Of course not! But we’re talking about telemarketing, here. What does “honest work” have to do with it?
But it is their choice (limited as their choices may be) to be in an incredibly annoying line of work. Sorry, they get little sympathy from me. Not no sympathy, but very little.
Yeah, sorry about that. I was having kind of a bad day.
In my youth, I was desperate for a job and answered an ad looking for people to deliver coupon books.
It didnt sound too bad… driving around all day with the AC and the radio on, handing off coupon books to folks who had already ordered them. Sure, we were instructed to lie to the customer to get them to let us use their telephone (Ma’am I need to ‘activate your coupon book’ was the excuse but actually I was supposed to be calling to get my next delivery) but this was in the days before everyone and their dog had a cell phone so it was at least slightly understandable. (Although still wrong)
I showed up for my first day and was walked into a room with 8 desks with telephones.
The manager said, “Hey, we don’t have any orders to be delivered right now, so if you wouldn’t mind making some calls to sell some maybe we’ll have some runs for you later this afternoon.” (DANGER! Will Robinson! DANGER!)
With no training I was given a phone, a list of numbers, and a script to read off if some poor schmuck answered.
I sat down.
I looked at my list.
I looked at the clock. It was 8:45am.
I looked back down at my list.
Sanity won out over economics. I picked up the list, walked to the manager sitting at his desk at the front of the room, handed it to him, and said:
“It’s early. I still have time to go find a real job.”
And with that, I beat feet the hell outta there! Best decision I ever made.
I would probably die laughing if someone came back with something like that. The most confusing (and probably worst) that I’ve so far gotten is:
Her: I need to talk to the President, sweetie.
Me: Yeah, he’s not here right now. How can I help you, sweetie?
Her: Don’t call me sweetie, miss.
Here I was thinking she and I were close like that. 
Well, she is a vice president.
When telemarketers actually manage to catch me answering the phone, this is usually my response to them:
“You are attempting to use my time to make you money. My time is not free. I make $80,000 per year. For you, I will only charge $40 per hour for my time. I’ll accept PayPal or a cashier’s check. Once I’ve received payment in advance, call me back.”
Oddly, no takers so far.
I’m just glad she didn’t say, “Hey! I’m not just a vice president…I’m a Client…!” :eek:
It is their choice not to take the job.
Why does this ‘industry’ demand that you recite a script?
And why are the rules of the telemarketers so important? Why did I regularly get called at home? Why have various Governments had to set up arrangements so these pests won’t call you?
Why do I have to answer the phone to these people?
Why should I do anything to make a telemarketer grateful?
When I was waiting to hear if my father’s serious medical operation had gone successfully, I was curt with a telemarketer who rang (and of course launched into a script). There certainly was a reason to do that.
Many centers are computerized. If the call is ended before the telemarketer hangs up, it’s automatically bounced back to the dialer. (Which is why the magic words “remove me from your calling list” are so important.) Some centers actually instruct the telemarketers to call back manually if the call is “disconnected.”
Oh, so they know they’re annoying people?
And they just want the money.
Sounds like an ethical problem to me.
You try running a business where these “minor annoyences”" actually mean a loss of productivity. (I.e. because time is spent answering these calls as opposed to working.)
As someone else said: how does the phrase “honest work” apply here? They produce nothing. They sit in an office mindlessly following a script doing something they understand is an intrusive nuisence. The companies they work for are often some of the dodgiest around. They use tactics a used car dealer would be ashamed of.
Interesting claim. I wonder if you have any actual evidence to back that up. Or are you just pulling this statisitc out of you hat to make us feel bad for the poor, poor telemarketers?
And to head off some of the standard replies: Yes, I understand that the truly obnoxious people are the managers and directors who set up this system; the ones making the calls are merely pawns. On the other hand, I don’t have much sympathy for the people who let themselves be pawns of these obnoxious leaches.
< Stewie Griffin >
Ask my about my sexy party!
< SG >
Poor excuse for fucking her daughter, man. :mad: 
I didn’t see any bad behavior. I saw a snarky comment in response to unbelievably rude and obnoxious behavior (even by telemarketing standards). And letting rude people know they are being rude is doing a favor to all of us. Including the person it’s directed at.
And I note you didn’t address the fact that often it is NOT honest work.
Was she good, at least?
This would be just another thread about telemarketing except for the egregious and offensive sexism. “Let me speak to the man in charge”!!!
There’s no way I could let something like that go. I’m hopping mad just thinking about it!
Hey, what else is going to be in charge, a dog?
That still doesn’t justify being rude.
They’re sales-people. It’s little different than selling other products-- they’re just doing it over the phone.
Some yes, some no. Not all companies who use telemarketing for sales are crooked. It’s unfair to color them all this way.
I was speaking in general, not directed any specific poster.
Miss Manners disagrees with you, but I’m sure it’s satisfying. Returning rudeness with rudeness simply lowers you to the level of the offender.
If their business practices are dishonest, they’ll be shut down by the appropriate authorities. If they are selling a product within legal standards, it is honest work.
Anymore, I get VERY short with telemarketers, because we’re on the state (or county, I forget which one) DNC list, and lately, we’ve had a few creep up. Next time, I’m going to point that out. Stupid fuckers.
Due to the unusual structure of our company, the only people who have a legitimate need to speak with our president or chairman already know what their names are. As a result, anyone who asks to speak to the president has pretty much outed himself as a telemarketer. We take turns now pretending to be the boss and giving a new BS story about why we have no interest in their products.