I would not expect any decent call company to have a number you could call in. I’d expect there to be some sort of system that would immediately pick up and hang up the call or forward it to a general purpose line. There’s no benefit to having people call the telemarketers.
I’m not going to shed a tear for telemarketers but it seems p. tty jerky to antagonize them on purpose. They are doing a job and are likely not in control of the types of tactics they have to use. Co spider the people that have to take those jobs probably don’t have a lot of other options.
It’s like punching a clown or a disney character or aomething
The sweet spot is to waste their time without entirely ruining their day. But then again, I assume they are paid on commission…
There was a thread by a guy who managed a telemarketing outfit for a while (Mr. 2000 IIRC). It does provide jobs to those with poor short term prospects. It’s also a business that almost certainly a value subtractor on a cost benefit basis.
Engaging in this behaviour towards anyone else would be considered being a jerk. Why does the calculus change based on a person’s job? I assume those workers don’t have a lot of choice in their employment.
To each his own but antagonizing someone for amusement is a dick move.
When I was about six, my father used to pay me a quarter a minute to talk to telemarketers.
Yes and well stated. It’s a cost benefit situation.
Antagonizing somebody: bad, even if they are dicks.
Adding costs to a business that shouldn’t exist: good.
Telemarketers piss people’s time and patience down the toilet. Their offers are often/usually scammy. It would be a better world if their employees were doing something else, including collecting unemployment. Seriously. Similarly if you can stop somebody from hiring a crew to dump paint down a well, it’s a good thing on balance.
Incidentally, I’m extrapolating these principles from those who bait Nigerian email scammers. Same principles, though the cost benefit gap is obviously much larger for blatantly illegal activities.
If enough people start doing it that it leads to a situation where unsolicited telephone calling becomes unprofitable as a marketing modality, it could lead to the ultimate elimination of the practice.
That would be a net gain for Good on the planet.
And yes, I DO kinda feel dirty for using the term “marketing modality.”
So this is being a dick for the betterment of society and not because people like being dicks to a targeted group who likely have few other employment options.
Just like if I cursed out the Walmart greeters right? Maybe Walmart will get rid of them. Maybe I can find some windmills too!
The idea would be to have fewer telemarketers and more Walmart greeters. The latter aren’t especially annoying and do add value, albeit via a reduction in retail shrinkage.
I can point to scambaiting as an example of hobbyists who have successfully shut down scam-rings, jailed a few and warned potential victims. There are laws in place to curb telemarketers: an enterprising hobbyist might be able to shut a few shops down.
It’s revenge. I have made it abundantly clear that I don’t want to be bothered by being on the DNC list and having unlisted numbers. Telemarketers deliberately, with malice aforethought, target me by calling, even to the point where their chances of selling anything are nil.
And some are just plain crooks, peddling scams they should be in jail for.
Why is it that some people have such a soft spot for these assholes? Do you feel the same way about a thief who steals your car? Are they just doing their job, too?
I’m always at a loss to understand people who defend the practice of using the phone someone is paying for to interrupt their lives without their consent to try to push some product or service that’s probably a scam anyway.
If someone MUST advertise to me, they need to pay the costs themselves and not leech off communications tools I am paying for to save themselves the cost of pushing their scam down my throat.
Maybe you’re special and get lots of unwanted calls. These guys are likely not engaging in legit practices. The bottom line is that they are annoying you - not harming you on any meaningful way. If you think it’s like stealing your car you need to get some perspective.
You get to choose how you treat others. You are making a deliberate choice to be a dick to them. It’s not about them or any sympathy for them or defending telemarketers - but a commentary on how you are reacting to them. By being a dick.
When I pass panhandlers in the street I could screw with them and get them to dance a jig or otherwise waste their time in hopes they will stop bothering me and others. Most people don’t do this. They learned to just ignore them because they are adults. Just think that you are fucking with someone just for your amusement and think how you would label that type of behaviour.
They desire to take some of your money.
I get why the telespammers are doing it. I don’t get why anyone who isn’t a telespammer defends such practices.
If that’s what you think I’m doing you need to read for comprehension. I’m saying people who engage in behavior just meant to fuck with other people are acting like dicks. The fact the recipient is a telemarketer is irrelevant. I see no virtue in acting like an asshole for no other benefit than amusement or pseudo revenge.
They’re just out there trying to earn a living, the same as pickpocketers, cat burglars, car thieves and others of their class. :dubious: I’m on a “do not call” list. If someone calls me and they happen to be exempt from that list I just hang up, but everyone else is fair game because scammers have no rights. I will screw with them any way I can because this stops them from calling others while I do so. I consider it to be a public service.
You do realize that to get unemployment you have to have both worked for a certain amount of time in whatever locality they live in and can only collect it for a certain length of time then you have to be employed again?
So, if someone ‘runs out’ of unemployment, they can not collect until they have worked for another 1200 hours [or whatever amount of time you need] and then if you are laid off or otherwise lose your job in a manner that does not make you ineligible you can then collect it for another limited amount of time.
So if the only job available is telemarketing, you want someone to give up everything they own and become homeless so they can only collect unemployment and never work another job … :dubious::rolleyes:
If said telemarketing job requires them to call me despite my being on the “do not call” list and/or lie to me then screw them. Electronic pickpocketing is no more ethical than the direct kind.
The Wal-Mart greeter thing is kinda out there,(:dubious:) but if enough people tilt at the same windmill, it will eventually fall over. And with this kind of windmill tilting, you don’t have to worry about any horses being injured.