Argument from a telemarketer

[Arguing]

I am currently engaged in an online argument with a telemarketer. She claims that people who are signing up for the DNC list are shirking their personal responsibilities. Rather than signing up for the list, she claims, we should all pay for an unlisted number or Caller ID or Privacy Manager(?). I don't even know if Verizon offers that last solution.

She cries about how she is going to be out of business and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for not caring about the millions of telemarketers who will no longer be able to feed their families!

here is some linkage:
www.dslreports.com/forum/news,30837~root=news,30837~parent=news,30837~

The telemarketer is Taurus333.

[USA50]

Can I have that telemarketers home phone number so I can call at all hours of the night and sympathize with them?

[Thomas S Hood]

...if this lady is so utterly without any other redeeming
abilities, she must reley on the worst aspects of capitalism (telemarketing..."Only in America" has it's downside too)), she needs to be hung by her genetilia until it becomes necrotic, and then fall to her death...
.....if I had more time, I'd tell you how I really feel...

[Precious]

::)I read Taurus's posts on the broadband.com message boards. Damn, she's such a moron who needs to get a real job. I can't believe she's been a telemarketer for 20 years! I lasted 20 months and everyone else, including myself, thought that was a long time! Taurus is a crybaby and whining about the no call list making other telemarketers go out of business and lose jobs. This is America and there are a ton of jobs, colleges, and training courses out there. This isn't a 3rd world country where there's less jobs and high unemployment. She doesn't realize that telemarketers bother homeowners who want to enjoy meals, family time, etc. I admit I was a telemarketer, but I did that for a while during college, and left. Actually I got fired for not meeting the sales quota, but I don't care. My old boss did me a BIG favor! Those posts Taurus wrote are funny and stupid. She's making an ass out of herself.

[MO]

No point in bashing this woman relentlessly. No doubt there are plenty others who make their living the same way and feel the same way about the issue. Let's keep this on principals and not individuals.

That being said, I have about as much respect for telemarketers as I do for prostitutes. No, I have more respect for prostitutes. At least they have to maintain enough self discipline to keep themselves marketable enough to perform a service that some people want.

I had sighed up for the "do not call" and was looking forward to an end to the constant interruptions in my life. I do not feel that it is my responsibility to pay for a companies advertising via my phone bill. I should not have to pay extra to be left out of the phone book. It's not like they have to send little elves around to scratch out my name and number. Just leave me out! I have no problem with my junk mail. I can look at it or toss it a my leisure and I sometimes order things as a result of it. My household typically receives six to twelve telemarketing calls a day. I believe that the constant phone calls are a violation of my Constitutional right to privacy.

My response to the calls is dependent on the circumstances. If it is a person sitting at a desk a few miles from my home trying to drum up business for a local company, I am friendly. In that case, it's a call from a neighbor.

[kathy]

I just wanted to tell everyone a view from another telemarketers side: First of all..........I HATE my job, but it pays better than alot of jobs in my area. I dont have anything but a high school education (not a good excuse, I know.) As I said, I hate my job, as most other telemarketers do. I try to be polite and informative to my customers. Actually, they have paid for a discount coupon for the product that I am calling for, I just call to set up appointments for portraits. Telemarketers have a script that we have to go by, and we do have a certain "quota" that we have to maintain in order to keep our jobs. We are "monitered" by our supervisor at various times during the day. We have to rebuttal our customers if they dont want to make an appointment to have their portraits done. (actually, if my customer says no, I dont want it, then I just thank them for their time, if my boss isn't listening and go on to the next call.) I hate telemarketers calling my home as much as anyone else does, but I usually listen to them politely, since I know that they are only doing what it takes to make a living. Then I politely tell them "I'm not interested." If they are polite back to me, then everything is fine. But.......if they rebuttal when I have already said no, then I ask them to put me on a do not call list. I have actually had some of them to try and rebuttal that! Then I get angry because I know that is going beyond the limit. But just wanted to let others know that we are human, we are your neighbors, relatives, ect. Again, I hate my job, but I am a human. I actually have many of my customers ask me to come and visit them. I make friends with many of them, and sometimes I wish I could visit them. I have been told that I am the best telemarketer that they have ever spoken with. I have prayed with people on the phone when they tell me that they have an illness or something like that, all at the cost of my job. I am trying to find a better paying job that isnt so stressful, as I love people, and I hate intruding on them. I have been at this job for 4 years, and I am putting applications in everywhere I can think of to get away from this job. Let me tell you a little about the daily routine of a telemarketer...like today, our employer, who is a very uptight man, is going to be plugged in to our phones, he will be listening to every one of the telemarketers in our office, and if we dont rebuttal our customers (which, if we do as we are supposed to, we have to lie to them. They call it bragging on the product.) We will be fired on the spot. If we dont read the script word for word, we will be fired. And, if you have ever paid any attention to a telemarketer, you can tell that they are reading a script that sounds so stupid! I hate this job! Oh, yeah, I already said that, didnt I? It is really bad when you call a southern town, which they are known for being very polite, and you hear a man in the background tell his wife, "Honey, telephone for you, I think it is one of THOSE people
Well, now you have all heard from the other end of telemarketing, and I hope you all will pray that I can find another job soon, one that doesnt call for lying to people, and annoying them all the time. I cant even get angry at my customers when they cuss me out, because I dont blame them. Ahhhhhhhh, to have a normal job......maybe before long, I will find a job that helps me to pay my bills and I can get away from a job that bites.
kathy

[telemarketer]

Sooo let me get this straight..."Nobody" likes telemarketers, right? Well if thats the case that would mean "nobody" purchases goods and services from telemarketers, right? Well if all thats true then why the hell are they still in business?! Millions of Americans buy from telemarketers (and keep us in business might I add) every day, blame them not us.

[moleonparole]

God, I did telemarketing on and off for years myself. I first harassed people from the White pages, no less, into buying tickets to the Policeman's Ball...then I bothered people who had already subscribed to a consumer magazine, trying to get them to give contributions as well...after this, I made people who had foolishly used a credit card to get tickets to the Wooly Mammoth Theater consider my pitch to be on a special list for the next season...I did "grassroots lobbying" to get suckers to harass their representatives into persecuting the FDA; and most recently I persecuted old folk into re-upping for TV Guide. It's a terrible job, but I wasn't ashamed of it. I kind of enjoyed answering the inevitable "what do you do" question with "I interrupt people's dinner for a living." Telemarketing works. If it didn't work, telemarketers wouldn't be out there...I hate to compare it to panhandling, but it's so true. A gig I quit in the midst of training was for Time-Life...they harass people into buying the Time-Life book series, and then harass them again if they forget to pay...and most Time-Life telemarkers can make between five and six hundred dollars a week...why is this? In truth, if you are on the Do Not Call list, you weren't going to buy our products anyway...so God knows, it's best just to get on the list...there are too many other fools out there who will not bother to sign up for the Do Not Call list...

[Cheerleader2005]

MO said:

That being said, I have about as much respect for telemarketers as I do for prostitutes. No, I have more respect for prostitutes. At least they have to maintain enough self discipline to keep themselves marketable enough to perform a service that some people want.

That is the RUDEST most INSENSITIVE comment I have ever heard.

As I said in the other board...
Listen, I understand that you guys don't like to be interrupted in your time, but i'm 16. I have no money, and teleservices was the only place hiring. They offered good pay, and I thought that most people would have the common decency to at least be kind to another human being on the phone. I am monitered constantly, and it's all done by computers. I don't dial any numbers, nor do i choose the numbers to call. The call falshes on the screen when they pick up the receiver, and I HAVE to try my best to sell them the product. I HAVE to hear a refusal at least twice in a row in order to not get fired. Also, after tha call, I choose from a list to disposition the calls. Some options are Do not call, Callback (But I probably wouldn't be the one calling back, it goes through the computer), Early Hang up, Answering Machine, Foreign Speaking, etc... I ALWAYS put people on the Do not call list when they ask to be. But that can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks. Also, I can't help it if I'm the 10th person to call you, I don't know that! As far as I'm concerned, I assume you are a kind decent human being and will politely say, "I'm not interested... But thank you!" That's what I did even before I was a telemarketer. I am a smart, mature 16 year old girl who has mental health problems. I am out of school because of my health, and I'm trying to save up money to get myself through college eventually. I am suicidal, and I cut my wrists. When someone yells at me, or hangs up on me, or cusses at me, I could very well commit suicide right there. I am very sensitive, and I'm trying to work on that. But I HATE it when someone looks down on me just because I have chosen a profession that they don't like. I am not some DUMB telemarketer. I got an 1100 on my SAT in the 8th grade. I love shakespeare, John Keats, and I am probably the only teenager who could write a book on medieval england. I am a very polite person. I am one of those people who will say "Sorry!" if I run into a trash can or something. Just out of habit. I have housed many of my friends who have either been kicked out or had a baby. I volunteer at my local library, and tutor children for free also. I go to church almost every sunday, and I love God, and I love people. I thought this would be a great way to use my people skills, but the Human Race has once again proven to be a decrepid old materialistic, self-absorbed species who assumes that the world revolves around their lives. God forbid I take 2 minutes of your so PRECIOUS time to try and make my boss happy. Also, if you just hang up, we HAVE to put your name on the callback list. So if you're going to be rude, at least be smart about it. Also, I usually NEVER praise myself this much, and I apologize. I am just sick of being put down all the time. After all, I have done nothing to physically, emotionally, or spiratually abuse you or your loved ones. So BE NICE! And stop your little theory that all telemarketers are evil. It's simply just not true....

Sincerely,
~Alison*

[Aurora]

I usually screen calls. Telemarketers normally won't leave messages on the answering machine. I figure if it's important, people can leave a message. If it's someone I know, I'll pick up. If I'm expecting a call and it turns out to be a salesperson, I just hang up on them while they're still yammering.

Sometimes I'll get the odd telemarketer that's polite enough to pause and allow you to say whether you're interested or not, but usually they'll just keep talking. I figure if they don't want to hear my response, I don't need to hear what they're selling.

I used to be polite and sit there trying to say I'm not interested, but I've gotten sick of that. They're interrupting my time, I owe them nothing. If I'm interested in a product, I'll buy it or call them.

There's a certain amount of satisfaction in hanging up on telemarketers, especially the rude ones that won't let you get a word in edgewise. I highly recommend the tactic to all.

[colehartt]

I don't have a problem talking to telemarketers. The problem I have is when I say NO they just won't accept that and continue trying to convince me to do something I don't want to do. I then get "rude"!