Look at it as motivation to get a job that does not involve being offensive to people. You ought to pay Fenris for poviding such a service.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Fenris *
And as for the “no choice”, I don’t care how unqualified “Miffy” or her ilk are, there’s always jobs in fast food, janitorial, and so on.
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Fenris, I’m afraid you’re making quite an assumption here. Where I work, we have had people who use walkers, retired people trying to keep themselves fed, and at least two pregnant girls who were trying to get the money for cribs etc. None of these people would be able to stand long enough for resturaunt work, or do the lifting required in janitorial. We also run two short shifts, 9-1 and 4-8, and allow people to chose between them. For people whose time is constrained by daycare issues or school scheduales this may be the only option. As for working in in-bound call centres, well I guess it’s nice work if you can get it. I have been looking at the help-wanted ads, and believe me, there are far more telemarketing positions available.
As for “selling my soul” I honestly don’t see it that way. You are also making the assumption that all items offered over the phone are junk and nobody wants them. While I make “Customer Service” calls, Mr Zoogirl runs his own window washing/gutter cleaning business and this sometimes involves making cold calls. Some of his longest-standing customers were originally contacted over the phone. He simply offers a service, does the job as contracted, and at a resonable price. He has often spoken to people who had work that badly needed attention, but who kept putting it off, or simply forgetting about it until the next time the gutters overflowed. These people have been glad to hear from him, and quite willing to have the work done, as long as they didn’t have to bother dragging out the phone book and making a call themselves. Let’s face it, some people are just plain too lazy or disorganized to arrange for home maintanence if they have to make the effort to set up an appointment.
Fenris, I understand that you have every right to dislike telemarketing, however please remember not everyone may feel that way. Some of the calls are actually appreciated. After all, if no one was using the product or service, the office would fold pretty quick, right? And if the product was always crap, I would inagine the Better Business Bureau and word of mouth would also make things not worth continuing.
I had a similar call to fandango where I propositioned a female telemarketer:
Julie: Hello this is Julie and I would like to tell you all about…
RD: Will you be my friend?
Julie: And amazing savings with…
RD: Will you be my friend?
Julie: (giggles) I am 16 sir
RD: Well I am gay, I wasn’t thinking of anything sexual… I just want to be your friend. We can stay on the phone all day and talk all about boys and beauty secrets. Which boy from Nsync do you think is the cutest?
Julie: (giggles then tries to go back to business) we have a convenient payment plan…
RD: So you are 16?
Julie: Yes.
RD: Your company hires child labor? Is Kathy Lee Gifford standing over you with a whip saying back to work, call faster? Do you have to sew Nike shoes between calls?
Julie: (now laughing)
I laughed myself so much, I dropped the phone and accidentally hung up.
Every so often I’m tempted to be rude, but then I make myself remember that just because the job sucks doesn’t mean the person does. My grandmother worked as a telemarketer for a while.
And for those of you who are enthusing about the plethora of job opportunities in fast food, get the hell over it. If I had the nads for telemarketing I could be making twice what I’m making now, and I’m scraping more than minimum wage, unlike a lot of the unfortunate fast food employees. Plus, competition for these jobs is tougher than you think, mainly because they don’t require experience, and you get even more abused than telemarketers.
Does cold-call telemarketing suck? Of course! But do I look down upon the people who have to do it? Not unless they a) enjoy it too much or b) make an ass of themselves doing it.
Though I kindof like RainbowDragon’s way of dealing with them … 
http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/script.html
This page is very nice-- print it out and keep by the phone. I’ve had excellent results using this script and the phone calls have assuredly dropped off considerable.
I have a big problem with the whole concept of ‘telemarketing’; I believe the privacy issues involved and harrassment at home to be appalling. This type of activity should be illegal, period.
Essentially I have to pay money to keep my phone number unlisted, if I want calls blocked from these bastards, if I want caller ID, etc. Unconsciounable. But, if you follow this script you will get their attention.
Oh Please.
Substitute the word “email spam/spamming” for “calls” and “telemarketing”…
We now have:
"Fenris, I understand that you have every right to dislike spamming, however please remember not everyone may feel that way. Some of the spams are actually appreciated. After all, if no one was using the porn or penis enlargement services, the office would fold pretty quick, right? And if the porn was always crap, I would inagine the Better Business Bureau and word of mouth would also make things not worth continuing. "
:rolleyes:
Well, beagledave, the reason you don’t get those sorts of calls is the cost involved.
Trust me on this one: telemarketing pays, but only if you have real products. The reason you get all those cheap-ass products via spam is that there’s very little cost involved in sending them. Therefore they can have an extremely low rate of response and still pay off.
And as previously stated, I’m the guy who Satan himself wouldn’t want my soul. I’ve run a telemarketing department. (Though, as I recall, Hell did offer me a job after hearing that :D)
And I realize the frustration caused by telemarketers but I wouldn’t bother to waste my time coming up with these elaborate plots to get vengeance on them. My time is more valuable than that. That’s what call screening is all about.
I’ll agree that the response rate for email spam is lower than phone solicitation (although, from what I’ve read…most telemarketing firms consider a 10% rate to be great).
However, the “justification” excuse that “someone” must like our stuff…so therefore we have a legitimate reason to bother the other 90% (at least) of “prospects” still does not fly.
FTR, I don’t waste my time doing such a thing…I hang up quickly. BUT I don’t cry a river for the “poor girl” on the other end of the phone, who hears it from Fenris. She DOES have a job choice, pure and simple.
I won’t cut her slack for choosing that job, anymore than I would cut her slack for choosing any other parasitic job.
I used to be a telemarketer:
“What’s this call about?” they’d occasionally interrupt.
“I’m trying to sell you stuff,” I’d reply.
A buddy of mine used to hawk penny stocks over the phone. They gave him all sorts of scripts to use. My favorite was the following:
If a guy said “well, I have to ask my wife first,”
the script said, “Hey, look right down between your legs, and if you see anything there, let’s go for it! Otherwise, forget about it!”
Frankly, I’d kill for a 10% response rate. It’s much lower. Hell, in direct mail these days I’d kill for a 1% response.
And I’m only justifying the business decision to continue such programs. As long as they make money they’ll keep happening.
Well, I wouldn’t call it a ‘parasitic’ job. No more than I would call any sales job parasitic. The protest comes about because it’s invasive, not because it’s sales.
But just hanging up is all the time I’m willing to spend on it.
You’re about as full of shit as Wally was, Fenris. That whole story is about as contrived as they come.
Fenris, if you can pull that sort of thing off, more power to ya, but I was almost crying with sympathy for the woman who called you. If I had been she I’m sure I would have broken down in tears.
PLease to explain?
Not that I’m judging your use of that tactic… sometimes you’ve got to ballance the outcomes of a particular plan of action. If that’s what it takes to not get sollicited then I guess that’s what you’ve got to do. I just know I couldn’t.
My favorite:
Annoying caller: Hello, is this mr Clayton_e?
me: No, But I’ll go get him for you, if you’ll just wait a few moments.
I set down the phone and go get a coke, I return.
me: He’s on his way, just a moment.
(cycle repeats 2 or 3 times until the annoying caller gives up and hangs up, wasting his corporate time)
I’ve got a little different way to deal with the TM’s. It takes a little preparation and a little hardware. As a guitar player, I’ve got a little solid state digital delay, i.e. an electronic echo chamber. I take the TM’s voice on the phone, feed it into the delay and then play it back to the mouthpiece. When he ‘talks talks talks talks’ everything he says is repeated.
It’s worse than dealing with a three year old.
I’ve got a little different way to deal with the TM’s. It takes a little preparation and a little hardware. As a guitar player, I’ve got a little solid state digital delay, i.e. an electronic echo chamber. I take the TM’s voice on the phone, feed it into the delay and then play it back to the mouthpiece. When he ‘talks talks talks talks’ everything he says is ‘repeated repeated repeated repeated’.
It’s worse than dealing with a three year old.
Yes, telemarketing pays better than other entry level jobs. You know why? Because telemarketers have to deal with people that are rightly annoyed at them. You’re being payed to deal with these people, and you’re being payed (relatively) well. If you don’t like it, quit. But if you’re going to take the money, you also have to take the annoyance. And the more annoyed callee are, the more that telemarketers will have to be payed, and the fewer telemarketers there will be.
Jonathan Chance:
You’re taking other peoples’ resources for your own gain. Sounds parasitic to me.
Here’s my best telemarketer revenge story…
A ways back, I had my very first house that I and the mortgage company owned. It was just a cottage, nothing special but I liked it.
There was a local company who did basement water proofing. Not a bad business really, damn handy if you need them. However…
They took it upon themselves to go through the local phone book repeatedly to drum up business.
The first time they called I just said “not interested” and hung up. Weeks later they called again, and I explained I did not have a basement and ‘no thanks’. Later they called again, and again.
This went on for a few months.
Finally, when they called again, and I took them up on their offer for a free inspection and made an appointment.
Their sales rep showed up on time and I was there to greet him. I showed him the house. “Look,” I said, “block foundation, crawl space, no basement.”
He was obviously pissed! “Why did you call me out here?” I told him,“So you people would quit calling me.”
He threw gravel all over the place getting out of my driveway, but they never did call me again.
Worked for me!