# Telemarketer haters should suck it up **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334 "2005-12-13T00:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/61 "2005-12-13T14:39:28Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > I think I could get some dopers to pay me to call your house in the middle of the night. Post your phone number or you are denying me gainful employment. 1. Is this the only job you can do? Please provide proof. 2. Is the only time you can work in the middle of the night? Please provide proof. 3. My number is in the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/62 "2005-12-13T14:41:05Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > If something that simple would ruin my day it would seem to me that I have bigger issues than simply dealing with telemarketers. > > Get over it, grow up – life ain’t perfect. This is the part that always cracks me right the hell up. Well, hell, I dislike something, which automatically means it’s so horrifying that it ruins my whole day each and every time. Er, no. It’s just an annoyance. Like a gnat buzzing in your face on a humid summer day. But you slap the everloving HELL out of that gnat, don’t you? Even if you forget about it five minutes later, because you hurt/annoyed it and it’s gone. I feel the same way about telemarketers, except for one thing. Telemarketers are at least in theory human beings, who ought to goddamn well know better. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/63 "2005-12-13T14:45:02Z")
Excellent post, **duffer**. And **gazpacho** , I’ll chip in! It’s admirable, your willingness to take on a second job to improve your standard of living. What a brave offer, **Renob**. I’m sure it’ll be no trouble at all to find someone named “Renob” in the phone book for… what city was that again? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/64 "2005-12-13T14:50:27Z")
Renob is just a hater denying me gainful employment simply because he does not want to be inconvenienced. What a spoiled child. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/65 "2005-12-13T14:51:11Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > 1. My number is in the phone book. Yellow pages? Do we look under “Clueless Apologist” or “Misguided Moron”? I always enjoy these telemarketer threads. Somebody always wanders in and thinks that the communication system we pay for should be available to any fuckwit who lacks even the common sense to choose public assistance over preying on the disabled. Renob, you can’t have my number. I try to limit my exposure to assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/66 "2005-12-13T14:56:36Z")
Telemarketers are trained to be persuasive, which in my experience just makes them come across as rude and aggressive. I can’t honestly say I’ve come across a worse crowd than those eejits who chase you on the street to collect money for charities here in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/67 "2005-12-13T14:56:58Z")
OP: Your position is ridiculous. We all don’t work standard business hours. A reasonable time to call you may be totally unacceptable to me. If the phone rings, I jump up, thinking it must be an emergency since friends and family are familiar with my routine. To be awakened by a caller that wants to sell me something is frustrating. To be told that I should politely say, “no thank you” really pisses me off. Because it’s convenient for you to handle your telephone in your way doesn’t make it so for anyone else. Everyone doesn’t have caller ID or a cell phone - everyone doesn’t have a staff to answer business calls. Everyone does have the right to peace in their homes. Since your support of marketing in any form seems to know no bounds, please post your address so that I can send it to my JW and Morman friends. I might know some magazine salespeople - you know the kids working their way thru college who need your help and some Amway folks too. How about MaryKaye and Avon? Tupperware? Please post your email address so that I can send it to the 50 or so spammers that send me ridiculous offers EVERY DAY. I’ll add my voice to the many requesting your phone number so that we can refer “our” telemarketers to you. I’m not sure what -----\> :wally means, but I’m using it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/68 "2005-12-13T14:57:47Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > What a brave offer, **Renob**. I’m sure it’ll be no trouble at all to find someone named “Renob” in the phone book for… what city was that again? DC. There are people with much stranger names here. **Zeriel** , I agree that telemarketers are annoying. However, it seems that some people here have an irrational hatred of them. From what has been written and the level of rage they inspire it certainly does seem that telemarketers ruin the day of some people. I think the situation is analogous to the homeless here in DC. Every day walking to work, to the 7-11, or wherever, I encounter a variety of beggars asking for change. It’s certainly annoying and I don’t like it. Oh, well. I don’t curse at them (although some curse at me), I’m polite to them when I refuse to give them any change, I go on my way, and I don’t let the unwanted encounter ruin my day. People who have so much hatred for telemarketers could do something similar. It will lower their blood pressure, at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/69 "2005-12-13T15:01:10Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > 1. My number is in the phone book. And that’s in the DC area? What is your full name? ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/70 "2005-12-13T15:03:34Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Yellow pages? > > Do we look under “Clueless Apologist” or “Misguided Moron”? You’re a clever one! I’m not sure the Yellow Pages has those categories listed, however. > [@](#): > > Renob, you can’t have my number. Didn’t ask for it. > [@](#): > > I try to limit my exposure to assholes. Oh, you were trying to make a joke. The previous sentence was a set-up for this witty punch line. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/71 "2005-12-13T15:07:18Z")
> [@](#): > > by **Martin Hyde** > Well, if someone comes to your front door to sell you something, you don’t scream obscenities at them, act rudely, blow a bullhorn at them, or like behavior. The appropriate action is to say “Not interested, have a good day” shut the door, and move on. My phone is for my personal use. I do not pay for anyone who isn’t calling me to use it. People who intentionally call it get no respect. If peopel came to my door repeatedly, all day, I’d be quite angry about it. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/72 "2005-12-13T15:09:03Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > Obviously if they are in business they are offering something to someone that buys it. Telemarketing makes money. That means someone, somewhere, is buying what they are selling. Someone somewhere is buying rock cocaine right now. Drug dealers are in business. Drug dealers make money. It’s all good. Wanna buy a flat screen TV? Still in the box! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/73 "2005-12-13T15:09:13Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > I think the situation is analogous to the homeless here in DC. Every day walking to work, to the 7-11, or wherever, I encounter a variety of beggars asking for change. Do they knock on your door? So, are you listed in the white pages under “renob”? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/74 "2005-12-13T15:11:46Z")
Forgot to add: Moreover, people who come to my door are a wee bit different. They’re usually local, doing fundraising, and if you say “no,” they don’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/75 "2005-12-13T15:14:26Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Someone somewhere is buying rock cocaine right now. Drug dealers are in business. Drug dealers make money. It’s all good. I’m in favor of the legalization of all drugs, so if you’re trying to make some sort of argument here about hypocrisy or double standards, that won’t work on me. > [@](#): > > Wanna buy a flat screen TV? Still in the box! If it’s stolen, no. If not, let’s talk. Stealing is taking the property of someone else. Calling someone on the phone is not taking anyone’s property. **tdn** , no, the beggars don’t knock on my door, but they do approach me with an unwanted solicitation, just like a telemarketer. And they are usually more offensive than a telemarketer since they usually smell, are drunk, or start spouting some sort of insane gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/76 "2005-12-13T15:17:12Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So, are you listed in the white pages under “renob”? Nope, he’s not, according to the online searches I just ran. Brave, brave **Renob** – or whoever you are. Maybe I should have searched using :wally ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/77 "2005-12-13T15:22:06Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > **tdn** , no, the beggars don’t knock on my door, but they do approach me with an unwanted solicitation, just like a telemarketer. But they don’t knock on your door. What’s your name? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/78 "2005-12-13T15:31:52Z")
> [@Renob](#): > > I’m in favor of the legalization of all drugs, so if you’re trying to make some sort of argument here about hypocrisy or double standards, that won’t work on me. I am trying to counter your defense of telemarketing based solely on the premise rhat it is a business that provides a service and makes money. In my mind it is an insufficient defense. Many things that satisfy those criteria are indefensible. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/79 "2005-12-13T15:36:25Z")
I’m in a difficult position here. As a (thankfully) former telemarketer for a large publishing company, I really hated my job. On the other hand, I have a lot of sympathy for people in that profession, because let me tell you buddy, it ain’t easy, especially when you call people who hate you as much as ya’ll do. Again. And again. All bloody day. Why I didn’t quit…I was stagnating, honestly. Bleah. Some info for you though, which at least is true in regards to my company: 1. Hanging up will make them call again. Unless we hear you say “Don’t call again” we will call again. “Don’t call again” means we will, just later, say a month or two. 2. The more obvious one is: WE DON’T FUCKING KNOW ABOUT YOUR LIFE. If your son is hit by a car or some other family emergency, we are not calling you just to piss you off. We didn’t know, and if we did we wouldn’t call. So don’t act like it’s some goddam conspiracy, ok? 3. 99% we TRY to be polite, both because that helps sales and because the boss is listening. Yes, there are jerks and creepy people in that industry. Can’t say there weren’t. But some small excuse has to be made for the grinding and psycologically wearing nature of the work. You all say telemarketers are scum. How do you think it is, walking around hearing people badmouth you all the time? It sucks. I had people scream at me on the phone, make threats, and even accuse me of being Satan for calling on Christmas Eve. 4. Some people need the money. I knew at least two pregnant unwed mothers who couldn’t get another job because they were expecting, and what company will hire someone who will soon have to take time off anyway? At least my place offered overtime and paid time off (and 2 for a dollar books, made giftgiving easy!) So just calm down. I know it’s irritating…I know better than YOU do, obviously. But flying off the handle and condemning telemarketers as the downfall of civilization is just overreacting. And yes, I know no one said that, but it looked like it was getting there. And Happy Whatever to you, too. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/80 "2005-12-13T15:36:15Z")
Since I went on the Do Not Call List, telemarketing of questionable goods and/or services has ceased. The beef I have is with the exceptions for charities and political organizations. Each election year, we get calls from both political parties–neither of whom believes that Independent does not mean Undecided and Easily Impressionable! And fuck the reps from the so-called charities who give the canned speech about Giving Back To The Community despite our explanation that we are barely getting by yet somehow still eking out bits of assistance to my mentally-challenged sister and my wife’s indigent mother. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334.md?page=5)