# The telemarketing industry just doesn't get it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481 "2003-07-28T18:12:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kputt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@kputt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kputt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/1 "2003-07-28T18:12:50Z")
[Telemarketers are suing to block DO NOT CALL LIST](http://www.thewgalchannel.com/money/2362968/detail.html) šŸ˜› šŸ˜ƒ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/2 "2003-07-28T19:07:28Z")
> [@](#): > > The industry is suing a second federal agency over the call-blocking service, which telemarketers say will ruin their business and put up to 2 million people out of work. Considering the average turnover rate for a typical telemarketer is something like 24 hours, the telemarketing industry is widely familiar with putting people out of work. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/3 "2003-07-28T19:36:48Z")
Jesus, if you were a TM, wouldnā€™t YOU? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/4 "2003-07-28T19:47:38Z")
I donā€™t understand the telemarketers suing. The do-not-call list is essentially telling them them who doesnā€™t like the calls and, I would presume, who doesnā€™t buy from telemarketers. The numbers that are left would be, generally speaking, higher quality leads of who to call. Although thereā€™s always the chance of making a sale to someone whoā€™s now on the do-not-call list, I would imagine that you have a much greater chance of a sale with someone whoā€™s not on the list. So now they can focus their calls on a smaller group of people on which they have a better chance of making a sale. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/5 "2003-07-28T20:50:15Z")
I do understand the telemarketers suing, like any other business, theyā€™re absolutely desperate to protect their right to milk the consumer for every last drop. If they were actually concerned, there wouldā€™ve been a voluntary Do Not Call list long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/6 "2003-07-28T21:09:49Z")
As I understand it theyā€™re basing the suit on First Amendment grounds for the most part? What a bullshit argument. If a stalker has no First Amendment right to call his victim ten times a night then neither does a telemarketer. The other non-legal argument Iā€™ve heard made is that a hefty percentage of telephone sales are made to people who donā€™t normally think of themselves as the type of person who would buy over the phone and so would place themselves on the list, not realizing they actually do want to buy things over the phone after all! Riiiight. ---
**Author:** ![Sejal\_Traurig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Sejal\_Traurig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sejal_Traurig)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/7 "2003-07-28T21:34:46Z")
Iā€™ve worked as a telemarketer (I am sorry! I donā€™t do that any more!) and Iā€™m thinking that the actually people working the phones approve of the list. TMs take a lot of abuse from people they are calling (Justifiably so from the perspective of the one getting the call) and not calling people who donā€™t want to be called would make their lives so much easier. I imagine the suit comes from the people who run the sweat shops that are telemarketing firms. Those heartless SOBs who care nothing for anything but the profit to be made are precisely the sort who are bound to be crying foul at this sort of call list. From the perspective of one who used to be in the call pits, that list ought to be automatically assigned to any number when it is assigned, and only removed by written consent of the person who owns the phoneā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/8 "2003-07-28T22:10:12Z")
I seem to recall that in the 60s (when the term was ā€œtelephone solicitorsā€), _Mad_ artist Al Jaffee wrote and drew a blistering criticism of the Telephone Soliciting Business; I figure, as some have already suggested, that itā€™s the fat cats who are suing; theyā€™re squealing like stuck pigsā€¦ Maybe I shouldnā€™t say thatā€“it isnā€™t fair to the _other_ stuck pigsā€¦ šŸ˜ƒ šŸ˜› Or the other fat catsā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/9 "2003-07-29T00:22:47Z")
Itā€™s unrealistic to expect decent behavior (honoring the do-not-call list) from people indecent enough to engage in telemarketing. ---
**Author:** ![Gal108](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@Gal108](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gal108)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/10 "2003-07-29T06:15:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kputt \* > \*\*[Telemarketers are suing to block DO NOT CALL LIST](http://www.thewgalchannel.com/money/2362968/detail.html) šŸ˜› šŸ˜ƒ :smack: \*\* I just donā€™t see how they could possibly winā€¦unless of course they line the right congresspersonā€™s pockets. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/11 "2003-07-29T07:00:58Z")
Iā€™m so grateful for telemarketers. šŸ˜› At last, thereā€™s another profession that I can point to when people start telling lawyer jokes. Theyā€™re so low in public esteem that people donā€™t even joke about them. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/12 "2003-07-29T07:24:38Z")
Iā€™m crying them a river right now. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/13 "2003-07-29T07:49:35Z")
Some people I call are quite happy to hear from me. Those people would be in the minority, but they exist. And not all of them are insane. ---
**Author:** ![kputt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f475e1/32.png) [@kputt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kputt)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/14 "2003-07-29T11:03:04Z")
Yeah, but they donā€™t put themselves on the DO NOT CALL LIST. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/15 "2003-07-29T11:36:51Z")
Crack and heroin dealing is one of the major careers open to uneducated inner-city dwellers. I say, let drug dealers sue for loss of income. Iā€™m surprised at newspapers reporting this (and giving out the Do Not Call toll-free number), since a lot of the people who run telesales businesses are probably involved in other forms of marketing and advertising, including as purchasers of newspaper advertising. The joy of conflicts of interest. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/16 "2003-07-29T11:43:45Z")
I did telemarketing once. For two days. Then I decided to get a respectable job and dealt crack to school children instead. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/17 "2003-07-29T12:47:28Z")
**filmore** has got it exactly right. For some reason, suits just Donā€™t Get It. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/18 "2003-07-30T10:30:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by welby \* > \*\*I did telemarketing once. For two days. Then I decided to get a respectable job and dealt crack to school children instead. \*\* LMAO. I think your statement pretty much sums it up! ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/19 "2003-07-30T12:05:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AngelicGemma \* > \*\*LMAO. I think your statement pretty much sums it up! \*\* Why, thank you **Gemma**. Now for something more than a smart remark: I think that the governmentā€™s defense will echo the sentiment that has had a lot of popular support among Internet Service Providers, namely, that telephone solicitation, like e-mail solicitation, should be considered a theft of services. With both types of solicitation you have people essentially using or causing you to use a service that you pay for without your consent. Tough fight from the phone side, since itā€™s free to receive a telephone call. From the e-mail side I think it will eventually become the standard though. Whatever the result, I donā€™t think theyā€™ll win. If there is a jury trial on the case (not likely) thereā€™s no way theyā€™ll win, and I think theyā€™d have a tough time convincing a judge (or panel of judges) that people should be subject to telephone calls, often from the same place. Too bad for the telemarketing industry, but they brought it on themselves. A voluntary list would have stopped this in its tracks. Even better, if the telemarketers actually took your name off of thier call lists when you asked them to there wouldnā€™t be a problem at all. I was gonna type more, but I looked up and this is too long already. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481/20 "2003-07-30T16:50:00Z")
I believe that they do have a right to free speech. They donā€™t have the right to talk to -me- on -my- phone if Iā€™ve gone through the trouble to sign up to a list that tells them to F-ck off. I feel that they should be able to talk freely, just as anyone can, but not to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-telemarketing-industry-just-doesnt-get-it/191481.md?page=2)