Religious fanatics

[MacPrince]

Well, the question that jumps most directly to my mind- what's her excuse the other six days of the week?

[qaxons]

Due to my schedule, I'm forced to work on Sundays in order to get even close to 40 hours. Amazingly enough, even when I'm on Bible Belt states or other areas that are at High Risk for Religious Zealotism, I rarely end up with someone throwing God, Yaweh or who-have-you in my face as a reason not to call on a sunday. Usually it's "Why are you calling on Sunday? *click*" or "Don't call on Sundays! *click*" Both of which are interpreted as "call back another time."

Zoe: as far as I'm aware, the DNCL applies to any company attempting to collect money in some fashion. Solicitations in general, even those asking for donations to charity, are part of that. At least, this is what the idiots on the other end of the phone believe. All I know is that what I do, the DNCL does not touch. Yay for surveys.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

You could say, "Sorry, Ma'am, but Saturday is the Sabbath."

[allniter]

I'm sorry, I don't understand how you were rude at all. You say you snapped but it seems she hung up before you could say anything that could get you in trouble. She was the idiot throughout the call and I thought u handled it fine. Please explain.

[Jester]

DISCLAIMER: This is not an attack on Christianity or Christians. This is an attack on Christians who use their religion as an excuse to be asshats. Please read as such. Thank you.

I love this lady and people like her. "It's disrespectful for you to try to collect the bills I owe you."

Um, lady? Christianity actually teaches that you should PAY YOUR DEBTS. I am pretty sure Jesus never said "I am the way and the light. Come unto me and avoid paying your bills. For I am the truth, and you can use me as an excuse to hide from your debts."

Turning the other cheek does NOT mean ignoring your obligations, lady. Stop making this about religion and start taking responsibility for your financial obligations.

As a side note, I know several devout Christians. Not one of them finds it rude or disrespectful to call them on Sundays. I am willing to bet that this lady had many of her friends call her that day, as well, and I'm sure she chatted with them merrily....but the difference is, THEY weren't trying to collect bills that she had rung up with them.

Also, I would like to point out that very orthodox Jews (I'm related to many) strictly observe the Sabbath by doing no work, as they believe they have been instructed to do. This means not driving (they walk to Temple), not operating machinery, not using various appliances, and generally not talking on the phone. So, what do they do when someone interrupts their Sabbath by calling them, for debts or otherwise? The smart and decent ones don't answer the phone, or they ignore it, or turn it off the day before, so that they will not have to deal with it. They don't get on the phone and bitch about the person on the other end being disrespectful to their religion.

This lady was, in essence, a holy roller fucktrumpet. And she gives other Christians a bad name by association.

[Jester]

You could say, "Sorry, Ma'am, but Saturday is the Sabbath."

Depends who you ask. Different religions observe the Sabbath differently. Please, let's not get into that debate.

[Gurndigarn]

Zoe: as far as I'm aware, the DNCL applies to any company attempting to collect money in some fashion. Solicitations in general, even those asking for donations to charity, are part of that. At least, this is what the idiots on the other end of the phone believe. All I know is that what I do, the DNCL does not touch. Yay for surveys.

All it stops is overt telemarketing, or a few covert varieties ("surveys" that are really lead-ins to other marketing and things like that). It does not stop charities, even ones that keep huge percentages of the cash they raise instead of passing most of it along, nor does it stop the flood of begging for votes you get around every election, even the rude computer-generated ones that do nothing beyond convince me to vote for the other side. I wish that it did stop those, rather severely. It also limits on the ability of telemarketers to dial more people than they have employees to answer the calls for, then hang up on all the people who answer when there's no employee to take the call.

It doesn't, and shouldn't, stop legitimate bill collectors. I wouldn't be too upset about the political calls, even, if they were live. Well, less upset, maybe. I tend to get touchy about phone calls I don't want.

[smileyeagle1021]

This is my mother's story and not mine, and I'm not sure whether it fits on this thread or the putting the customer in their place thread, but here goes.
Backstory, when my mother was in college she worked at a small family owned diner in northern california, she went to humbolt state. Yes, she did work on Sundays, and as with all stories on this website, there are SCs involved, in this case it happened to be a group of regulars who came into the restaraunt after church to order brunch and discuss the sermon (my mother always thought they were baptists, which may or may not be important for the story). Pretty much the following discussion would happen every week
mwdam- mother who deserves a medal (i'll post more of those later)
sbb- supposedly baptist bitch

mwdam- "was there anything I can get you ladies today?"
sbb- "yes, the pastor mentioned keeping the sabbath holy again today, we think that you would be a lot better off if you wouldn't work on sunday, it is your soul at stake"
mwdam- ...
mwdam- "ok, would you like your check now"
sbb- "oh yes, thank you" (that was the most annoying part, even though they were evil and bitchy, they were always very polite
then to top it off they would never leave a tip, just a card saying "jesus's forgiveness will be your tip"
this went on for several weeks before finally my mom snapped at them
sbb- same thing as before, you shouldn't work on sunday spiel
mwdam- "I'm sorry you feel that way ma'am, but if I didn't work here on sunday where would you get your weekly brunch. You do of course know the only reason I'm here is because you are here, so if working on sunday is a sin who will God look less favorably on, me for working on sunday or you for forcing me to work on sunday. Here's your check, oh, and I've already earned Christ's forgiveness by living his standards and repenting, what would be really nice would be a way to pay my tuition costs. Anyway, thank you for eating at (name) have a good afternoon"
then she just walked off leaving the baptist (we think) ladies in stunned silence... they actually didn't come back after that surprisingly enough.

[Gurndigarn]

then to top it off they would never leave a tip, just a card saying "jesus's forgiveness will be your tip".

Grrrrrr.... you do NOT convince people they would be interested in hearing about religion when you cheat them, deceive them, or otherwise piss them off.

so if working on sunday is a sin who will God look less favorably on, me for working on sunday or you for forcing me to work on sunday.

Did churches stopped teaching that, or do the people just not listen? Wait, we're talking about SCs here... why am I thinking they would even listen?

then she just walked off leaving the baptist (we think) ladies in stunned silence... they actually didn't come back after that surprisingly enough.

Not surprising. She called them on their hypocricy. Most people don't like it when they're exposed like that.

[Estil]

Also, I would like to point out that very orthodox Jews (I'm related to many) strictly observe the Sabbath by doing no work, as they believe they have been instructed to do. This means not driving (they walk to Temple), not operating machinery, not using various appliances, and generally not talking on the phone. So, what do they do when someone interrupts their Sabbath by calling them, for debts or otherwise? The smart and decent ones don't answer the phone, or they ignore it, or turn it off the day before, so that they will not have to deal with it. They don't get on the phone and bitch about the person on the other end being disrespectful to their religion.

This lady was, in essence, a holy roller fucktrumpet. And she gives other Christians a bad name by association.

And don't forget that for Jews, their Sabbath is Saturday. As for Muslims, they have Friday as their day of rest (to commemorate Adam's birthday).

[myswtghst]

Um, lady? Christianity actually teaches that you should PAY YOUR DEBTS. I am pretty sure Jesus never said "I am the way and the light. Come unto me and avoid paying your bills. For I am the truth, and you can use me as an excuse to hide from your debts."

I just snorted. Very loudly. At work.

Where I am working, on a Sunday! Because unfortunately, someone needs to be here in case a 911 center goes down and needs to be fixed.

But seriously, Jester hit the nail on the head. If she doesn't believe in taking calls on Sundays, she needs to turn the phone off, or at the very least, not return calls.

[wolfie]

Also, I would like to point out that very orthodox Jews (I'm related to many) strictly observe the Sabbath by doing no work, as they believe they have been instructed to do. This means not driving (they walk to Temple), not operating machinery, not using various appliances, and generally not talking on the phone.

A bit off-topic, but for the benefit of the ultra-orthodox Jews, many elevators can be put into "sabbath mode". What this means is that they will endlessly go up and down, stopping at each floor along the way, so people can ride the elevator without operating machinery (i.e. pushing any buttons).

[TennesseeWhiskey]

One part of my job is collections, and, in my almost-twenty years of calling past-due accounts, one thing's almost 99% of the time been true. The ones with the sermons on their voicemail/answering machines, or who put "have a blessed day" at the end of it are the ones you'll about have to drag every dime out of, kicking and screaming.

Of course, these asshats don't realize they're giving Christians a bad name to a lot of people...I like what the previous poster said, Christ never told his followers, "Hey, join up with me, and you can run up bills and not have to pay them by invoking my name!" The ones who astound me, are the ones saying "Oh, I'm waiting on da Lawd to help me pay." Honey, God helps them who help themselves!

[Boozy]

there are SCs involved, in this case it happened to be a group of regulars who came into the restaraunt after church to order brunch and discuss the sermon

(Bolding mine)

The SCs in this story were unbelievably stupid. These people are regular Sunday customers. If the waitress didn't work on Sunday, who the heck do they think was going to serve them?

Hypocrites indeed.

[Jester]

A bit off-topic, but for the benefit of the ultra-orthodox Jews, many elevators can be put into "sabbath mode". What this means is that they will endlessly go up and down, stopping at each floor along the way, so people can ride the elevator without operating machinery (i.e. pushing any buttons).

Hmmm....I know a lot of my relatives, and I assume many other orthodox Jews, would consider that "cheating," just as taking a bus, while not operating machinery, would be "cheating." I would think most would take the stairs. Then again, not sure what they would do in very tall buildings. As should be obvious by many of my posts, while I am related to Jews, I am not exactly a practitioner of that particular religon!

Somewhat related to this, one of my cousins was notorious for asking someone who happened to be passing by to turn the tv on for him on the Sabbath. Usually one of us less orthodox relatives. We called him on it, of course, but he was such a good-natured fellow (one of my favorite relatives, actually), that he freely admitted to the hypocrisy of what he was doing.