I did this to a telemarketer once, and I was totally inspired by the fellow in the link above. It was glorious. I think by the end of the conversation, the telemarketer knew I was fucking with him, but he sounded like he was having a fun time going along with it.
My dad ran a telemarketing business (selling magazines) and I’ve worked as a telemarketer myself. It was the worst job ever. I’d have to say that a quick and simple “No, thank you, don’t call again” and then a hang up is the best thing to do of you get an unwanted call. If you get angry and yell at them, dude, they have your number. They can call you back - from a pay phone, another office, their friend’s phone - and bug you at 4 am.
I used to let them respond until I realized that there was NEVER a “Okay, sorry to bother you, goodbye.” Instead, it was “Wait. Let me explain how stupid you are for refusing me the first time.”
They get “chummy.” You know the type. They’ll start off the conversation with “Hey, Chaim, how’re ya doin’?” Then I ask, “Excuse me, do I know you on a first-name basis?” The pretense of friendship and warmth is distasteful. You want to sell me something, sell me something, don’t pretend you are or have ever been my buddy.
They start off claiming they’re not trying to sell me anything. That dishonesty pisses me off in a big way.
They refer to having sent me a letter. I probably threw it out with junk mail, which is what these phone calls are equivalent to. But…if I cared about your letter, I’d be calling you, I don’t need you to call me.
I’ll be honest; I don’t know what the solution is. It’s a really crappy situation. Maybe it would be pursuing things with the proper authorities, or maybe asking for someone in charge, or threatening legal action. I just know that swearing and/or being personally abusive isn’t it.
Not that it doesn’t sometimes happen; I mean, people get upset, say things. We’re human beings; we’re imperfect. I just don’t think that it should be something we plan on doing. Besides, I’ve never been in a situation where the swearing’s made it better, so I can’t imagine it’s all that useful most of the time.
How is spending your day annoying and pissing off people better than welfare?
As a member of the taxpaying society I wholeheartedly recommend that you take the welfare dollars. That’s why we pay our taxes. Believe me, I’d much rather support you with my taxes than put up with your intrusions
Someday I hope to visit the planet where this is a reality
We only want you to feel like crap so that maybe you will get the CLUE that welfare is a much better option than pissing people off all day.
I haven’t had a land-line the past ten years or so; it’s been great. My cell number is given only to very good friends who I trust not to pass it on to anyone.
Years ago when I had a landline, I would answer, “Why yes, we are interested in xxx. Please hang on while I get my wife”. And I would set the phone down and walk away, going back to what ever I was doing.
I do not have a problem with door-to-door salesman, as I never answer the door unless I am expecting someone.
Congratulations. You have successfully grasped the clue. Give yourself a round of applause.
You might consider amending that portion of your comment from “you find” to “damn near everybody finds” and then maybe the clue will sink in just a little bit deeper.
I’m fully aware of the fact that it’s annoying. I still think it’s admirable to find work if you’re able. I also think it’s not acceptable to be rude to someone who is politely–if irritatingly–doing their job. Clearly we come from different schools of thought on that subject.
The lesson that I take away from this is that the people who want to convince me what an incredible jerk I am (or, technically, was) can be pretty damn jerkish in their own right.
Yes, we do. My “school” doesn’t consider telemarketing to be a job.
If I were to pay you to get on crowded elevators and fart it would be legal and you could call it a job. But you would still deserve all of the scorn that your fellow riders would give you.
Yes, but only one of them volunteered to be in your jerkfest. The other was the jerk’s victim.
Like any confrontation, if you punch somebody, don’t be all offended that they punched you back harder. If you annoy somebody, don’t be surprised when they bring the annoyance back to you with a little heat on it.
Meh, my phone, my rules. Almost all the calls I get are from criminals who fake their caller id numbers and try to steal my credit card info. Anyone else who calls isn’t abiding by the DNC list, so I’m not sure where me being polite even comes in to play. Before I took a job, I’d at the very least make sure it wasn’t, you know, illegal.
Now if you excuse me, I have to politely respond to several phishing emails and Nigerian princes to nicely explain that I’m really just not interested.
Your punch analogy doesn’t work. Go back and read this thread, and notice how many people are able to respond with a simple “No” or a quick hangup. Even MacSpon, who seemingly wouldn’t piss on a telemarketer if his ass was on fire, nonetheless can act like a grownup. I seriously doubt if I took a swing at these people, they’d just walk away.
If I annoyed you and you annoyed me back, I wouldn’t be surprised. But I certainly WOULD be surprised if you decided to act like you were better than me. You don’t get to take the low road AND be morally superior at the same time.
Note that you could do call center work aside from telemarketing. For example, you could work at an inbound call center such as a helpdesk, or a customer service center. I don’t think that anyone here would object to that.
Telemarketing is a natural extension of the door-to-door salesman routine that was common prior to the widespread adoption of the telephone as day-to-day technology. You can argue that telemarketing is annoying as fuck–I’d agree with that–but it is a legitimate job.
Farting in an elevator has no purpose, and, as far as I know, there’s no upside to a company hiring someone to do so. It is, therefore, not relevant.
The purpose of telemarketing is to sell something. Tell them you’re not interested, tell them you want off their list, and hang up. I don’t care how annoying it is; abusing the caller still isn’t justified. We’re adults, and we should act like it.
Dewey–I’m not a telemarketer. I worked as a telemarketer once, for three weeks, when I was 19 and between semesters of college. Two of those weeks were spent in training. I quit out of disgust. I needed money, but I didn’t need it that badly.
Really, my urging for politeness is born solely of bewilderment; I don’t think that abusing someone else is ever okay, and am shocked that some people here think it is.
That being said, yeah, someone could work in that field. However, those jobs aren’t limitless; it’s possible that someone might not be able to get one of those jobs, but could get a telemarketing job.
They aren’t being polite though. Politeness is about being considerate towards others, not just your tone of voice when speaking. They throw consideration for others out the window with every call they make. Sure, they might be saying words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ but they are doing something that they know is going to annoy and interrupt almost every single person they call. That is in no way polite behavior.
I don’t yell at them, I’d rather just hang up, but I feel no pity for the ones that do get yelled at. If your job requires you to irritate people all day long you shouldn’t be surprised when some of them snap at you.
I don’t hate you because you’re trying to make a living, I hate you because the way you make your living is by bothering, interrupting, and annoying the overwhelming majority of the people you call. I applaud you for trying to earn a living instead of just taking the public dole, but that doesn’t change the simple fact that the way you are making your living is a bother and an annoyance to me and most people. I did not ask you to call me or give my permission to call me. But if you believe you nevertheless have the right to call me, why shouldn’t I then have the right to respond in any way I see fit, including being rude, obnoxious, or yelling obscenities at you?
Personally, I handle telemarketing calls the way many here have said, I just say “not interested”, or “I don’t respond to telemarking calls”, or “Put me on your do not call list”, and hang up. But this attitude of not understanding why people dislike or hate telemarketing calls just seems disingenuous to me.
Because it’s never okay to haul off and start yelling obscenities at people for annoying you. It is sometimes understandable that one would do so, but having it as a plan of attack is just juvenille.
I’m not saying people should like being called by telemarketers; I’m saying that people shouldn’t be abusive jerks about it. I mean, Christ, I get it; it’s annoying. A lot of things are annoying. Being annoyed and being separated by a telephone line are not justifications for throwing decorum and decency out the window.
The fact that we can handle being annoyed without resorting to calling people names is what separates us from the target audience of Blue’s Clues.