case in Connecticutt? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/100 "2004-10-20T13:26:50Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Really? Is this in Connecticutt? I’ve worked in restaurants/bars in serveral different States and never heard of such a thing. Seems ridiculously complicated to have to license every individual bartender. I can understand the restaurant/bar needing to have a liquor license, but a bartender’s license? Is this still the case in Connecticutt? Of course, now I can’t find a cite saying that this still exists in Connecticut; it looks like it may have been repealed (it’s been a long time since I’ve looked for that type of work). But I did find a cite [saying that Milwaukee requires one](http://www.milwaukee.gov/display/displayFile.asp?docid=2421&filename=/User/webmaster/LicenseDivision/BARTENDER.pdf). I believe it’s just to ensure that a bartender is aware of all the laws and regulations regarding drinking; legal age, legal liability regarding cut-off, etc. And looking into it further, I think the statute in Connecticut is that there must be at least one licensed bartender on the premises; many bars might just require its applicants to be licensed so that there are no problems with scheduling. At any rate, I do know that every bartending job I saw available stated that a person had to be licensed and certified, and the courses were not cheap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919.md?page=6)