# 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:** 5
**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, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/81 "2005-12-13T15:46:45Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > Each election year, we get calls from both political parties–neither of whom believes that Independent does not mean Undecided and Easily Impressionable! Meh, that’s nothing. Last year at election time there was a local politician who went around ringing apartment buzzers, inviting himself in for coffee and a chat. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/82 "2005-12-13T15:48:23Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > 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. This is my number one gripe. When I tell you I’m not interested, that is never going to change. Trust me on this. When I say “do not call me again”, I mean it. For all eternity. It has been mentioned here before that some telescum like to deliberately harrass their victims to see how far they can be pushed. It’s like some sort of perverted game to them. Fine. I’ll play along. I once told a telescummer I hoped she’d died on Christmas morning in front of her children. She started to cry. I hung up in her face. She or her company never called me again. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/83 "2005-12-13T15:51:39Z")
> [@zenith](#): > > Each election year, we get calls from both political parties–neither of whom believes that Independent does not mean Undecided and Easily Impressionable! I’ve gotten calls from these sleazebags and I can’t hang up on them! The line won’t disconnect until the message is finished. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/84 "2005-12-13T15:53:44Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > It has been mentioned here before that some telescum like to deliberately harrass their victims to see how far they can be pushed. It’s like some sort of perverted game to them. Fine. I’ll play along. I once told a telescummer I hoped she’d died on Christmas morning in front of her children. She started to cry. I hung up in her face. Ha! I’ve done that, too. The usual response, as soon as I know it’s a telemarketer, is to inform them that if they call me again, I’ll hunt them down and kill them in their own kitchen. They usually get the hint after that. I try to balance my total hatred for the scum with the fact that they offer me a chance for a choice bit of venting every now and then. 😃 ---
**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, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/85 "2005-12-13T15:56:22Z")
No, that was just fucking cruel. I hope you’re proud of yourself. When I said we would call you again, that was because it was WHAT WE WERE TOLD TO DO. By the people who handed us our checks. I’m sorry that your paranoia caused you to attack someone who was just doing her job, but not every telemarketer is malicious. If someone calls and you hang up, we are told to mark it as a “call later”. Blame the company, not the employees. And don’t give me any asshatted “there were other people who said they were just following orders” because it’s a load of shit. Morality is nice, but it doesn’t always trump needing to be paid. If I didn’t mark the calls as I said, I might lose my job, which I wasn’t going to do just to make you happy. ---
**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, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/86 "2005-12-13T15:58:31Z")
My psot was in respose to Mr. Blue Sky, but I guess it applies to you too, Silenus. ---
**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, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/87 "2005-12-13T16:01:31Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > Blame the company, not the employees. That’s good advice, and some that we should all follow. It’s the companies that are at the root of this evil. Then again, it’s the pawns at the bottom who come into these threads and try to defend the industry. With some rather twisted logic, I might add. They really shouldn’t be surprised when they bear the brunt of people’s anger. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/88 "2005-12-13T16:01:46Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > No, that was just fucking cruel. I hope you’re proud of yourself. I was so proud of myself, I made myself a certificate, framed it, and hung it on the wall. > [@](#): > > When I said we would call you again, that was because it was WHAT WE WERE TOLD TO DO. By the people who handed us our checks. I’m sorry that your paranoia caused you to attack someone who was just doing her job, but not every telemarketer is malicious. If someone calls and you hang up, we are told to mark it as a “call later”. Blame the company, not the employees. And don’t give me any asshatted “there were other people who said they were just following orders” because it’s a load of shit. Morality is nice, but it doesn’t always trump needing to be paid. If I didn’t mark the calls as I said, I might lose my job, which I wasn’t going to do just to make you happy. When you call me, you ARE the company. When I ask you not to call me again and you tell me you will not call me again, I actually expect you to keep your word. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/89 "2005-12-13T16:03:04Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > I have a lot of sympathy for people in that profession, because let me tell you buddy, it ain’t easy . . . Good. I only wish that it were a lot harder, so that nobody would do it. > [@](#): > > 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. Then DON’t FUCKING CALL ME. > [@](#): > > 1. 99% we TRY to be polite . . . I tell you not to call me, and you call again a month later, and you think it matters that you’re fucking POLITE? The **act of calling** is impolite. It doesn’t fucking matter what you say or how nicely you say it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/90 "2005-12-13T16:03:28Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That’s good advice, and some that we should all follow. It’s the companies that are at the root of this evil. Then again, it’s the pawns at the bottom who come into these threads and try to defend the industry. With some rather twisted logic, I might add. They really shouldn’t be surprised when they bear the brunt of people’s anger. I’ve tried to find out who the companies were on occasion, but got hung up on before I could finish asking. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/91 "2005-12-13T16:10:31Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > “Don’t call again” means we will, just later, say a month or two. Make all the excuses you like. What you said up there is the number one reason why so many of us enjoy tormenting the fuck out of telemarketing scumbags. We tell you, in no uncertain terms, _Don’t call again,_ and all it means is we will be called later. Fuck you. You just ensured that the next telemarketing cunt who calls my house hangs up crying. Hope _you’re_ proud of yourself, asshole. ---
**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, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/92 "2005-12-13T16:13:52Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > 1. 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. Please telemarketers are never polite. The act of cold calling is not polite. ---
**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, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/93 "2005-12-13T16:14:41Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I was so proud of myself, I made myself a certificate, framed it, and hung it on the wall. Quite frankly, if she did nothing more than try to make a sale, and you responded as you did, you were an ass. If, on the other hand, she was persistant and rude, then she deserved what she got. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/94 "2005-12-13T16:24:30Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > No, that was just fucking cruel. I hope you’re proud of yourself. When I said we would call you again, that was because it was WHAT WE WERE TOLD TO DO. By the people who handed us our checks. I’m sorry that your paranoia caused you to attack someone who was just doing her job, but not every telemarketer is malicious. If someone calls and you hang up, we are told to mark it as a “call later”. Blame the company, not the employees. And don’t give me any asshatted “there were other people who said they were just following orders” because it’s a load of shit. Morality is nice, but it doesn’t always trump needing to be paid. If I didn’t mark the calls as I said, I might lose my job, which I wasn’t going to do just to make you happy. So it is not their fault because they are told to do something they know is wrong by the person in charge, so they have no choice. Do you guys think it’s time to Godwinize this? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/95 "2005-12-13T16:27:41Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Quite frankly, if she did nothing more than try to make a sale, and you responded as you did, you were an ass. If, on the other hand, she was persistant and rude, then she deserved what she got. It was the latter. I did not have Caller ID at the time and I was getting 4-5 calls per week from her and her company. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/96 "2005-12-13T16:29:49Z")
Hmm. Not liking telemarketing is one thing; frothing at the mouth about it is a little creepy. Who was that guy who wanted to axe murder the counter girl at the movies for insulting his manhood? I always think of him when I hear people go way over the top with the telemarketer torture talk. Something about their word choices does imply both a certain entrenched sense of entitlement and a startlingly vicious elitism. That said, I’ve had some of the most disrespected jobs there are, the real bottom of the barrel, and telemarketing was the worst. I lasted less than a week, it was that unambiguously foul. And I was a professional “psychic” for two years. There was more moral ambiguity in charlatanism than telemarketing. Not everyone, though, as the enormous success of psychic counseling demonstrates, is savvy to moral and ethical issues. Or con artistry. Those of you defending the rights of the worker to work: I salute your dedication to the cause of labor. The problem is that it’s like defending the right of a nine year old to work in a sweat shop. The workers are getting screwed too. Everybody is getting the shaft except the man at the top. It’s a lousy racket and it should be shut down. Super-simplifying the issue by declaring everyone at its front lines target practice has no point beyond sadistic glee, however. You don’t get anywhere yelling at people - store clerks, phone drones - who don’t have any power. You know they don’t have any power because they don’t have any money. If they did, they wouldn’t be on the phone with you. There’s nothing they can do but quit, and there’s an endless class of expendable workers to take their place. Every single telemarketer in the country could quit right now, and they’d all be replaced by the weekend. Does that not suggest to some of you that perhaps the problem is not just with the moral compass of the companies and individuals involved with telemarketing? Economic problems don’t exist in a vaccuum, ever. Very, very few people take jobs to fulfill their supervillain fantasies of selling things to angry, half-naked people first thing in the morning. You usually can’t yell at the men with power in telemarketing companies, but you can always yell at your representatives, though the Secret Service might take an interest if you get too axe-murdery-guy about it. ---
**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/97 "2005-12-13T16:38:04Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > 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 Don’t call again for us meant about once a week until we ate the face off a caller. > [@Love Rhombus](#): > > 1. 99% we TRY to be polite, both because that helps sales and because the boss is listening Nup, being pushy and aggressive helps sales, being polite would mean that when we asked for no more calls, we would have got no more calls. Besides, I know people who like to ring up and make games of it all :rolleyes: > [@Love Rhombus](#): > > 1. At least my place offered overtime and paid time off (and 2 for a dollar books, made giftgiving easy!) I’ve seen the inside of some of these places, cramped, over hot or over cold, not that great for a mother to be… ---
**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, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/98 "2005-12-13T16:39:29Z")
> [@cthiax](#): > > Hmm. Not liking telemarketing is one thing; frothing at the mouth about it is a little creepy. Who was that guy who wanted to axe murder the counter girl at the movies for insulting his manhood? I always think of him when I hear people go way over the top with the telemarketer torture talk. Something about their word choices does imply both a certain entrenched sense of entitlement and a startlingly vicious elitism. > > That said, I’ve had some of the most disrespected jobs there are, the real bottom of the barrel, and telemarketing was the worst. I lasted less than a week, it was that unambiguously foul. And I was a professional “psychic” for two years. There was more moral ambiguity in charlatanism than telemarketing. Not everyone, though, as the enormous success of psychic counseling demonstrates, is savvy to moral and ethical issues. Or con artistry. > > Those of you defending the rights of the worker to work: I salute your dedication to the cause of labor. The problem is that it’s like defending the right of a nine year old to work in a sweat shop. The workers are getting screwed too. Everybody is getting the shaft except the man at the top. > > It’s a lousy racket and it should be shut down. Super-simplifying the issue by declaring everyone at its front lines target practice has no point beyond sadistic glee, however. You don’t get anywhere yelling at people - store clerks, phone drones - who don’t have any power. You know they don’t have any power because they don’t have any money. If they did, they wouldn’t be on the phone with you. > > There’s nothing they can do but quit, and there’s an endless class of expendable workers to take their place. Every single telemarketer in the country could quit right now, and they’d all be replaced by the weekend. Does that not suggest to some of you that perhaps the problem is not just with the moral compass of the companies and individuals involved with telemarketing? Economic problems don’t exist in a vaccuum, ever. Very, very few people take jobs to fulfill their supervillain fantasies of selling things to angry, half-naked people first thing in the morning. > > You usually can’t yell at the men with power in telemarketing companies, but you can always yell at your representatives, though the Secret Service might take an interest if you get too axe-murdery-guy about it. That’s exactly my point. Hell, we got laid off because they moved the jobs to India. I HATED that job, but as I said before, we were just doing as we were told. Untill things change, there will always be telemarketers. I wish there weren’t. Say you’re an unwed pregnant mother. You can’t get a better job just now for the reason I stated. Someone says “Don’t call again”. Do you do what you KNOW the customer wanted, and get yelled at by the boss, or do you do what the boss wants and piss off the customer? I wasn’t making excuses. If you’d read my second post, Brain Donor, you’d see I was stating was not something we did to be rude, but what we were supposed to do. And I specifically worded it that way to head off any comparisons to You Know Who. And Hitler, too. ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/99 "2005-12-13T16:44:24Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > It was the latter. I did not have Caller ID at the time and I was getting 4-5 calls per week from her and her company. OK, then. Even so, the fact that she cried makes me wonder if she was getting pressure from her boss, and then from you. Sounds like she was in a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” position. And I know how much that sucks. Either way, I hope she’s out of that job now. ---
**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, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334/100 "2005-12-13T16:50:06Z")
> [@flight](#): > > So it is not their fault because they are told to do something they know is wrong by the person in charge, so they have no choice. Do you guys think it’s time to Godwinize this? No. I, too, do what my boss says, and I’m far from a good little Nazi. I do that stuff because I get paid to. If the stuff I was asked to do became morally reprehensible, I’d quit, but not before I’d found another job. Thus, there’d be an overlap time when I’d be doing morally reprehensible stuff. But paying the rent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketer-haters-should-suck-it-up/335334.md?page=6)