Do you insult telegarbage?

[joelnwil]

OK. I am 73, and so I get a lot of stupid calls.

Free hearing test, from a hearing aid company. So I say "What's that, sonny? You young people tend to mumble. Learn how to enunciate." I keep the guy on the phone as long as possible, so that he is not bothering somebody else.

Tonight is was from somebody who thought that I should be diabetic. Now, at my age, if you have not disciplined yourself, and if you are really fat, you might just have given yourself type 2 diabetes. So that is why I was called. And I told her that I was really insulted that she called because she thought I might be somebody stupid and without discipline, and therefore fat and diabetic. I insulted her in various other ways.

Do not get me wrong. My aunt had type 1 diabetes, and she had to live a very disciplined life with respect to her diet, etc. But she lived into her '80s. That type of diabetes is inherited, not caused by a general lack of discipline and idioicy.

Here is the point: I do not believe that telemarketers serve any useful purpose at all. Therefore, they do not cut them any slack. If I can cause them any distress at all, I do so. I insult them and take up their time, to the extent possible, unless I am busy with something else.

Maybe such treatment will cause them to quit and get a useful job, except maybe they are too useless to do that.

Or maybe there is just no hope for such garbage. If they were not telemarketers, maybe they would be selling heroin. I really do not know.

But I am really pissed.

[dar512]

Enter your phone number in the do not call list here:

https://www.donotcall.gov/

You will get a lot fewer calls. The only people allowed to call you after you have registered are businesses that you have already done business with and non-profits.

I do admit I miss harassing telemarketers. But not enough to take our phone off the list.

[Aliantha]

Telemarketers can be irritating that's for sure.

Still, at least they have a job and AREN'T on the street selling heroin to my children.

I'd rather listen to someone ramble on about something than have to pay the welfare for them if they didn't have a job.

[Pie]

The only folks who call me here are the goddamn PBA.
Fuckers.

[Clodfobble]

My friend just hands the phone to one of her kids between the ages of 3 and 6. Usually works out very well.

[Cloud]

I have very little problem with telemarketers in my life, because:

a) I don't answer my phone to random numbers; and
b) If I do get one, I merely hang up.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Pie

The only folks who call me here are the goddamn PBA.
Fuckers.

The Professional Bowlers Association calls you? What's your average?

[Pie]

..uh, less than room temperature?

[monster]

No, I'm younger and my time is worth more than that.

[Crimson Ghost]

Tom Mabe.

Google him, and worship at his feet.

[toranokaze]

I used to mess with telemarketers and had quite a good time, but they all stopped calling. Now that only weird calls I get are automated in Spanish about voting in Mexico.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Pie

The only folks who call me here are the goddamn PBA.
Fuckers.

Pie Bakers of America?

If the number is blocked or unknown, I let the voice mail take it.
If it's important, they'll leave a message.

[Pico and ME]

Thank God for caller ID. I only answer the phone if I recognize the number. Now, my husband likes to pick up every call. If the telemarketer is a women, he will ask her about her figure. Sometimes when they ask for me, he will say 'speaking'. He likes to play, I just dont have the patience for it.

[DanaC]

Annoying as they are and pointless as theymay be, they are people trying to do their jobs. It's a pretty shit job (imo) and carries very little in the way of intrinsic rewards. Usually some or all of their income is dependent upon commission. That might be commission on sales, or it might be commission on leads. Some firms, depending on the nature of the calls, even pay some of the commission on the number of calls logged.

It pisses me off when I get interrupted whilst I am working, or watching a tv show. Very, very rarely is it anything of interest to me. I think maybe once in the last two years when a comms company called me as I was considering changing my phone/net package.

But they're just trying to earn their weekly wage. Nobody goes through their schoolyears thinking they want to grow up and become a telecanvasser. It's a job you can get without a sheet full of qualifications and without decades of experience. It might be the thing you do when you leave school and then that's the only thing you have on your cv. It might be something you do to pay your way through college or nightschool. It might be a part-time job to supplement hubby's inadequate wage whilst the kids still young enough to need you around.

Or, it might be the best job available to a business graduate in Mumbai.

Most telecanvassers and telesales work long hours and have the sword of Damacles hanging over their heads the entire time. Whiteboards with everyone's sales and contacts constantly updated. Daily targets to reach for bonuses and continued employment. Often, these days, they don't even get the break between calls whilst they dial. Automated systems keep the phonecalls coming at a machine rate.


Of course, I get frustrated with the ones who won't take no for an answer. But civility costs nothing and I try to get them off the phone as quickly as possible. Usuallly if they try to keep on past my initial lack of interest, I will tell them that they are wasting their time with me and they'd be better off phoning someone else who might be interested. If they continue past that I tell them I have said no and I mean it. Unless they've been discourteous to me I usually thank them for their call as I tell them I am not interested.

I certainly wouldn't try and keep them on the phone any longer than necessary. That's fucking with the wrong person. It's the corporate entity which chooses to train its people to be pushy and who chooses to instruct them to ignore any notes on the file saying 'not interested'. Fucking with the telecanvasser won't have an effect on the amount of calls you receive it just wastes the time of an employee whose wage depends on maximising the calls made in that time.

Of course, having worked in telesales I am somewhat biased.

[Sundae]

Same as Dana, quel surprise!
I haven't worked in telesales, but have had many friends who did (living among artists it's almost a given)

I'm the same with people who stop me in the street - charities, credit cards, power companies wanting me to switch tariffs, satellite companies etc. I do interrupt them - but only so I don't waste their time. I find the magic words, "Moved back in with my parents because I'm out of work" tend to do the trick. If I really want to over-egg it I might add, "Suffering from depression, paying back debts, living on benefits" but usually they're happy to let me go already.

Telesales people usually get my Dad. His key phrases are, "we're pensioners, we live in a council house" the second is untrue, but also works. I wonder if the Mubai graduates have a list of red flags? I'm sure they can't have council houses there. The fact he's hard of hearing and generally talks over them helps - he doesn't mean to be rude but he honestly can't wait for them to say anything more he can't really understand.