OT: Do you hate Telemarketters as much as I do?

[derverdammte]

Caller ID doesn't work so well in California. The default setting on phone lines is Caller ID Blocking. This keeps people with Caller ID from seeing who you are. (Except for 800 numbers, of course, since they're paying for the call.)

Thus, I don't bother with Caller ID. Most friends/family/acquaintances would show up as "Blocked" or "Unknown." (My line is Caller ID Blocked, so I can't complain.)

The caller ID blocking isn't that much of a problem. If you have caller ID, set up your line to refuse blocked calls automatically. You still get blanks and "out of area," but you won't get "private caller" calls anymore. So when your relatives call, they learn to dial *82 (or whatever--it's been a while since I had it) before they call you. Simple solution. When I had caller ID blocking on, I considered it a courtesy to deactivate it before I called someone I knew, if they had caller ID.

Also, re being rude to telemarketers:

I'm not personally rude to them. Usually, I just hang up. But I think the people who are being rude are doing a service to the community at large. After all, by making telemarketing an unattractive, stressful profession, they're ensuring that fewer lazy dipwads will consider it a valid choice of profession.

And btw, I could walk out of the house and get an $8/hr job today, without resorting to telemarketing, and I don't have any special technical skills (other than your basic clerical skills). But I make more than that in my real job, so it wouldn't be worth it to me.

 

[EverSoar]

I think everyone needs to put themselves in the telemarketer's shows. Do you know how emotionally taxing it is, when the very first time you pick up the phone, rude person abuses you and hangs up on you.

I know exactly where you are coming from, but saying sorry not interested is a lot better than, leading someone on, and being darn right rude, to someone who's just doing their job.

Its funny, but i'd be curious how many of you work in jobs, that emply telemarketers to sell their products or advertise. How would that exactly affect your job?

And how bout you listen to what they are actually selling, they often sell something deserving that dear and precious time of yours.

 

[GravyFingerz]

Ok - admit it, you've had that one in reserve for a while and have been dying to use it haven't you?

I admit, I've been shamefully hoarding it

 

[derverdammte]

I think everyone needs to put themselves in the telemarketer's shows. Do you know how emotionally taxing it is, when the very first time you pick up the phone, rude person abuses you and hangs up on you.

One of my primary duties where I work is to answer phones. I've had some extremely rude callers, and I know exactly how emotionally taxing it is.

And I still don't deviate from my position that the rude people are doing the world a valuable service. To explain:

If YOU call me where I work, you shouldn't be rude. It won't get you anywhere. However, since I have actual phone skills (unlike probably 80% of the people I've dealt with, both personally and professionally), I will try to figure out what you want, try to defuse the situation, and get you what you need as soon as possible (even if that just means giving you more phone numbers and saying "although we don't handle this, here are the people who can help you"). I realize this approach doesn't work in the private sector--if I was working for a company, I'd do things differently--but I work for the state, and sometimes we get calls that are like a person calling a furniture store, but actually wanting hardware. But it's generally not cool to be rude if you're calling someone, and I have never, not even once, been rude to a receptionist/operator/technician I have had to call for something, no matter how screwed up the situation was.

So that's why you shouldn't be rude when you call someone. However, no one likes telemarketers. They don't provide you with a service you're asking for (and I refuse to buy anything over the phone regardless of how attractive it sounds--that's just good sense), and they generally are an annoyance just by virtue of their jobs. So making their jobs more stressful and less attractive to them will discourage people from pursuing it as a career, which will at least keep telemarketing calls at their present level. I have no objections to making someone else's job difficult.

Also, I know people who have worked as telemarketers (though they wish they had never sunk that low), and they freely mess with telemarketers who call them. They do it BECAUSE they used to do the job--they know what kind of jerks are typically working there; that was why they quit in the first place!

So if you're working as a telemarketer, and you're not a jerk, you will most likely find employment elsewhere. People who are rude to them will help ensure that, and I consider this good. Get the worthwhile people out of the gutter and into doing something respectable. The people left over deserve the rudeness.

 

[EverSoar]

So that's why you shouldn't be rude when you call someone. However, no one likes telemarketers.

So your justifying your emotional bashing of them, by saying, no one likes them. But because its good business to like you, they shouldn't be rude to you. Well lucky people are supposed to you like you. In my experience, its worse dealing with people in jobs like yourselves, because no inter-departmental talking gets done. So basically its a waste of my time. does that sound somewhat familiar?

I have no objections to making someone else's job difficult.

How does that sound to you? Sounds slightly hypocritical to me? seeing as earlier, you're trying to say, that they 'shouldn't' be rude to you?

They do it BECAUSE they used to do the job--they know what kind of jerks are typically working there. that was why they quit in the first place!

I've worked as a telemarketer. And i quit, because the amount of rude people with nothing better to do with their time but yell very very obscene abuse at me, did not quit equal the amount of pay i was getting, not by a long shot.

And i dont' know what kind of sick world your in, but they don't join the job, to make your lives miserable. They join it, in the attempt to make money, by the attempt to provide people with a service, they might not otherwise know about.

So if you're working as a telemarketer, and you're not a jerk, you will most likely find employment elsewhere. People who are rude to them will help ensure that, and I consider this good. Get the worthwhile people out of the gutter and into doing something respectable. The people left over deserve the rudeness.

I love how you justifying yourself. So your being rude, is really helping them in the long run. Really? Are customers who ring you and are rude, really helping you to get the job done. Are they getting the people who don't do their job out? And thus getting people who can do that job properly in?
Funny, but i doubt your gonna agree.

 

[derverdammte]

So your justifying your emotional bashing of them, by saying, no one likes them. But because its good business to like you, they shouldn't be rude to you. Well lucky people are supposed to you like you. In my experience, its worse dealing with people in jobs like yourselves, because no inter-departmental talking gets done. So basically its a waste of my time. does that sound somewhat familiar?

Well, there's a fundamental difference there.

If you call someone, you shouldn't be rude. Period. You called THEM. If someone calls YOU, that absolves you of any responsibility to be polite.

Note here that, as I said earlier, I'm still polite. If they're persistent, I hang up on them. I've never done anything worse than that when confronted with a telemarketer.

Anyway, regarding the problems inherent in calling a bureaucracy: sure. I agree that it's hard to get anything done. We call it "bureaucratic bounce" where we work, and we also recognize that the best way to avoid this is for the receptionist (not the caller, necessarily) to know the system and give good information. Sadly, this doesn't happen most of the time.

Say we answer questions about apples and the Department of Oranges (DOO) answers questions about oranges. If a caller asks me an orange question, I tell him he should ask DOO and then I offer to transfer him there. If he says he already talked to DOO and they transferred him to me, I ask him more questions about what he wants, because it's possible that he's calling to find out whether orange seeds can be planted next to apple trees, which is a question we DO handle. If he's definitely asking a question that DOO should be answering, I ask him which part of DOO he called, and I try to determine whether that was the right place. Usually, I transfer him to a number where I *know* he'll get answers, then I sometimes call the number *he* called to find out why they're transferring those calls to us.

Sadly, that is actually a pretty good analogy.

How does that sound to you? Sounds slightly hypocritical to me? seeing as earlier, you're trying to say, that they 'shouldn't' be rude to you?

Nope, I don't have a problem with that at all. I have no objections whatsoever to making someone else's job difficult. As far as I'm concerned, it should be expected. I expect people to make my job difficult, I just don't like it. That doesn't mean I'm going to whine and bitch about how badly I'm treated. If you're going to take a job, you should have realistic expectations about the things that come with the job. That doesn't mean you should bitch about it. What's the point of bitching, anyway?

Also note here that I'm not COMPLAINING about telemarketers; I'm saying that the people who are rude to them are doing me and everyone else a service by being rude to them. I don't have the slightest problem being called by a telemarketer. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another annoyance modern life has inflicted upon me, like email spam, AIM and ICQ spammers, and junk mail. It's all the same thing.

Don't bitch about how people treat telemarketers; bitch about the companies who hire them. They're the ones putting telemarketers into the situation, so they should be the enemies of both sides in this argument.

I've worked as a telemarketer. And i quit, because the amount of rude people with nothing better to do with their time but yell very very obscene abuse at me, did not quit equal the amount of pay i was getting, not by a long shot.

Good. And now you're not working as a telemarketer. All those people did you a favor, and they did me a favor, too, since now I know you're not going to call me.

And i dont' know what kind of sick world your in, but they don't join the job, to make your lives miserable. They join it, in the attempt to make money, by the attempt to provide people with a service, they might not otherwise know about.

It's funny what people will convince themselves of, just so they can sleep at night. Companies should wake up and realize that most people don't want promotions shoved into their ears through their personal phone lines. If there's a new service, advertise it on the radio or television, or put a billboard up. And for chrissakes, write a decent ad. I respond much better to ads where they actually made an effort to reach my demographic.

I love how you justifying yourself. So your being rude, is really helping them in the long run. Really? Are customers who ring you and are rude, really helping you to get the job done. Are they getting the people who don't do their job out? And thus getting people who can do that job properly in?

I submit that there is no way to telemarket "properly." Thus, it makes absolutely no difference who's doing the job. Anyone who forces a telemarketer to quit is doing everyone a favor. And refer to the top of this post for the difference between calling someone and being called by someone.

 

[Tiefling]

I've worked as a telemarketer. And i quit, because the amount of rude people with nothing better to do with their time but yell very very obscene abuse at me, did not quit equal the amount of pay i was getting, not by a long shot.

Alright! You just proved that it works!

The lesson here, kids, is to be as rude as possible to telemarketers so that they'll quit and get a real job.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

The lesson here, kids, is to be as rude as possible to telemarketers so that they'll quit and get a real job.

*chuckle* If that worked, then there would be none left by now.

There are just too many people who don't think there is any problem interrupting other people's lives.

FD

 

[EverSoar]

I have such a problem, with all of you blowing how much they bother you, reasonably out of proportion.

As i've said, people don't do it out of the pleasure of harrassment. Its a job, i used it as a job to fill in time between work, which is not always easy to find.

There isn't a whole lot of point me saying anything, its mostly been said, and you have not waivered in your distaste for them, or their job, its hard to tell what you dislike.

If you have such a distaste how bought you do something about it, instead of further harrassing telemarketers, they are only going to get people to fill their place. And i really don't think you understand, how much they do sell. they are never going out of business any time soon.

Just a thought, do you approach people and treat people who shove propaganda in your face? while out side your house, or at your car?

 

[Tiefling]

I haven't had people do that to me, so I can't say.

Anyway, I don't think any of us believe that they do it to harrass people for fun. But we believe that they do harrass people, and whether they have fun or not is immaterial. They should get a real job. Yes, you might have to do some real work for a change, but it won't involve calling people up in their private homes, interrupting whatever they're doing in an attempt to sell them golf towels.