Telemarketers ...please read

I recently started a new job with a local company as a Telemarketer. On my first day all I did was watch everyone else . On my second day I was put on a dialer. I was in disbelive how rude people are on the other end of the phone lines.until i made a few calls. The elderly people i over look because i know how they can be when they are not on the phone. I also over look people who are sick. The people i work with do like i do , if they are either elderly,sick ,have a screaming child ect. We nicely say that we will call back at a better time and say thank you for your time. As for the other people you have got to realize some things.
1....WE ARE JUST DOING OUR JOB!
2....LIFE IS TOO SHORT ...DONT BE MEAN
3....IF WHEN WE ANNOUNCE WHO WE ARE AND YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN OUR COMPANY THEN JUST SAY NO THANKS AND HANG UP
4...OR JUST HANG UP
5....(HINT)IF YOU HATE THESE KIND OF CALLS GET A PRIVATE NUMBER OR
6...USE THESE EXACT WORDS"TAKE ME OFF YOUR LIST" JUST SAYING DONT CALL WONT GET YOU TAKEN OFF
7...THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CAUSE TO CUSS AT US....CALL THE COMPANY ITS SELF
8......REMEMBER YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO IS ON THE OTHER END....JUST BE CAUSE YOU GET A CALL ON SUNDAY ...DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN PREACH AT US.
9......DON'T CALL US NAMES LIKE "STUPID,BITCH" ECT. WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE A LIVING TO SUPPORT OUR FAMILIES
10....REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE TALKING WITH A REAL PERSON
11....IF YOU ARE A PREACHER OR A MINISTER WIFE, THERE IS NO CALL TO ACT THE MOST OF YOU DO ON THE PHONE. SOME OF THE RUDEST PEOPLE I HAVE EVER SPOKEN WITH

I know some of you are thinking "well why don't you get a real job" well sometimes people are physicaly not able to do. And to me this type of job is better than going on disability. Sorry this is so long but its so sad to think people are so rude and mean to one another

I can sympathize with you. When someone asks what the hell are you doing calling tham at ten a.m. on Saturday you shoot back "I'm at work!"

And don't forget, if you piss off a telemarketer, your odds of getting more telemarketing calls increases drastically.

I understand that telemarketers are just doing the job they were hired for. That's all fine and good. At least you're not on welfare.

What DOES bother me about the calls is when they argue with me. "No thank you, I'm not interested, please take me off this list." "But we have this great deal....." "NO, take me off this list." "This will just take one minute of your time, blah blah" "I said no, what are you deaf? I want off this list!" "OK, but that could take up to 90 days for you to be removed."

That kind of stuff drives me nuts! Please, if you're going to make the calls, then LISTEN when someone says no. Don't argue with me, and don't get rude. Yes, I did have one guy say "But it's only .13 cents a day, for a years subscription" I had at that point said I wanted to look at the magazine sample they were sending me. He decided for me that I didn't want the magazine, and I did like it, but I refuse to help support someone that rude.

Well, I'm not rude and don't wish anyone to be rude either but, generally, this is how telemarketing calls go here:

*ring*ring*

"Hell-"

"Hi, Mr. Mansell? This is *** calling, my name is Cynthia I'd like to tell you about the special we are having at the moment for an entire years worth of subscription to *** and if you sign up today I'd be glad to take an additional 10% off that price."

"I'm so-"

"And as an added bonus, for this week only we'd like to offer a promotionalwhichincludestwofreeweeksofourdailysupe rspecialwiththefirstmonthfreeifyoupurchaseatwoyear subscriptionifyouswitchoverfrom****tousintheduring thisphonecallatwhichtimeIamentitledtoofferyouanadd itional$5offthefirst6months. May I interest you in a subscription?"

"Actually, we already subscribe to ****."

"May I ask why?"

"Well......they are a good publication, I like what they offer and don't like *** as much."

"What if I told you I could take 10% off the price for you today?"

"No thanks."

"And if you get it for two years I'd gladly offer an additional $25 off."

"No thanks."

"May I ask why?"

"I'm not interested."

"May I ask why?"

"I already have a newspaper."

"May I ask why not ours?"

"Because I don't want it."

"May I ask why?"

"I don't like the ppl who work for ***."

"May I ask why?"

"Because of ppl like you."

"May I ask why?"

"I'm sorry, I have to tend to my elderly mother who is in bed right now and is close to death's door."

"May I ask why?"

"What?!"

"May I ask why?"

*Click!!!*

__________________

What I'd LIKE would be:

*ring*ring*

"Hello?"

"Hello, My name is Cynthia, from ***. I'm wondering if there's any way in h*ll I could get you to buy a subscription from me today?"

"No."

"Okay, well, thank you very much, and I hope you have a nice day."

"You as well! Goodbye now!"

*click*


It just never goes that way!

Why haven't I seen any threads about the employees at Radio Shack yet? A lot of telemarketeers get commision, and not like car salesmen. I'm talking about getting a few cents over minimum wage if they make some sales. It's not a glorious job, it's a job you take when you have to have a job. If you had to make sales to feed your children, how would you feel at the end of the day if every person you spoke to all day told you that you were a low life piece of crap and other things like that. It's a job. As was said, simply say, "Please remove me from your list." Also, if you get someone who is as pushy as the example in the above post, simply say the magic phrase, and hang up. Believe me, for someone who needs to make sales to make any kind of money, they prefer to be through with the calls that are fruitless as fast as possible. They don't mind being interrupted to be told take me off you list. They do, however, mind being insulted as though they are trying to annoy people.

I have tried to sympahize with the plight of the poor abused telemarketer, but I just can't manage it. The fact is for every one that is a descent non-intrusive person, there's 100 who are pushy, relentless, and completely unapologetically annoying people whom I loathe with every shred of my existance.
The behavior of the majority has resulted in the few receiving the same treatment.
If someone wants to call me, at my home, when I am otherwise relaxing from my job of manual labor, for no purpose other than to attempt to sell me something, then they have initiated the confrontation, and in my opinion are deserving of whatever effects are generated by their actions.
If they choose to call at 10pm then they should consider themselves extremely fortunate they are not door to door salesmen.

There is absolutely zero chance I will ever buy anything from a telemarketer. I refuse to support anyone who makes a living infringing on the lives and happiness of others. That leaves three possibilities of how the call will progress.
If I'm not busy and in a particularly good mood, I'll string them along with questions. I've managed to keep some on the phone for as long as a half hour before telling them I wasn't interested. I have found this to be terribly annoying to them, which amuses me greatly. One woman was nearly salivating thinking I was about to fix up my home with some brand new aluminum siding. She had devoted over a half hour to extolling the wondrous benefits of aluminum and answering my endless supply of questions ranging from the level of UV resistance to the thicnkess of the siding itself. She was quite miffed when I finally said I didn't want any after all.
I may just hang up if I don't want to be bothered.
If however I am in a bad mood already then they are just as likely as not to be on the receiving end of an onslaught of verbal abuse the likes of which most would be hard pressed to compare. It's amazing how they too have the option of hanging up but the vast majority do not. It's also amazing how a telemarketer posses the ability to turn someone like myself, a normally intelligent speaking and reasonable individual into a borderline homocidal maniac by nothing more than introducing themselves.
The mere realization that it is a telemarketing call pushes my blood pressure up 10 points and I feel their becoming the target of anger they generated merely evens the score.
I have however made an effort to rely on the first or second option lately, my lovely wife is having a positive influence on me as to how I relate to people I otherwise can't stand. Granted my private telephone number results in few such calls, but it's probably been over a year since I really let loose on a telemarketer.

Ok, I have to add my .02 cents worth here.
I worked for a telemarketing place, no, I was not a caller, I worked in IT (worked on the computers). (I couldnt do the call thing). Most places that I know of do not get a commission but get a hourly wage, usually from 6.50 to 8.50 with the lower end getting bonuses.
Even if your phone number is unlisted, it doesn't matter, they get your names from the data bases of banks and credit cards, stores, you name it.
Yes, you can say you want your name taken off and IT will do that, but guess what? Unless you call your banks credits cards ect. it will just be put back on again.
No it is not the telemarketers fault, and you are just doing your job, I know this but there has to come a point where a persons private info is not so easily handed out. Unfortunately, it starts with the telemarketer. Unfortunately, as in all jobs that have pecking orders you are the last one on the totem pole and need to realize this and take it all in stride.

telemarketers in my area get 8-12 plus commission/bonus usually.

radio shack is purely commission based...

Now i'm desperate for a job to get myself into better living arrangements... if these were the only options available, which would I choose?

RadioShack on the basis that I could still help customers who would feel grateful for that help since they came to me.

Of course, i'm sure management wouldn't keep me around with that mindset...

Personally, I resent the intrusion on my time. Most of the time, when the phone rings, I am busy doing something else, that I have to stop doing in order to answer the phone. This may mean quickly putting a snake back into it's container and securing it, then dashing across the room to grab the phone before the answering machine picks it up. No, I am NOT happy to find a telemarketer on the other end. I really don't care that it is the way you are making your living. The way you are making a living is infringing on MY time and keeping me from doing MY work.

Fortunately, in this case, my last name is difficult to pronounce. I find that anyone whom asks for Mr. Zoogowoski is probably really not someone I have met or talked to before. In many instances, I will tell them that he is in the other room and I will have to get him. And I leave the phone off of the hook. Sometimes I go back 15 or 20 seconds later and ask the telemarketer if they can hold on for a few more minutes. And I will occasionally call out "Mr. Zoogowoski!! Don't forget this phone call!!"

On the other hand, If I happen to be sitting in my den, I have one of those hand sized air horns that are used on boats.... Hey, remember YOU called ME. A friend of mine will often strike up a conversation with female telemarketers, asking them what color underwear they are wearing today....

You are fair game, as far as I am concerned. If you got a job doing a study on breeding and releasing mosquitoes in my back yard, infected with West Nile Virus, I doubt I would be any less appreciative of your work.

Quite frankly, of all the ways a company tries to sell their merchandise, THIS way is probably the most abrasive and intrusive of them all. YOU have taken a job guaranteed to bother most of the people on this planet that have a telephone.

And by the way, I do have a private number for my residence phone. But it doesn't help. Some telemarketers use auto sequencing dialers to reach EVERYONE on an exchange. That's why you have that momentary pause as the connection is switched over to a live operator when you say "hello".

IMHO, of course.

The way I look at it is this. If I want a product, I will go buy it. If I want a magazine subscription, I will pull one of those cards out of the magazine and fill it out. If I am at home, it means that I am not interested in buying anything right now!!!!!!!!

I personally can't stand telemarketers. I don't care if they are "just doing their job". Same with door to door salesmen and Jehovas Witnesses (well, just the ones that come knocking on my door). All of the groups are just annoying, to say the least. When people are at home, LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

Ok, there was my $.02, now where is my change?