<p>So, my friend just called me from the airport (she's leaving to Germany in an hour). The phone beeps, and there is a telemarketer on the other line. I flash and say, "hello?"</p>
<p>She asks to talk to my mom, but she refers to her as a Mr. So, of course, being fed up with telemarketers, I hung up. However, she keeps calling back. My friend has put me on hold because her mother called (she's going to Germany by herself). The phone keeps beeping, and I KNOW it's the telemarketer. So I hold my breath and don't say anything.</p>
<p>I decide to just hang up. My friend will just call me back anyway.</p>
<p>The phone rings. AGAIN. Before I say anything, the telemarketers threatens me: "Ya know, I'm gonna keep calling until you talk to me!!!" It was a threat, and it sounded like an angry parent to an unresponsive and defiant child--however, I did not know this person.</p>
<p>The telemarketer called back six times.</p>
<p>Finally, there was silence for about 30 seconds. The phone rings again, but it's my friend this time.</p>
<p>God, telemarketers are the bane of this earth.</p>
<p>That's why when you say Hello and you hear it's a telemarketer, you start talking in another language, even if it's made up. Then they'll hang up on YOU ;)</p>
<p>Just don't get a house phone. When I moved out of Kent and back to Cleveland, I never called SBC to connect a residential phone line. I just use my cell phone line as my main line and its fantastic!</p>
<p>Not getting a house phone? That's insane. There are some people I wouldn't like to have my cell number, but that I have to talk to. I'm considering it, though--once I move out (which is still a good year away).</p>
<p>Yeah, same here. I put my number on there, but they still call sometimes.</p>
<p>But you know, telemarketers are people too. It's easy to just think of them as detached voices on the phone whose sole purpose in life is to **** you off, but they have lives just like you and me. I mean, it's their job, what do you want from them? I'm sure they're not doing it because they enjoy being berated and humiliated all day. Just listen to their little spiel, and tell them thank you but you're not interested. I mean, what if it was your mom?? Would you want people treating her like trash?</p>
<p>... of course it's their job, but they have a variety of other numbers to call too, right? After it's clear they've exasperated a customer, isn't it rude to call again?</p>
<p>"I mean, it's their job, what do you want from them? I'm sure they're not doing it because they enjoy being berated and humiliated all day. Just listen to their little spiel, and tell them thank you but you're not interested. I mean, what if it was your mom?? Would you want people treating her like trash?"</p>
<p>Well, truthfully? If it was my mom, I'd just call her idiotic (stupid is too harsh for your own mother). People become telemarketers KNOWING that humiliation and being berated is a definite part of the job. It's not going to go away, whether if I change or not. There's still millions others who're going to treat them the same way.</p>
<p>It's like being a prostitute. Being talked down to and immediately being judged as stupid filth without morals is part of the job.</p>
<p>I would listen to their little spiel if I already haven't done it a hundred times before.</p>
<p>Possibly my biggest pet peeve in the world is when people call me at home, and I have better things to do. Just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm relaxing and imititating potatoes.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if we signed up on the do-not-call registry or not, but we never get calls. If I ever did get a telemarketer, I'd just talk to them about my day and disregard what they say. Or I'd try to sell them random stuff I see in my house and see how much they enjoy it.</p>
<p>Lol, I would contact the FCC and report it. You can also have the phone company flag the number -- the fact that they called back and threatened you is grounds for harassment. Apparently that telemarketer was having a very bad day, too, that's never happened to me before.</p>
<p>"People become telemarketers KNOWING that humiliation and being berated is a definite part of the job. It's not going to go away, whether if I change or not."</p>
<p>You might not make it all go away, but you don't have to f*** up their day more than it already is. No one does jobs like that because they like them, they do them because they need the money; they're human and they need to eat and have a roof over their head. Why would you revel in making their lives that much harder?</p>
<p>mekrob--why would you do that? Why would you want to humiliate another human being like that? How hard is it to just say that you're not interested in what they're selling and you don't want to be contacted about it anymore?</p>
<p>I just hang up, without saying much. Possibly, "I"m sorry, we're not interested." as soon as I hear that it is a telemarketer. I don't listen to their whole speil b/c I figure it wastes their time as much as mine. They are supposed to get a certain number of "yeses" every hour, doing the whole deal with someone who is definitely not interested just slows them down.</p>
<p>It only makes me mad when they call at 9 AM...who gets up that early?</p>
<p>But the number showed up as "unavailable" on my caller-ID. Ugh. Otherwise, I would've reported.</p>
<p>ctrain, do you know someone who's life is being a telemarketer? It seems like you do.</p>
<p>"You might not make it all go away, but you don't have to f*** up their day more than it already is. No one does jobs like that because they like them, they do them because they need the money; they're human and they need to eat and have a roof over their head. Why would you revel in making their lives that much harder?"</p>
<p>I'm not reveling in it. And I don't care if they hate their job with a burning passion. If I was a telemarketer and HAD to be one, I'd deal with it. I wouldn't call back ten or so times and threaten the home just because they hung up on me.</p>
<p>Yes, they're human and they need to eat. But if I thought of everyone that way, I'd be the sappy dew falling every morning into the dirt. I'm not one to pity, or sympathesize, or to empathesize. I don't see a point. I'd be annoyed beyond belief if everyone felt they had to pity me. </p>
<p>Yes, it's easy to think of them are just detached voices over the phone--because that's exactly what they are. I don't know them, so why bother? They're nothing more to me.</p>
<p>Usually, I do what CynthiaR does. However, I decided to hang up. This one was wasting my time. It was way out of bounds to harass me that way, though.</p>
<p>And I'm entitled to hanging up on whoever I want. Telemarketers are not entitled to harass a possible customer.</p>
<p>well if a telemarketer really won't get off...take a cordless to the bathroom, flush the toilet..."oh i'm sorry, what was that again? i was preoccupied for a minute there..."</p>
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<p>ctrain, do you know someone who's life is being a telemarketer? It seems like you do.<<</p>
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<p>No, I don't know any telemarketers personally, but I have worked my fair share of cruddy jobs where customers thought it was their right to trample over my feelings and treat me like dirt because they couldn't be bothered to show a little patience or respect. And even though I knew it was my job to take crap, it still stinks and it still hurts and it still has the potential to ruin your day.</p>
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<p>And I don't care if they hate their job with a burning passion. If I was a telemarketer and HAD to be one, I'd deal with it. I wouldn't call back ten or so times and threaten the home just because they hung up on me<<</p>
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<p>That's true. I totally agree that particular person was way out of line, but you must admit that is a fairly rare occurance.</p>
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<p>I'm not one to pity, or sympathesize, or to empathesize. I don't see a point. I'd be annoyed beyond belief if everyone felt they had to pity me.<<</p>
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<p>It has nothing to do with pity, it has to do with respect and common decency. The point is that they are people with real feelings and I just think it's incredibly cold and inhuman to ignore that. Who cares if you don't know them? If you use that rationale, why give to charity? Why give blood? Why donate money to tsunami victims or whatever? Not every action you take has to be for personal gain. If everyone was just a little bit kinder we'd live in a much happier society.</p>
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<p>quite frankly i dont understand how telemarketing is worth the dollars put into it.<<</p>
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<p>Because people get paid very low wages, so even if they have a fairly low sale record, the company still makes money. Say you pay the person $6/hour and their job is to sell $50 magazine subscriptions. They could sell only one subscription every 8 hour shift and the company they work for will still be in the green.</p>
<p>Be strong. You shouldn't care what anyone tells you. No one has the power to make you have a bad day, only you do. Yes you might lose a job in 1 day, yes you might have a car accident the same day, but there are people who can live through that and not break down. A customer remark shouldn't hurt you. It was a simple "pointless rant". Don't let it get on your nerves so much as to go and argue with her. Take it easy man.</p>
<p>i was a telemarketer for a little while :(
specifically, for one day
i quit the second day of my job because i couldn't handle the mean people along with the stress that came with having to make a sale every single freaking hour.
yes it is very frustrating to call hundreds of people and read the same script over and over and not have any of them buy your stupid product.<br>
from experience, the best, as in most polite and least time consuming, thing to do when you get a call and you're absolutely sure there's no way you're buying anything from them, say BEFORE THEY EVEN START READING THE PAPER, "im sorry, im really not interested in this, and id only be wasting both our times if i let you continue"
that way if they're decent they'll stop reading. and if they keep pressure you and read the thing anyway you won't feel rude blunting saying "im still not interested" when they're done. oh, as a last resort, if their really mean, say something like "i got an email about how this is a scam" or "my friend told me that this doesn't work" or something because most of these things ARE a scam and so they'll know they're not going to sell to you.
theres nothing worse for us then reading our entire paper and getting our hopes up and then having the person tell you they weren't interested from the get go. also, humor is good and can break up a frustrating day. make a joke or something, the one guy asked me if i was reading my script, but just the way he said it was funny and it brightened my day</p>