| RavenBlog |
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| Comments on Saturday 4 September 2004: |
| You know how people like to play silly buggers when they get a call from telemarketers, and then chortle later at telling the tale? That's fair enough, since it's bloody annoying to get calls from telemarketers, but I think we can do better. The problem is, most telemarketers are unwillingly annoying. They've tried to get a proper job, but they've ended up with telemarketing as a last resort. It's not nice to waste their time, they're probably paid by success rather than by the hour, and don't have a lot of choice. So here's what I think you should do - when you get a call from a telemarketer, ask to speak to their manager. Keep trying to escalate until you can get no further. Once you get as high on the food chain as you can, waste that person's time for as long as you can. Ask them stupid questions about their company. Tell them about your cat that's just died. Pretend you'll be willing to buy whatever they're selling if they'll sing you a song. Try to tell them ways they can improve their questions even if you haven't heard the questions yet. The people who deserve to be annoyed in telemarketing are the people in charge, not the phone-monkeys. [10:48] |
| Everdarkangel |
| I like your compassion for the poor people. Then i like the funnyness of the second paragraph. Seeing as i've got to phone a company up soon i shall try it. |
| SpasmodicMonk |
| The fact that this even needed to be pointed out to people saddens me beyond words. Well, OK, not beyond words. But it still saddens me in an unquantifiable manner. I stand by the old idea of 'do not shoot the messenger'. |
| Anet |
| It is true, there is no need to shoot the messenger... Though I do wish there were less of them... If you can get through to a manager, pretending to think it is a return call from a medical helpline and describing a serious rash in graphic detail may also get you off their list... |
| Aaron |
| We don't even have phone monkeys here in sunny Canada (actually, we probably do) - all the telemarketers I've been contacted by lately have been auto-dialers. It's really quite convenient, because hanging up on a machine is easy as peas. |
| RavenBlack |
| Gah. Hanging up on a person is also easy - I don't mind the hanging up part. What annoys me is the "getting whatever I'm doing disturbed" part. Machines do that just as well as people do. |
| this is cameron calling from AAPT, how are you today? can i speak to the person in charge of the telephone bill? |
| As a telemarketer who has been calling Adelaide recently, I have to say that I enjoy people wasting my time in funny ways. It sure beats the people who shoot the messenger. Plus I do get paid by the hour! Speaking of wasting time, there's one guy works with me, who enjoys turning the people he calls against the government. (Anet- the government gives us the list). In closing, I think telemarketing should be banned the same as email spam. |