Telemarketing

[Amulte]

Ever considered a carree in telemarketing? during highschool i did but wouldnt have if i had seen this video 1st...

Somones Angry...

[FungalFractoids]

"...It only takes two or three seconds."

I can't believe that kid kept trying after that first torrent of abuse! I would have hung up way before then.

[faustus]

i worked for newspoll market research for 1.5 years. fucking hated the work, but there were some pretty interesting characters from widowers and transexual lesbians, to goths and burnt out drug fiends.

that prick would've regretted the day he fucked with us had he spoken to us in that tone. we'd have scawled his phone number in every toilet cubicle in sydney.

in hindsight i think calling people at home is poor form, but it doesn't take much to tell someone you're not interested with a modicum of respect.

[apothecary]

So you don't mind if I start sending you PMs on the forums twix offering you some land deal up on the coast or a home loan or something?

Telemarketing is identical to computer SPAM, it's unsolicited (i.e. I was not put on a CALL ME list), and even the 3 seconds it takes me to tell them no is INVOLUNTARY.

Just because you respectfully tell them no, doesn't mean the telemarketer won't respectfully ignore you.

[faustus]

dude, if you read the last line of my post i said it wasn't right to call people up at home.

we're constantly being involuntarily accosted by people for something, be it spare change, a donation to a charity, a cigarette, or just the time. do you tell these people to fuck off at the top of your lungs? what right did they have to approach you? that brief interaction was totally unsolicited. is there an opt-out list for all unsolicited human interactions?

in public, if anyone treated you that way you'd think that they were the world's biggest cocksucker. is it the fact that you aren't looking someone in the eyes, and don't have to worry about getting your ass kicked that turns people into such pricks on the phone?

EDIT: on a lighter note, the best comeback i had was one time this smarmy fucker said "well i charge $200 an hour, how much are you going to pay me?" in this dickhead tone, to which i replied "wow, that's an expensive blow job!"

Edited December 20, 2006 by twix elbert

[apothecary]

we're constantly being involuntarily accosted by people for something, be it spare change, a donation to a charity, a cigarette, or just the time. do you tell these people to fuck off at the top of your lungs? what right did they have to approach you? that brief interaction was totally unsolicited. is there an opt-out list for all unsolicited human interactions?

in public, if anyone treated you that way you'd think that they were the world's biggest cocksucker. is it the fact that you aren't looking someone in the eyes, and don't have to worry about getting your ass kicked that turns people into such pricks on the phone?

How exactly does being out in public (where there is no legal, ethical or moral expectation of privacy) and getting accosted for anything compare to being at home (i.e. in the privacy of) and recieving unsolicited calls?

I am polite to people who ask me for change, ciggies or whatever, because I am in a place that is shared by many many people constantly.

You're right, if someone acted like that out and about, I would think he is a jerk.

That doesn't nescessarily mean I'm impolite to telemarketers (I'm not), but frankly, I find it hard to sympathise with those who wonder why they get shouted at disrespectfully on the phone at 6:30pm on a Tuesday night or whatever.

Telemarketing = SPAM, plain and simple. I don't sympathise, if that makes me a dick, so be it.

EDIT: on a lighter note, the best comeback i had was one time this smarmy fucker said "well i charge $200 an hour, how much are you going to pay me?" in this dickhead tone, to which i replied "wow, that's an expensive blow job!"

So you called this guy up unsolicited, and because he 'sounded' rude (let's not get into figuring out which is ruder), you decided to abuse him too? What a way to sell subscriptions and improve the company image.

[FungalFractoids]

If you don't like it, unplug your phone. Or have your number removed from the public domain.

[apothecary]

How does that make sense?

I'm guessing you don't like John Howard, so how come you haven't left the country?

[FungalFractoids]

It means your phone number is listed in the public domain, ie. the phone book, if you don't like being contacted have it removed. Simple.

[apothecary]

Chronik our number is unlisted, but we still get telemarketing calls.

[FungalFractoids]

Ok, you win

At least you are polite to them, I probably would never have been until i did a stint of market research.

[The Dude]

Aye, was just gonna say, its at home, its an invasion of privacy. Worst thing is when they try to fax you too, so that is a waste of time and a waste of fax paper, so you're paying them to advertise to you? heh fucked up innit. Hey another thing.. Pay TV.. it's not meant to be comercial television so WTF! I'm just happy i dont pay for that shit,.

That dude was a champion! Obviously venting his frustrations on this bullshit I myself couldnt ever be arsed yelling that loud and hurting my throat just to make a point that.. will Not change anything, wats he gonna do keep wasting his voice box at every telemarketer? Now whilst i sympathise with the actual telemarketers, they're just doing their job, the actual job should be illegal and not exist in the 1st place.

Erm.. yeah i dunno, I guess it comes with the job of being a telemarketer though, you gotta expect abuse, just like being a cop, but a cop if he wanted to could be a real bastard back to ya and.. plant some heroin on ya i guess, get some payback for every kid that called him Pig.

..hmm maybe it's NOT a good idea to be hateful and shit, cuz some day that hates gonna come around eh.

[faustus]

ok, so what about the salvos or red cross who knock on my door asking for donations? or the little kid asking for me to buy a raffle or those boxes of maltesers for their school fete. same situation: an invasion of your privacy. tell em all to fuck off?

So you called this guy up unsolicited, and because he 'sounded' rude (let's not get into figuring out which is ruder), you decided to abuse him too? What a way to sell subscriptions and improve the company image.

my goal was not to make money for newspoll (which does surveys, e.g. political etc). it was to see how long i could last without getting fired. i didn't like my job, and i eventually quit. i gave as good as i got i.e. i feel i matched his attempt to belittle me with my own insult. i'd never initiate abuse, nor do i feel asking to do a survey is as rude as being told to fuck off.

[apothecary]

ok, so what about the salvos or red cross who knock on my door asking for donations? or the little kid asking for me to buy a raffle or those boxes of maltesers for their school fete. same situation: an invasion of your privacy. tell em all to fuck off?

Or Jehovas Witnesses or Mormons or Foxtel salespeople YES, I reserve the right to tell them to go fuck themselves while on my property, face to face, eye to eye.

Usually I am polite to 'employees' and small children, but to the religious ones I don't mind playing little mind games or whatever to freak them out.

my goal was not to make money for newspoll (which does surveys, e.g. political etc). it was to see how long i could last without getting fired. i didn't like my job, and i eventually quit. i gave as good as i got i.e. i feel i matched his attempt to belittle me with my own insult. i'd never initiate abuse, nor do i feel asking to do a survey is as rude as being told to fuck off.

He didn't tell you to fuck off, he asked if you'd pay him for it.

[MORG]

I don't like it when I get called at home.

But I do feel that it's not hard to be polite and there's no excuse for unwarranted rudeness (unless you're doing something to put on Google-video ).

If I'm pressured even after I make things clear either ignoring them or being blunt always works. There's never any need for abuse.

[FungalFractoids]

my goal was not to make money for newspoll (which does surveys, e.g. political etc). it was to see how long i could last without getting fired.

I just got fired from morgan-gallop last week... Man, it felt GOOD

[FungalFractoids]

I don't like it when I get called at home.

But I do feel that it's not hard to be polite and there's no excuse for unwarranted rudeness (unless you're doing something to put on Google-video ).

If I'm pressured even after I make things clear either ignoring them or being blunt always works. There's never any need for abuse.

Or, you can have a bit of fun with it...

'hi, my name is such-and-such, how are you today?'

'really, really bad actually'

'uh...[pause]'

'yeah, my dog just got run over'

'oh... i'm sorry to hear that. well, i'm just calling becau-...'

'i had him for years, he was my best friend'

'ah, that's too bad. well, as i was say-...'

'and my nanna just died, i'm devestated'

'er...'

'i'm just so depressed, i don't know what to do! and i haven't spoken to anybody for months *sobs loudly*

click- BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

Works like a charm everytime.

[SaBReT00tH]

I hate those telemarketing fuckers

[occidentalis]

There is a pretty big difference between telemarketing (ie people trying to sell you something, such as a mobile phone deal) and political surveys.

[FungalFractoids]

Yeah but try telling that to somebody screaming abuse at you, insisting that it is "illegal" to call them

Although, most people tend to be able to tell the difference.

Anyway, those political phone surveys are a load of arse. Ever wondered why the ALP is consistently ahead in the polls yet lose elections? I reckon it is because they are only representative of the voting intentions of the 1/20 people who are likely to agree to being polled and more liberal (small 'l' liberal that is) people with a greater social conscience are more likely to think they are doing the right thing by participating. Whereas the other 19/20 people who refuse to participate are more likely to vote with conservative parties.

Edited December 21, 2006 by Chronik Fatigue

[faustus]

I reckon it is because they are only representative of the voting intentions of the 1/20 people who are likely to agree to being polled and more liberal (small 'l' liberal that is) people with a greater social conscience are more likely to think they are doing the right thing by participating.

when working at newspoll i often wondered this. what if survey participation is systematically biased towards supporters of a particular party? e.g. christians might be more inclined to help out, and so support for the christian democrats could be overestimated. there are methods used to get a fair and representative sample (as much as possible) e.g. x amount of males, x amount of females in each area, but you can't really eradicate participation bias.