# Oh, joy! The telemarketers are giving us a day off, in honor or 911 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801 "2002-09-10T14:40:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/1 "2002-09-10T14:40:55Z")
What happiness! I’ll be able to observe 9/11 in my own way, without worrying about somebody calling me pushing credit cards or trying to sell insurance. Now, if I could only enjoy dinner, read a book, watch a game, or, god forbid SLEEP during the rest of the year without one of these parasites annoying me. [Story](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020910/ap_on_bi_ge/sept_11_telemarketers_7) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/2 "2002-09-10T16:08:55Z")
I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts that there will most assuredly be some telemarketing going on. There are, after all, those automated calling machines and, no doubt, some fool will forget to reprogram the piece of trash. Who knows? Maybe this will be what it takes to get telemarketing gone. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/3 "2002-09-10T17:56:48Z")
And what about the charity collecting ones? Surely they will be calling in full force on the 11th. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/4 "2002-09-10T18:04:31Z")
Will the bill collectors still call me? I miss it when they don’t call! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/5 "2002-09-10T18:07:03Z")
The day I lose it is the day they start calling me on my cell phone as well. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/6 "2002-09-10T18:15:43Z")
It is illegal in most of the world for telemarketers to call cell phones. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/7 "2002-09-10T18:18:49Z")
Heck, this is a good thing. Pretty surprising, too. The quote I heard on the radio from some telemarking guru was that it was felt folks wouldn’t be in the mood to take such calls. (Yeah, I know, as if they are _now_.) I’m just shocked they had the sensitivity to even consider it. ---
**Author:** ![Jorel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jorel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/8 "2002-09-10T18:29:39Z")
I might be being a cynic here, but I doubt this is a sensitivity issue, or anything quite that nice. I think they know they won’t make any money, so they tell the employees to take the day off without pay (or a vacation day) I might feel differently if they gave them the day off in order to perform a community service, or give blood, or something. My two cents only. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/9 "2002-09-10T18:38:23Z")
They call anybody tomorrow and they should be forced to donate blood whether they want to or not. No cookie and juice for you, mister! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/10 "2002-09-10T21:15:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*It is illegal in most of the world for telemarketers to call cell phones. \*\* It’s not illegal in Aus. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/11 "2002-09-10T21:51:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kambuckta \* > \*\*It’s not illegal in Aus. \*\* Aus isn’t most of the world. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/12 "2002-09-10T22:35:53Z")
I read something about major corporations such as Dell and Coca-Cola suspending advertising for the day too. I was sure I read it on the snopes messageboard but I can’t find the thread with the link to the news story now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/13 "2002-09-10T23:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wikkit \* > \*\*Aus isn’t most of the world. \*\* 'Tis the whole world to me … ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/14 "2002-09-10T23:43:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*It is illegal in most of the world for telemarketers to call cell phones. \*\* No. It’s illegal for them to call phones that charge the receiver for phone calls. This includes 800 numbers and many cell phones. Since it is impossible for them to tell which cell phones have which calling plans, they just don’t bother to call numbers with cell phone prefixes. This only applies to unsolicited telemarketing calls. Haj ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/15 "2002-09-10T23:47:01Z")
Clearly they are doing this because they wouldn’t make enough money that day to even pay for the electric bill. This is hardly unprecidented. Most telemarketers don’t call on Super Bowl Sunday either. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/16 "2002-09-11T00:12:26Z")
Nobody in Australia pays for incoming calls which leaves us wide open to telemarketers and junk text messages. I plan on avoiding the new phones with GPS chips, odds are you’ll be walking past maccas and get text messaged to come in for half off a Big Mac. I wish there was some law against the drunks misdialling and calling me at 3 am to come pick them up, I do like telling them I will be there in 5 minutes and rolling back over to go to sleep though. (Don’t tell me to turn it of, my family live on the other side of the dateline, my mobile is always on.) I do however pay for internet bandwidth and therefore spammers are reaching into my pocket everytime they send me mail and I do wonder how on earth that can be legal, especially the heavy HTML mails, they get the people who pay for time online as well. ---
**Author:** ![elshatan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@elshatan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elshatan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/17 "2002-09-11T00:26:15Z")
Which is well and good, til one genius says “Hey, no one ELSE is calling!” and puts everyone to work. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/18 "2002-09-11T13:42:48Z")
So I wake up this morning and check my various e-mail accounts. What do I discover? A load of junk mail, all but one transmitted today. The odd one out was sent merely seconds before midnight. Yep, Scum o’ the Earth are scum to the end. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/19 "2002-09-11T13:53:34Z")
As unpleasant and intrusive as spam and telemarketing is, I’m not surprised **Monty**. I’m at work today (as is everyone I know with a job), so I’m not sure I feel an awful lot superior to marketers and ad executives. We may intensely dislike what they do but most of them are perfectly legal. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801/20 "2002-09-11T13:54:16Z")
As unpleasant and intrusive as spam and telemarketing is, I’m not surprised **Monty**. I’m at work today (as is everyone I know with a job), so I’m not sure I feel an awful lot superior to marketers and ad executives. We may intensely dislike what they do but most of them are perfectly legal. Just my humble opinion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-joy-the-telemarketers-are-giving-us-a-day-off-in-honor-or-911/127801.md?page=2)