As obnoxious as they are, I still feel sorry for the people

[janradder]

Whenever someone brings up the topic of telemarketers, almost invariably, someone brings up how they like to hassle the callers -- string them along as if they're really interested, argue with them, waste their time, tell them what horrible people they (the telemarketers) are, and so on. Granted, those calls are pretty annoying, especially when you get them on a regular basis, but I just can't get into giving those people a hard time because, years ago, I used to be one of those people calling you up during dinner and asking if you were interested in vinyl siding, insulation, or thermal replacement window.

It's not fun work, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, telemarketing is one of the worst jobs I've ever had -- I mean, you're bothering people in their homes or places of work on the off chance they might be interested in what you're selling. After about the third or fourth call, you just want to kill yourself. And it's not like the pay is decent. Usually it's at or about minimum wage or just slightly better, which is crap.

But aside from thinking about how the person on the other end of that phone used to be me and what a sucky job it is, hassling them for calling you is sort of like hassling the kid behind the concession stand for not giving you a free cup because he could get fired for it. Or giving the store clerk a hard time because whatever you just bought has tax so in stead of the ten dollars you thought it was going to be, it's ten dollars and eighty cents. Perhaps that telemarketer might be doing the calling, but it's not like it was his or her idea and it's not as if the person's getting rich while doing it. They're just doing they're job, like every other employee in a crap job, and more than likely because it's the only one they could get.

Comments

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I also did some of that as a kid, and yeah, it sucked, but so did the place, and my best friend was a floor manager. Which is why I got to spend a few months fucking around and calling my friends and porn lines around the US and getting paid for it. The last job I did there, and virtually the only one where I actually made calls all day, was for some uber-conservative running against Packwood, a get out the vote and vote for our guy thing. I spent all day actively offending people in the guy's name.

I just hang up on telemarketers, immediately, if I ever take the call, these days. If they're kewl, they'll appreciate the honesty, and if they're the kind of eager beavers who will try to keep me on the phone as long as possible after I say "No," fuck 'em.

[fengi.livejournal.com]

To me there's a difference between the groups which can legitimately ignore the do not call list - politics, polls and charity - and the predators. Which is what telemarketing was to a degree and is now primarily after the do not call list. People in these jobs can quickly figure out they're doing borderline illegal work. I hang up on everyone, but I understand the hostility towards people who are taking minimum plus commission to troll for easy marks even worse off than them.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize, but ultimately, what they're doing is incredibly rude and I don't owe them anything. If I stay on the phone and let them try to Get to Yes with me, I'm just going to get pissed off, and I already know I don't want or need whatever they're selling.

Same deal with religious proselytizers at the door, although I do give them a firm "Not interested" before I shut the door. At that point, they have about five seconds to either demonstrate the greater kindness and patience and understanding Jesus is supposed to provide them and back the fuck off, or they can respond with "How do you know you're not interested?" and get the door slammed in their faces.

I used to do *that* job, too, BTW, somewhat more seriously than I took telemarketing.

The only door-to-door salespeople we ever get around here are kids and I'm just...unable to be mean or rude to kids, generally, so I usually buy something.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I hang up on them too, though we get far fewer calls now. Mostly, it's the phone company calling, trying to upgrade our services.