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janradderWhenever 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.
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.
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Date: 2009-05-14 08:40 pm (UTC)I think that's easy to say when you have other options -- education, for instance. Most people working crap jobs aren't doing it because they like it but because they have no other options. You are right that telemarketing is predatory, but I think the people who should be taken to task aren't the saps doing it but the people in charge of the whole operation. I mean, really, what point does it serve to give some woman on the phone a hard time. It's like being at a protest and yelling in the faces of cops just for being there -- it does nothing but make the yeller feel good about his or her self. I'm not saying that the latest robo-calls should be legal, but I also don't think it's all that big of someone to go out of their way and punch in the number as directed just to hassle a live person. If you've got caller ID, don't pick up the phone; if you don't, just hang up.