Stop trying to make me feel bad

The BBQ Pit
41

I found the reaction to telemarketers a bit odd too. A few people seem to be jumping on Angel because of her job.

Come on now folks.

There are insurance salesmen that are cretins, and insurance salesmen that try to help their clients.

There are used car dealers that are scammers, and used car dealers that are trying to help those that need a vehicle.

There are lawyers that are shyster ambulance chasers, and lawyers that are trying to defend/help their clients.

There are telemarketers that are obnoxious, wont take no for an answer, and become rude and obnoxious when you ask to be put on the DNC list, and then there are those that thank you for your time, hang up and you never hear from again.

From her post, it sounds like Angel is the latter. Why on earth people think it’s ok to completely abandon any sort of basic human decency and politeness, just because of someone’s job is beyond me.

Just as an FYI, I have a feature on my phone when I don’t get ANY unknown name, unknown number or out of area calls. If a person calls from a cell phone or another province/country, they are asked to hit * and their # is displayed on my call display. Alternatively, if that doesn’t work, they can say they name and when I answer I get a message that says “You have a call from Joe” (or whatever) “Do you want to take it?” It’s very similar to accepting a collect call.

Voila - no more telemarketers, and when my grandmother was dying, I could still be in close contact with family members.

Finally, Angel - hang in there. This too shall pass.

42

Grrrr…regarding one’s legal right to privacy:

  1. you have the right to be free from unwarranted government intrusion. This is provided by the U.S. constitution.

  2. you have the right to bring civil suit for damages or injunctive relief if someone snoops on your property, goes through your things, eavesdrops, etc. This is usually provided by your state’s statutory or common law, although there are some federal statutes on point.

    The “right to privacy” does not, bold, italic, underline, exclamation point, protect you from telemarketers. By owning a telephone and having a publically listed number, you are opening yourself up to anyone calling you–just as they’re open to you calling them. Until the government issues a law that prevents telemarketers from making calls, AND it passes constitutional muster, your phone is–like it or not–free game.

    You do have the right to hang up the phone at any time.

    And Angel–again, hang in there. Go see a funny movie and get away from the crap for a little while.

43

Dear Angel of the Lord,

I’m sorry about things sucking in your life right now, as I like you because you seem like a really nice person. However, I’m horrified that you make your living as a telemarketer and have the gall to complain about people being upset when you make unsolicited phone calls to their homes on their private telephones. Get a real, honest job and cease this life as a pest-for-hire. I’d also like to add that the same string of abuse that I’d unleash on telemarketers would also be unleashed on door to door salesmen - anyone who intrudes on my homelife (and won’t take no for an answer, because I only abuse when they’re being obnoxious about it) deserves to hear exactly what I think of them.

You’re better than this. Move on, and quickly.

Yours,

Cazzle

44

PLG please allow me to use an analogy to explain my feeling and note that I’m admitting that the analogy is flawed to begin with, although it will hopefully illustrate how I feel.

Imagine if, instead of being a telemarketer, Angel said she was breaking into nursing homes and sneaking money from the purses of war-widows.

I wouldn’t expect the “Hey, she needs the money.” excuse to hold up or even be offered.

Granted, my analogy is horribly flawed. Teleharrassing is legal (for the moment), theft isn’t. However, I hope it, in part, illustrates my reaction.

As for why I won’t be kind to telespammers, the answer is this:

  1. I have taken most measures possible to avoid these cretins. I’ve signed up for Junkbusters, I’m on every “do not call” list available. I’m paying to have an unlisted number. I’m paying out money to have a caller-ID. I have asked for and signed every single privacy demand that I can get my credit card/mortgage company, etc to send. I’ve made every reasonable effort to minimize the amount of calls I get. (I’m loath to spend yet MORE money for the service that Alice talked about: I’m already spending too much money, and besides, it inconvieniences the callers I’m paying for the service to hear from.) Despite that, I’m still getting these calls (I’m apparently in a good telemarketer demographic). If all that doesn’t stop 'em, a “Put me on your “Do Not Call” list and don’t call again” isn’t going to either.

  2. Therefore, I fight back as best I can. For every bit of misery I can inflict on these people, the chances of them quitting goes up a fraction of a percent. Every time one quits, the company incurs the expense (however small) of hiring and training new people (and it is an expense). For whatever miniscule amount, I’m costing them money. I I harbor no delusions that I’m single-handedly going to bring these companies down, but as the old lady who pissed in the ocean said “Every little bit helps”*

I’m vaguely uncomfortable about being mean to the front-line people: I run an inbound call-center, so I know how hard phone-work is, but at the same time, these people, by taking the job they’ve taken have made a decision that their comfort is more important than my privacy and again, some meanness might help resolve the issue.

I feel sorry for Angel for her personal issues, and, as I said, I like her as a poster, but the fact that I like her doesn’t change my attitude about what she does for a living.

Fenris

*What the hell does this mean? I’ve heard it for years.

45

I’m with Fenris on telemarketing-also, I’ll expand on it later, I’ve gotta go do the dishes.

However, I’ll also note-the “unavailable” doesn’t mean it’s a telemarketer. Whenever someone called from my school-a professor, or an office, it was unavailable-and from some pay phones as well.

46

Cazzle, AOL is not making a living! Christ, she’s working for two months making some money. I don’t know her, but I think she is a student. When you were a student didn’t you do jobs that weren’t “real jobs”?

You’re the reason they keep calling me! You’re also probably the reason they sent a subscription to me for “Free” (Which I told them on no uncertain terms that I don’t want) but stuck me with a bill every month for the past three months! (Goddamn motherfuckers.)
DIE MOTHREFUCKER!!! DIEE!!!**

:wink:
:wink:
**In case the “;)” isn’t enough to clue you in, I do not wish death or any bodily injury on BlinkingDuck, his family or friends. (Though I do wish death on whoever it is that told the Dailey Bulletin and LA Times to call me every fucking week.)

47

Fenris has a valid point. Let me illustrate:

I don’t know how many Do Not Call list I’m currently on. However in addition to these I have Caller ID at $7.95 per month along with Privacy Manager at $5.95 last I checked, the feature Alice mentioned. I’m also unlisted (not sure if there’s a charge for that) Yet I still get 4-5 calls per month (admittedly small but I’ve already shelled out $13 or so right). Now I can go and get the Tele-Zapper (what’s that one $19.95?) to maybe get rid of those remaining calls.

But you know what? Why in the world should I have to do that to be free from intrusions in my own home? Now think about that for a second, I’m paying approximately $150.00 per year to avoid people who shouldn’t be contacting me anyway. How is that fair to me when I already pay for unlisted phone service? I can’t make a case for it being direct theft, but telemarkers are costing me money, just to avoid them. I’m not rude to telemarketers but now that I look at the cost, I can see a case for the hostility.

Incidentally, this is not an attack on Angel I’m just expressing Fenris’ point without the vehemenace against telemakerters in general.

48

Because you invite intrusions into your own home by having a phone. You just want them to be from people you preapprove, and only those people. People who ring your phone are no more intruding in your home than people who knock on your door. If you don’t want to talk to them, don’t flipping pick up the phone. Screen your calls. Tell everyone you know – hey! Guess what! I’m screening my calls!

You guys want to be able to control who gets to dial your phone number, but you can’t, any more than you can control who knocks on your door. One of the risks you run by having a means by which people can reach out and touch you is that . . . people will reach out and touch you.

I’m just not getting the vitriol here. Sure a deluge of telemarketers is annoying. But they have the right to make your phone ring, just as you have the right to let it ring. If you choose to screen your calls by any number of expensive or not-so-expensive devices, up to and including your own personal secretary, that’s fine, but that’s your choice. It isn’t the fault of the person who tried to call you, anymore than if you decide to drive to work every day to avoid being spoken to by pesky strangers on the street, those strangers “made” you buy a car.

Your right to privacy in your home does not include the right to only hear from the select group of choice individuals you choose to hear from. That’s not how the phone works, it’s not how the computer works, shoot, it’s not how your flipping front door works. You do not get to decide who tries to contact you or not. Anybody who wants to try to talk to you can do so – try, that is. And you can let them, or you can hang up on them, or you can tell them to fuck off – though I admit I think the latter shows a lack a class. You guys make it sound like you have some right to think that your universe is so rarified that only the pre-screened and preapproved will ever be allowed in it. Seriously – is that how the rest of your life works? Because mine sure as hell doesn’t.

49

Angel, you have my sympathy (a very rare thing indeed!)–not just for the Telemarketing, but also for the other BS you’ve had to put up with.
Here you go.
About the others, your ex probably wants you back, which is why he’s doing this whole passive-aggressive “look how low I’ve sunk” shit. fuhgeddaboudit.
Your ex-friend? You’ve made up with the person you initially offended. Any grudges held against you by other parties are not your fault. Again, fuhgeddaboudit.
The rest of the world? Fuck 'em. A beer, some Haagen Dasz (sp?), a bubble bath with lots of candles…relax and unwind. Sounds like you deserve it.

50

Angel of the Lord, I’ll chime in with sympathy as well.

I’m working as a market researcher, presently doing surveys for a Very Large Computer Company asking businesses about their satisfaction with products they obtained from this company. You would be surprised at the number of people who feel it’s necessary to be rude just because I want to ask if they have any problems with the equipment. I understand they may be busy; I am willing to call back at a more convenient time, and I’m required to stay with the script because in market research the questions must be read verbatim to assure all interviews are the same and the data collected is valid.

Why some of these people must insult me and waste my time by putting me on hold forever is beyond me. Maybe I just called after they were chewed out by their boss; maybe their SO left them; whatever the reason, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE. So don’t vent on me, I treat you with extra politeness and civility.

As far as the ex-boyfriend, is there any way to avoid him? Sounds like the best way to solve that one. Same with the former friend- Just tell them to get over it and get out of your face.

Also, I know what it’s like to be alone. It took me 10 years to find the right person, and I’m much happier now- and I had no clue where to start either. Just be yourself- you haven’t met the right person yet, but you’ll know when you do. I hope the best for you.

I’m considering starting a telemarketer support group. It’s seldom anyone’s first choice, but those who have to do it need to know the difference between good and bad telemarketing. Email me if you wish to talk- this goes for anyone. (Anti-TM spam will be ignored.)

51

I have sympathy for Angel, whom I like.

That being said, I’m tired of telemarketers. I say loudly, “Please put me on your do not call list!”

The problem is-I have to cut them off to say so, as they will not allow me a word in edge wise.

Anymore, they NEVER say who is calling-I’ve been called to the phone by my family thinking it was something important-only for there to be a telemarketer.

The whole “courtesy call” system is bullshit.

For a while we weren’t getting any. Now we are.

The last time I really got pissed at someone was the day my cat Fluffy was having surgery-about two years ago (she died about six months after of old age), and I was frantically waiting for a call from the vets. The phone rang, my mother and I ran to it-only for it to be a telemarketor.

I know they didn’t know…but still, it pissed me off.

52

To my knowledge, bitching at a telemarketer from Company A and throwing insults out at them in order to get them to never call back again doesn’t work, because the next time they call, it will most likely be a completely different employee.

As for the whole “invasion of privacy” issue, being pissed because someone you don’t want to call you calls you is like being pissed at a national television network for interrupting your favorite television show with commercials. In the past week, I’ve gotten about ten wrong number phone calls, and I believe only two of them were telemarketers. I’m curious for all you violent types out there, if someone calls for Stephanie, do you bitch them out as well? Because they’re wasting your time just as much as any telemarketer does.

53

Hmm. Here in Indiana, they recently implemented a state-wide DNC list that anyone can sign up for (via 800# or on the web). (At least I assume it’s only statewide, from the stories I am hearing in this thread.) The list goes out to every telemarketing business, including those doing fund-raising for charities, and those businesses are, theoretically, banned from calling anyone on the lists.
I signed up last summer/fall, and haven’t had any calls since then. I think there has been talk that some businesses will find loopholes, but so far, so good.
I dunno…I guess I have a high tolerance level for stuff like this, because it never got under my skin that much even when I did receive calls.
Now, my kids hammering in their bedrooms at 7 in the morning because they decided to build a new bed–THAT ticks me off. :slight_smile:
~k

54

I totally understand that people don’t like telemarketers calling my house…I don’t like being called, personally. It’s a crap job I’m doing, and it’s kind of crappy of me to do it.

I still don’t think it justifies personal insults based upon my character. Saying “put me on your do-not-call list” works about as well as insulting me; you get put on the list. You don’t get called by the company again…I just don’t understand why people have to be mean. You don’t have to be all lovey-dovey, love-the-telemarketer, peacey-dude to the telemarketer. All you have to do is treat them like a human being instead of like a broken tool that doesn’t care if you swear at it. In short: don’t be a meanie-head jackass.

Fenris, the fact that you like me as a poster means a lot, 'cause I’ve always admired your posts. Your implication that I would work for a company that scams old ladies, however, bristles me. Basically, it makes me think that you believe that I either don’t have the intelligence to recognize something as a scam or don’t have the moral fiber to refuse to do something that I know is a scam. Based on your later comments, I don’t think that’s how you meant it, but the nuances remain.

To clear things up–I work for a company that contracts itself out to “real” companies. Right now, I’m phoning for Citibank offering something called credit protection–this is what 95% of the people working the phones do, for one bank or another. The company only calls Citibank customers. I would get this product (well, I’d take the freebies and cancel, at the very least). I don’t intice people into debt. Our calls are monitored to make sure that we don’t “slam” the customer; we have to record every sale, and there’s a verifier who makes sure that we didn’t slam the person who bought it. So, basically…I don’t scam people. I annoy them, but I don’t scam.

Basically…to everyone except James (who apparently has some issues dealing with human relations and the like; way to insult someone you don’t even know over circumstances you are ignorant of)…thanks. Whether you like telemarketers or not.

55

It sounds like you’ve got a legitimate business relationship with the people you call (since you only call Citibank customers on behalf of Citibank.) I still don’t like what you do, but you’re making semi-solicited calls that are easily stopped (one call to the credit card company usually stops 'em forever) and that’s not quite the same thing as unsolicited calls.

And I’ve got to admit Angel that you just made me chuckle with the line

**

**

Anyway, I apologize for the implication that you in particular would work for LittleOldLadyScamCo, but I’ll toss in the caveat that many (most?) companies making unsolicited calls are considerably more shady that what you’re talking about.

And finally, I suspect that if you’re working for Citibank, they DO honor “no-call” lists, and such. Look back on page one and look at the measures I’ve taken to avoid getting telemarketed: any company that’ll ignore all that to get to me is a) unlikely to actually put me on a “no-call” list, and b) therefore most likely deserving of what I’ll try to do to 'em.

By the way, congrats! Your OP has started at least 2 spin-off Pit threads and gotten to page 2 in less than 24 hours! You’re a success! :slight_smile:

Fenris, who’s still gonna be mean to telespammers

56

Uggh! Not The Dreaded Citibank Credit Protection.

How many times and in how many ways do I have to tell Citibank I am not interested in Credit Protection? They send something in every bill about it. The send at least two seperate mailings about it a month. They call again and again every time they change on of the freebies.

If it wasn’t for the great interest rate I got on my transfers I would drop Citibank. I still will when I get my balance paid off. They will lose a good customer because they insist on trying to strong arm me into credit protection.

(Still nothing against you Angel. I don’t blame you for taking the job. If I am rude when you call it is only because I am so tired of being bothered. And I never personally insult anyone. I just hate Citibank and their vile credit protection. I dream of the day that they call me about credit protecion and I can ask to be transfered to a supervisor to cancel my card.)

57

This is such a bullshit analogy. It’s obvious bullshit, too. Think about it, and you’ll understand why. Here are two big whacks with the clue stick:

  1. The commercials are the reason you’re able to receive the television program in the first place. It’s the revenue from ad sales that makes TV possible. Telemarketing, OTOH, in no way makes my phone possible. Au contraire, it’s the existence of telephone networks that makes telemarketing possible.

  2. I have never once in my life been sitting quietly when suddenly the television has turned on of its own accord and began broadcasting a commercial. Nor can a commercial simply come on at a time when it is not scheduled by the network or station traffic department.

This, on the other hand, isn’t bullshit. It’s horseshit. Someone who calls a wrong number did so accidentally or through inattention. No big deal. (Although if they do it 3-4 times in a row it gets annoying.*) They didn’t say, “Hey, I think I’ll call this Phil guy and ask for Stephanie.” The telemarketer called on purpose. They intended to call you and goad you into buying something. And they probably did the same to everyone in your area code and exchange. It wasn’t an accident–it was a purposeful intrusion on your time.

*My office gets probably 6-7 telemarketing calls a week. If I ever see any line but the main one ring, I know it’s a telemarketer or wrong number, because we don’t publish our backdoor numbers or give them out. We also get about 20-30 wrong number calls a week for a local doctor’s office, because his number is xxx-xxx-0040 and ours is xxx-xxx-0400.

58

::smiling sweetly:: Um, pldennison???

::batting eyelashes::

I’ve been trying to call you but my phone doesn’t have an “x” option. We’ve got these time shares that I just know you’d be interested in…

:smiley:

59

Jodi, I didn’t forget you, I’ll have an answer for you in the other thread, since my post had nothing really to do with Angel.

60

Something was brought up, like in pldennison’s post which reminded me of some politicians talking where they would require telemarketing companies to subsidize people’s phone bills so that people do get some benefit, much like television commercial support television…

quote by pepperlandgirl:

Though I do wish death on whoever it is that told the Dailey Bulletin and LA Times to call me every fucking week.)

LA Times? Oh shit! It really is a small world! Of course, we had many major newspapers including the LA Times.