Well, I used to just politely hang up on them but now i’ve seen the light and realize all the fun I’ve been missing out on. Is there any way to get off the Do Not Call list? 
Did nobody ever tell you the mouth was not for shitting through?
Go away and come back only when you can a) form a valid analogy and b) understand what a valid analogy is.
Man, I think you have the “self-righteous-asshole” label pegged. Looks like we can add Junior-mod to your title list.
Another former telemarketer here, and I’ve got to side with BubbaDog. Yes, I absolutely preferred it [read: almost passed out with gratitude] when the people I called were kind to me, or just hung up. I absolutely hated to be screamed at… but, by having that job, I did ask for exactly that. I was calling people who, in many cases, had stated over and over that they didn’t wish to be contacted. The rule about the Do Not Call list (the unofficial one at that time) was that they had to ask to be taken off in those exact words: “Add me to your do not call list.” No one else could do it for them, either – whoever’s name was on the phone listing had to make the request. If they failed to meet those requirements, they were simply cycled through to hit again later.
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]. After two months of the sheer fucking hell of working in a dirty cubicle with asshole supervisors, I finally quit. When I say “hell”, I mean supervisors who would force everyone to stand up and work until someone pulled in a “catch”. We all stood for two hours one night, trying to lean over and type on our keyboards. While we were on the phone, the supes were paid to constantly walk behind us, yelling [and I truly mean yelling] “I guess nobody wants to move to Tier II. I guess no one wants a raise here. Oh, look – not a single catch in two hours. I guess I know a group of people who don’t need jobs.” Another nice tidbit – we were instructed to not “ask” for donations. We were to “kindly demand them.” Our script read something like this:
“Hello, Missus Pissed Off Lady, my name is Chatelaine and I’m calling for the Fraternal Order of Police. They are currently collecting donations for ___________ [spring ball, DARE, K-9 training]. They offer three levels of donations: Gold at $10, Plantium at $20 or Diamond at $50. I know you want to contribute to this Very Important [ :rolleyes: ] Cause. Which one shall I put you down for?”
One evening, I had a very nice older lady on the phone, who patiently and kindly explained to me that she would have loved to donate, but her Social Security was stretched to the limits. I wished her a good day and moved on, only to find my supervisor standing next me. He proceeded to literally shout that I could have “pumped at least $10.00 out of her” and if I [you’ll love this] “wasn’t prepared for a career in the telecommunications field”, then I needed to leave.
I never went back. Fuck that – I’m the “I’d rather die than take charity/go on welfare/ask for help” type person, but I’ll beg on street corners before doing that fucking degrading shit again.
A bit of poetic justice did happen to that site, though – they fired someone for not pushing on “catches” hard enough. The employee came back in the next day during lunch with a few enormous boxes of baby powder and proceeded to empty it into and all over the big phone main that directed all of the calling. Had 'em out of commission for two weeks. Terrible, I know, but I laughed for days.
I love doing phone surveys. Assuming I’m not running out the door, I’ll always do them.
Totally different from telemarketing - I’ve never been asked to buy anything, donate to anything or spend any $$ at all. Further, I get to rant about my opinion, which I dig. 
Hey, I’ve done those! Again, because I want to discourage unsolicited calls, I give bizarre answers whenever possible.
Like…
PS: What did you have for dinner last night?
L: Don’t you mean, “who”?
I hate intrusive advertising/solicitation and thus hate telemarketing with a passion. However, I still think it’s wrong to abuse the people making the calls, simply because it’s such a shitty job. You’re not making a difference in the viability and profitability of telemarketing by abusing them, you’re making an incredibly shitty job marginally shittier. As long as there are poor people and students, there will be an endless short-term labor pool for telemarketers. Expecting the poorest and most financially desperate people in our society to collectively agree to not take an available job is unrealistic.
The fact that telemarketers annoy people is no excuse to abuse them. Lots of jobs are annoying – I personally find the profilific spread of Walmarts rather irritating. Should I expect everyone everywhere to refuse to work in their stores? Am I justified in freely abusing them if they don’t?
If you want to hamper telemarketing, encourage the caller to waste as much time as possible to reduce profitability, or harrass the company whose products/services are being pushed, or agitate for legislation to outlaw it. Don’t take your anger out on the human shields being paid minimum wage.
I don’t see my brand of deterrance so much as abuse as a potentially mind-expanding experience for all concerned. I get to cultivate some admittedly deranged aspects of my personality; they get a little walk on the wild side. I’ll bet I’ve given some of those folks stories they’ll be telling their grandkids, if I was in a particularly creative mindset. How can that be bad?
I’m not repudiating your main point at all here – I totally agree that the ire would serve better if aimed at the head of the corporations using this method.
However, I do think the picture of telemarketers as financially desperate and absolutely hopeless is a little skewed. I’ve worked for one, applied at dozens, and known tons of friends who have done it. I’ve never seen anyone over 30 in any of the organizations I’ve visited/worked for/interviewed with. The ones I’ve been to [and note, of course I haven’t been to all] have been made up entirely by college students/high school students/general slackers who want a sit-down job.
Also, I’ve never seen a telemarketing agency offer less than $9/hr. I’m sure there are those that do, but that’s why most people take the job to begin with – it pays better than Wal-Mart/flipping burgers/heavy labor and you *are *sitting down all day.
Then you get it, and realize that pushing boulders uphill for 200 hours a week in the ninth ring of Hell with Ifrit on your ass would be preferable.
I thought your example was pretty funny. I don’t know if I’d call it abuse – although you’re probably freaking them out, you’re also livening up an otherwise dull day. To me, that’s OK.
In summary: “freak out” good, “scream at” bad.
Some of you must have problems getting through the day if telemarketers cause you this much stress. Yes they are annoying but jeez take a deep breath and chill out a bit.
I bet some of you drive with one hand on the horn and the other flipping the finger and woe betide the waitress that fucks up your order.
I sincerly apologise for all those heart attacks and mental breakdowns I caused during the month I was an evil telemarketer.
Yes it is a terribly easy job when you get to talk to so many calm people everyday.
Gee, thanks. After leaving the tender arms of an exfiancee who decided to beat me for killing his son after I got out of the hospital from a lovely case of septicemia from the fetus dying inside me and his refusing to think I might need a doctor, the only job I could get at the time and place was telemarketing.
Think before inserting a foot into your mouth. Many people take whatever job they have to in order to survive.
schmuck.
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:
TM: Hello, may I please speak to Mr. Loopy?
L: 'Fraid not. Loopy’s dead.
TM: Pardon me?
L: Dead. History. It was terrible. The salad spinner got completely out of control, and a high-speed baby carrot got him right in the aorta. At least he didn’t suffer.
TM: Oh, I’m terribly sorry.
L: Well, I appreciate that.
TM: If you don’t mind my asking, could I speak to Mrs. Loopy, then?
L: Can you…? Uh, no, she’s dead too.
TM: Did you say she’s deceased also?
L: You’d be amazed at what an unpitted olive can do to the cranium when it exceeds the speed of sound.
TM: Oh, well, I…
L: Brains. Everywhere. And olives, all mixed in. Not the salad we had in mind, if you’ll excuse the pun.
TM: Well, may I ask who you are?
L: Me?
TM: Yes. Are you the owner of the house?
L: Are you kidding?
TM: Excuse me?
L: I just lost two dear friends to high-velocity vegetables…
TM: So you’re not the owner?
L: NO, I’m not the owner, I’m just here to see if any salad is left.
TM: Do you live in the area?
L: What?
TM: Do you live in the area and make long-distance phone calls within New England?
L: I live in a box. I have no home. I’m here because my dear friends would have wanted me to use their phone.
TM: Well, with our service, you don’t need to own a phone to save on long-distance calls. It’s an 800 number you can dial even from a pay phone.
L: Pay phones frighten me.
TM: They…what?
L: That’s how they listen.
TM: No, no one listens, sir, it’s a closed connection.
L: They hear everything we say.
TM: Well, I work for a phone company, and I can assure you no one is listening to your calls.
L: Look, this has been swell, but I gotta eat some salad.
TM: All right sir, but can we send you some information to your home about how you can save on long distance calls using our service?
L: I live in a box.
TM: Do you have a P.O. Box?
L: Too small.
TM: Excuse me?
L: I can’t fit.
TM: Sir, do you have a mail box where you receive mail?
L: No.
TM: Well, thank you for speaking with us, and remember, if you would like to sign up for our service, just dial 1-800-555-3825, and a customer service representative can help you immediately.
L: I’m hungry.
TM: I see. You have a wonderful day, sir.
L: Mmm.
I’m back. I can do both (a) and (b). In fact, I’ve been able to do both these things for quite some time.
Now am I entitled to assume that (a) since you have so far been unable to explain why my analogy is not valid that (b) you accept it is valid or are unable to understand what a valid analogy is?
Let me give you a clue. If you are fighting for the proposition that A is ethical, and I point out that in every relevant factor (leaving quantum aside but considering quality only, for the moment) A is analogous to B, and if B is clearly not ethical, then A probably is not ethical either. B may be much worse than A, but that is only a matter of scale, not principle. And there is nothing wrong with my analogy, unless what we were discussing is how bad A is (relatively) which we were not.
There endeth the lesson. I don’t expect you to understand, but for what it is worth…
You are strawman-ing something chronic. It’s not that they cause me much stress, heart attack etc. What gives me stress is people in this thread saying that (a) if someone will pay you to do something it’s OK to do it (think about that one for a while, maybe say “Nurembourg” to yourself if you like) and (b) you should be polite to someone who is being deliberately rude to you.
No, they ARE mother…s.
I also have had NO illegal calls since the week after I got on the Do Not Call list. The first week, I asked for their full names “so I can sue you”. For the legal ones, I tell them I do not do business with telephoned pleas.
An acquaintance handled his with a squeeze toy from Spencer that made the sounds of lovers in the final throes. The caller would ask for “Joe” and Joe would say, “hold on, he’s coming” and play it.
But if you tell them to put you on THEIR do not call list, they have to.
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.
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.
And oneday I’m going to hunt down the bloke that fills my letter box with junk mail and mow him down. Who asked him I wanted junk mail??? The damn cheek! The fact that he is a little old man supplementing his pension is no defence. Instead of doing what I usually do (smile sweetly at him, then throw the crap in the bin) I will shout obscenities at him. That will teach him and the evil empire he works for.
Of course I have learned that being rude to people is just that…rude.
Technically, yes. However, as I stated somewhere upthread, that can be a bunch of bullshit. With the FPO, you had to say “Put me on your do not call list.” Not “Don’t call me.” Not “I don’t want any more calls.” Not “Can you guys please quit calling?” Not “I’ve told you guys not to call here anymore.” Not “The FPO can go fuck itself backwards on a moving sidewalk.” And it had to be the person whose name appeared on the phone listing – not a friend, not a spouse, not a child, not a sibling, not the person’s father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate. I also know of at least two places who require both of those conditions, plus you have to be sent to a verifier so that person can ask you if you’re really, truly sure you want to be removed. Wait time to get connected to a verifier is usually five minutes or so.
So yeah, even though they are technically required to do so, it’s not always as easy as it sounds.
Sorry, doesn’t work.
See, when you went up to that fast food counter, you went there of your own free will, with the intention of purchasing a product ( some substance vaguely resembling food ) and when you answered “no” to their offer to sell you additional foodlike substances, they simply rang your order and said something like “thankyouhaveaniceday”.
The fast food counter person did not call you at home while you were doing something important and ask you if you would like to purchase a vaguely foodlike substance. They did not use a resource that you are paying for, for your own personal uses (telephone line) to advertise their fries and drink. They did not persist in extolling the virtues of fries and a drink with your foodlike substance after you said you didn’t want these items. They did not ask the damnable question “Why aren’t you interested?” in the fries and drink.
See the difference?