# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/121 "2004-10-21T05:00:47Z")
The Asbestos Mango is right- I’ve never been woken up from a nap by someone in my bedroom asking if I wanted a drink with my nap. The junk mail never woke me from a nap, or interrupted my meal either. Once, I responded to a telemarketer by just “meowing” to whatever she said. It sounded like a nice old lady on the other end of the line, and once she started to laugh, I had to hang up pretty much immediately before I started giggling uncontrollably. I’ve been getting these recorded calls that start with “Please don’t hang up” recently, and after a few times, I listened past that first phrase and realized that if someone tells you to not hang up, the best plan is to do so. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/122 "2004-10-21T05:33:06Z")
> [@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? Last time I bartended a license wasn’t required. Now, that being said, even back then, some fancy schmancy bars and restaurants required their bartenders to have the formal “bartending school” certificates, (wooo hooo, I"m in my 2nd week, I’m a junior :D), but that’s a company by company policy, or was. In my state AFAIK, no license is required, and there are still a lot of places who’ll hire a reasonably intelligent person and train them, that’s how I learned. It’s a HELL of a lot more fun than what telemarketing sounds like and you’re not annoying people, quite the contrary, you’re helping 'em party. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Vega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Lord\_Vega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Vega)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/123 "2004-10-21T05:51:06Z")
[Tom Mabe](http://www.tommabe.com/) is my personal hero. > [@](#): > > Finally, he had enough. He decided to mess with the minds of the people who would call trying to sell him carpet cleaning services. “What is your fee for removing human blood stains?” The man is a genius! (insert “I’m not worthy” smilie here) Cheers, Vega ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/124 "2004-10-21T06:16:08Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > Nurembourg. There I said it. What a lovely melodramatic moment it was. If you want to equate Nurembourg and telemarkers you really do need to take a deep breath and chill out. It’s the principle, kiwi, the principle. I know there’s a difference in scale (at the risk of the understatement of the century) but the principle is the same. > [@](#): > > I hate it when you order a burger in a fast food place and they ask if you want fries and a drink. Don’t those idiots know they are wasting my valuable time? Plus they are being deliberately rude by not listening to what I ordered and they are abusing my rights to decide what I want to eat without being badgered! Off to the gallows with them. What others have said. Plus you knew that they were going to do that when you went in there but you went in voluntarily. Plus you don’t have a right to enter a commercial establishment and not be asked questions by employees of the commercial establishment. You have a right to leave. Period. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/125 "2004-10-21T08:09:21Z")
Ok fair cop. I rest my flimsy case. But I think I will keep being polite anyway (unless that is aiding and abetting the enemy?) it’s just nicer. I like nice, it’s so …nice. 🙂 (gratuitous “nice” smiley) ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/126 "2004-10-21T14:43:04Z")
> [@chatelaine](#): > > As for my specific job, I was being paid to be the **pushiest asshole possible** in order to collect donations for the Fraternal Order of Police [:rolleyes: A slick little organization that only gave 10% of it’s actual donations TO police lodges]. I absolutely hate telemarketers. I hate hearing my phone ring, stopping what I’m doing to answer it, and finding out is some moron trying to sell me something. If I wanted whatever it is they are selling I would actually go out buy some, not wait for them to call me about it. It’s as simple as that. But that FOP- man what a pushy organization. I’ve had more trouble with them than with anyone else, ever. They slyly pretend to be cops to keep you on the line at first, then they lie by saying “You donated last year- how much do you want to donate this year?” If you say you didn’t donate they suggest that perhaps it was your husband/wife who donated last time. I wasn’t sure who they were at first so I asked, “Are you a charity because I’m on the ‘Do Not Call’ list” and all I heard was a ‘click’ as they hung up on me-- then called back the next day. Then I asked them to send me some info in the mail, but they said it’s against their company policy (still thinking they were a possibly worthy organization I might want to donate to). Suspicious, I asked them to take my name off their list. Apparantly I never used the “magic words” correctly because they began a campaign to call me as much as possible after that. I looked them up on the BBB and some other places and found out what a sham organization they were. And they kep calling. They harrassed me to the point of my calling the phone company, the FTC, the Atty Generals office, etc. to complain. Noone could help and I could not get these clowns to stop calling me. They called in cycles- sometimes a couple of times a day, sometimes once a day for 10 days or so with a few weeks of no calls…for three years! It was crazy-making. I had to find the organization they were fund raising for and send them a complaint before I could get them to stop calling me. I now have not heard from the FOP for a couple of months. I hope they are gone forever from my phone line, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/127 "2004-10-21T14:48:16Z")
> [@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. Thanks for saving me the trouble. The arrogance in that posting nearly left me frothing at the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/128 "2004-10-21T14:55:46Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Ooo, how could I have forgotten this one? It’s my favorite incorrigible telemarketer story. I swear, this really wss the gist of the conversation, even if I haven’t remembered the words exactly: I’m willing to believe half of this if someone else will come along and believe the other half. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/129 "2004-10-21T15:10:24Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > I’m willing to believe half of this if someone else will come along and believe the other half. I’m not kidding, that’s pretty much how the conversation unfolded, as best I can remember. I could not phase this woman. I didn’t want to get totally psycho on her and say things that would overtly suggest I was an axe murderer or something; so I pulled the salad-spinner thing out of my butt and went with it. I could understand her realizing straight away I was derangedly bullshitting, but you’d think that in itself would get her off the phone. Like I said, she was unimpressed; and unless, I suppose, I simply said “No, I do not want this ever, so hang up”, she was not going to get off the phone with me. ---
**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 21, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/130 "2004-10-21T15:49:29Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > It’s the principle, kiwi, the principle. I know there’s a difference in scale (at the risk of the understatement of the century) but the principle is the same. You, sir, are the most stupidly draconian individual it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. Let’s get back to telemarketers vs spammers - you recall, the _sane_ comparison? Telemarketers want to earn enough to pay the rent, and the work is hard and tedious. Spammers want to make lots and lots of money for doing next to nothing. If you cannot see that there is a difference between trying to scratch a living and being rapaciously greedy, then you cannot be helped; just go vote Republican and don’t waste our time further. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/131 "2004-10-21T15:56:56Z")
I’d prefer to compare telemarketers with _people that do not frequently disturb or inconvenience me by telephoning me pointlessly_. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/132 "2004-10-22T00:21:38Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > You, sir, are the most stupidly draconian individual it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. What a charmed life you have lead so far. > [@](#): > > Let’s get back to telemarketers vs spammers - you recall, the _sane_ comparison? Telemarketers want to earn enough to pay the rent, and the work is hard and tedious. Spammers want to make lots and lots of money for doing next to nothing. And both earn a living by annoying people. So they can both get fucked. One earns more than the other, you say. The relevance is…? > [@](#): > > If you cannot see that there is a difference between trying to scratch a living and being rapaciously greedy, then you cannot be helped; just go vote Republican and don’t waste our time further. If you can’t see the difference between attacking my points and attacking strawmen, you cannot be helped, just go vote Republican and don’t waste our time further[sup]\*[/sup]. [sup]\*No I have no idea either. But since it seems to be non sequitur week, I’m joining in.[/sup] ---
**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 22, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/133 "2004-10-22T01:43:59Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > If you cannot see that there is a difference between trying to scratch a living and being rapaciously greedy, then you cannot be helped; just go vote Republican and don’t waste our time further. I’m embarrased by the fact that I even bothered to argue with this twit. :smack: ---
**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 22, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/134 "2004-10-22T02:37:11Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I place telemarketing above unlawful activities like theft, but below welfare. In my city in Ontario, folks on welfare were shunted into telemarketing jobs, with funding support from my hard earned tax dollars. The only good thing about it was that the call centre did not make local calls (which sucked for people in the USA to whom the calls were directed). Anyone who can piss off a telemarketer should be applauded for doing his or her part in encouraging telemarketers to seek ethical employment. Deliberately invading the privacy of one’s home is inexcusable. ---
**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 22, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/135 "2004-10-22T03:17:15Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > If you cannot see that there is a difference between trying to scratch a living and being rapaciously greedy, then you cannot be helped; just go vote Republican and don’t waste our time further. My, you are a tedious and dull little gnome, aren’t you? Let me explain what an analogy is. An analogy is when you take two things that are, in most respects, dissimilar, and highlight the ways in which they _are_ similar. A “valid analogy” isn’t when you compare two things that are similar in _all_ respects, because then you would just be comparing the thing to itself. And that would be stupid, wouldn’t it? Yes, there is a difference between trying to scratch a living and being rapaciously greedy. However, I don’t care. What I do care is that there really isn’t much difference between annoying me on the phone, and annoying me on my computer. In that respect, the comparison between spammers and telemarketers is spot-on. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/136 "2004-10-22T03:38:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Let me explain what an analogy is. An analogy is when you take two things that are, in most respects, dissimilar, and highlight the ways in which they _are_ similar. A “valid analogy” isn’t when you compare two things that are similar in _all_ respects, because then you would just be comparing the thing to itself. And that would be stupid, wouldn’t it? That is so well put. I’m going to save that somewhere and use it whenever some silly snit nitpicks the analogy instead of addressing the point, if you don’t mind, Miller? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/137 "2004-10-22T03:47:41Z")
**telemarketer** : Hi, is Mr. or Mrs. [**Hamish**] there please? **me** (_basso profundo_): This is Mrs. [**Hamish**]. **telemarketer** : …okay… I’m calling to offer you this fabulous new credit card. **me** : That’s to help spend money, right? **telemarketer** : …yes… **me** : We don’t have any money. Have a nice day. ---
**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 22, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/138 "2004-10-22T03:50:06Z")
Help yourself, **Princhester**. ---
**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 22, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/139 "2004-10-22T11:40:53Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > And both earn a living by annoying people. So they can both get fucked. > > One earns more than the other, you say. The relevance is…? Look - I don’t like being called by telemarketers any more than you or BubbaDog or anyone else. What’s pissing me off is this “They’re all scum, they keep pissing me off and they know they do so they must all be hated!” attitude that you are showing. The average telemarketer is thinking “Well, it pisses people off, but I need the money and I can’t get it any other way so I have to do it.” They quit as soon as they can, if not sooner. The average spammer is thinking “Well, it pisses people off, but maybe some of them will respond and make me money so I don’t care!” They don’t quit. They keep on doing it and doing it. You want to hate someone in telemarketing? Hate the fuckers who set up call centres. They’re the scum who employ these poor schmucks to do their dirty work for them and take the flak that the management deserve. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919/140 "2004-10-22T13:30:08Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > You want to hate someone in telemarketing? Hate the fuckers who set up call centres. They’re the scum who employ these poor schmucks to do their dirty work for them and take the flak that the management deserve. Oh, I hate them, too. But they aren’t the ones who come right into my house uninvited. That is what is so maddening about telemarketers. They ring your phone. To you it could be anyone. You answer because it might be something important, something actually relating to your life. But no. It’s some conscience challenged shmuck who has a spiel you don’t want to hear for some item you don’t want, and he/she is already _in your house!_ You say “poor shmucks” as if the jerks who man the phones were victims themselves. They choose to do that work. And they could choose not to. I’ve done boiler room work myself, but it was _answering_ phones for telethons (two or three in different parts of the country at the same time). The difference is that people were calling me and I was facilitating their voluntary donation to one or another cause. Another time I was offered a job cold calling, which included scripts and “training” in how to take advantage of people and override their objections. I declined. The former job, in my opinion, was ethical. The latter was not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-mangetout-takes-the-upper-hand-with-telemarketers/269919.md?page=8)