My Time as a Telemarketer

[rerant]

Get a real job. (not being mean to you, just telemarketers in general)

Funny, I've had people say that to me at work, where I'm a cashier.
Unless you work in a fantasy land where your boss is a unicorn and your office is a purple meadow and your mail room guy is actually a bunny who wears cocktail dresses I'd say anything that offers you employment and pays the bills is a real job.

That said I dislike the practice of telemarketing, but am always as nice as I can muster to the people who are doing the job they too know is garbage.
Being rude to someone who calls me during dinner time because they happen to have that job would be like me telling the cashier at McDonald's she only has that job because she's a high school drop-out, when we all know that's simply not true.

It's not nice, it automatically makes you an asshole, and I won't do it.

The good thing about telemarketers, though, is they always have the most entertaining stories for CS as far as I'm concerned.

[froglet]

The only ones I hang up on, are the recordings from "Credit Card Services" because they are annoying recordings and have no option for 'press 9 to be removed from our list'.
One time I actually pressed whatever number the call specified that go around to be connected to an agent, and asked that I not be contacted again. She argued with me, I got tired of listening and said 'thank you good night' and hung up. She called me back! To yell at me about how she didn't call me and it was rude to hang up on her. I was a mix of amused and annoyed.
But now I'm just rambling. I try to be polite, my mom listens to about two seconds and says 'no thank you' in a tone and hangs up, I try to be civil at least, except recordings.

[rerant]

One time I actually pressed whatever number the call specified that go around to be connected to an agent, and asked that I not be contacted again. She argued with me, I got tired of listening and said 'thank you good night' and hung up. She called me back! To yell at me about how she didn't call me and it was rude to hang up on her.

Well that's just moronic on that woman's part. In a situation like that being rude to the person on the other end is totally justified. In fact, since she not only argued with you but called you back to continue the argument, going into full Asshole Mode and demanding managers, employee numbers and corporate complaint phone numbers would have also been justified.

[Saydrah]

Am I the only one who now wants to work a non-real job to see what it's like?

[edible_hat]

Me: Hello, may I please speak with Mrs. ____________.
SC: Speaking.
Me: Hi! This is Lynne calling from Kids Books, in ______, Connecticut (where the company is situated, not me). I see you have previewed books in the past for your -
SC: Can I have your phone number
Me: Pardon?
SC: I'm busy right now. Can I have your phone number so I can call YOU back during supper?

Jerry Swinefield has a lot to answer for.

[marasbaras]

I'm not picky, I can't stand anyone who interrupts my cooldown time from after my day at work. I've been lucky and have missed most cold-calling telemarketers.

In a way, I like the dialing robots. "We have a call for Marasbaras. Please hold for an operator." Um, no. *click*

I, too, am curious what constitutes an unreal job. Anyplace you have to show up when scheduled, get paid for it, and deal with bosses and management you likely hate ... sounds like a job to me.

And, seriously, cashiers? What is a store supposed to do without cashiers? Trust the shopping public to leave enough money? Please.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

One time I actually pressed whatever number the call specified that go around to be connected to an agent, and asked that I not be contacted again. She argued with me, I got tired of listening and said 'thank you good night' and hung up. She called me back! To yell at me about how she didn't call me and it was rude to hang up on her. I was a mix of amused and annoyed.

It wasn't just sucky for her to do this, it was illegal.

You had told her not to contact you again. Since she did, her company could literally be sued by you and fined by the FCC.

Not only that, but since it is absolutely clear in this instance that it was not an accident but harrassment, you could actually sue her for triple the standard amount per violation (which years ago would have shaken out to about 1500 bucks per violation, but I don't know what it would be now.)

[Geek King]

Am I the only one who now wants to work a non-real job to see what it's like?

Its not all its cracked up to be. I work a non-real job part-time. Last Saturday my co-workers dangled me by a thin rope into a deamon spider's lair so I could steal an artifact sought by our employer. While I was down there, I grabbed a small statuette for some spare cash. Well, the coworkers got attacked by baby deamon spiders, the statue started talking to me, and the dead began to rise. Kinda sucked, but at least we keep busy most nights.

[Alpha Strike]

I don't hate Telemarketers: I imagine most of them are like us, regular folks just trying to pay the bills. As someone else so aptly put it, I hate the PRACTICE of telemarketing, especially since it involves being interrupted during my down time, annoying computer-generated messages and being required to say "No" 83 times during a 5 minute call.

......
SC: So, Lynne, how much do you get paid to do this?
Me: Enough, sir.
SC: Ah, but you can't possibly like working there.
Me: It pays the bills.
SC: I'm going to give you my number Lynne. Call me after work and we'll discuss other job opportunities that I don't think you'll want to pass up.
Me:
SC: We both know you don't like working there.
Me: Sir, are you trying to make a sale to ME?
SC: Yes!
Me: Cool!

So I have to ask: What was the offer?

[calstateworker]

I don' t hate telemarketers at all, as a matter of fact, I've done that job once or twice when times were tough and I needed the money. But you need a pretty tough hide to do that job effectively, people do resent being called. You are going to be yelled at, sworn at and hung up upon. It's not personal. Just go on to the next call.

[Kogo Shuko]

I don't hate Telemarketers: I imagine most of them are like us, regular folks just trying to pay the bills. As someone else so aptly put it, I hate the PRACTICE of telemarketing, especially since it involves being interrupted during my down time, annoying computer-generated messages and being required to say "No" 83 times during a 5 minute call.




So I have to ask: What was the offer?

He wanted to offer me a job selling things over the internet. At least, that's what I got from our conversation while I was at work. I never called him back lol

[MadMike]

It wasn't just sucky for her to do this, it was illegal.

Actually, I've seen some postings about the "Card services" thing, and apparently it's nothing but a scam.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Am I the only one who now wants to work a non-real job to see what it's like?

OK, I had to read that twice. The first time I thought I read "Am I the only one who now wants to work a non-retail job to see what it's like?"

[Despina83]

I admit that in the past I frequently used to just hang up on telemarketers. I feel really bad about that now. It was never my intention to be rude, but I began to realize how I might be making someone feel by being yet another person who hangs up on them, and how I'd feel in that situation. So now I just say, "I'm not interested, thanks" and I always say "you too" when they say have a nice day. I always make sure to use a friendly tone. I'm always worried about how I'm going to affect other people's feelings, because I'm sensitive and easily offended myself.

[Dilorenzo]

Worked as a telemarketer for a short period of time in two jobs - one for subscriptions to a magazine, which I was let go from as they realized they "didn't need as many temps as we hired." That wasn't so bad.

Second one I worked for was selling a crappy DSL plan to folks in the UK, from Ireland. The system would auto-call, as most of these would, and I got a few nice ones from that. "No thanks, I have a real job," that was one of the first, and led to, well, see above

Funniest one was "no, sorry, Barry won't come to the phone and talk to you. He won't talk to anyone with an Irish accent," that happened to one of my co-workers. One of the single most bizzarley... I dunno what to call it. Racist? Xenophobic? Anyway, wierdest insult/no ever heard working that job.

Having done it for a short time, I always politely say "sorry, no thanks" and hang up on folks. Not their fault they're calling me, after all.