I just got telemarketed at work!
 

Why does that piss me off more than it would at home? Because it took me by surprise, and I sat there and listened to her sales pitch for 3 minutes before figuring out that it was a cold call? It was from American Express, and I do have an AmEx rewards card for service contract sales, so I thought it was related to that.

me:(after she stopped for breath)

"so...you're tlelemarketing me at work?!"

her:
" well, yes, but it IS a business account I'm offering for small businesses"

me:

"well, I just work here....it's not MY business......please don't call me here again."

You should have done the old...

YOU:

Actually I'm busy at the moment, can you give me your home phone number so I can call you later to talk about it?

THEM:

No, I'm not allowed to give out my number.

YOU:

So you're saying you don't want people calling your home and disturbing you with calls about buying and selling a product?

THEM:

Yes.

YOU:

Now you know how I feel..(click)

I worked doing that kind thing for precisely 3 days during a school break once, thought it'd be easy cash so I have a small amount of empathy for these people, there cannot be many worse jobs on earth, thus I tend to nicely tell them I'm not interested, wish them a good day and hung up fast before they can get to the next bit of the sheet they're reading from.

You should have telemarketed them right back. "You are really fortunate that you called here today! We are in the middle of the biggest sale in car history! For only $300.00 down, you can drive a fully loaded SUV right off the lot today! etc, etc ;)

I actually love these calls at work.

I let them drone on a bit.

Then they get "it."

"You do realize that you have called a suicide hotline?"

"Uh, no."

"Well you did. And do you realize that your call forced me to put a suicidal person on hold, and you turned out not be be another person in need in my community, but a telemarketer/collection agency/radio station contest?"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't helping the woman I was talking to that you interrupted."

If the tone of my voice is just right, I can get most of the females to burst into tears at this point.

I wouldn't be surprised if the overlap between telemarketers and suicidals is fairly high.

My boss highlighted a contact sheet once ... the woman named on it was suicidally depressed because she was "only a receptionist."

He thought this was hilarious because I had been a receptionist in the not-so-distant past.

The Philadelphia Inquirer calls periodically. (I actually have a number I can allegedly call and get all our phone #s taken off their list.) One time I said I wanted my number taken off and besides, this is a business anyway. The woman said, "We know, we call businesses on purpsoe to get people who aren't at home during the day." Cheeky bastards!!!:angry:

When I told the guy from Omaha Steaks I wouldn't buy anything from a "cold call", even if I wanted it, he was amazed. I don't think they realize how much it pisses us off. But then again, I boycott products I like, if their commercials piss me off. I doubt if that's normal.:3eye:

hahah I do that. By same token if I really like an ad campain I'll go out of my way to buy that product.....Like Pot Noodles.....great ad campaign......damn....I want a potnoodle now and the shop closed at 9pm

You know you fucking rule, right? :)

She should, everyone else does.;)

Thank you, gentlemen.

Technically, I promised to use my awesome powers only for the forces of good, and while my approach may seem distressing for some, it truly IS for the good of all.

Really.

Cuz I say so.

That is really bad if the are able to telemarket you at work, I mean its bad enough they ring up at home, I just tell them im not interested and dont ring back, they never do get that message back, hmmm, must have a low IQ

What peeves me more than a straightforward telemarketing call at work is when you pick up the phone and hear a recorded message, "Please hold for an important phone call regarding your ________ account" (of which I have none)

If it's so frigging important, how come they can't pay someone to just DIAL the damn phone?

:mad:

Telemarketers read off a script. I found a script for anti-telemarketers to use.
If you have some spare time, you can waste their time!

The website also has lots of information to get off junkmail lists.

http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/script.html

Stolen response set #1:

* "Hi, I represent the Acme Widget Company. We're offering..."
* "Wait a second. Are you naked?"
* "Excuse me?"
* "Are you naked?"
* "No, I'm not. We..."
* "I'll only listen to your sales pitch if you're naked."
* "Sir, I don't think that..."
* "Do you want me to listen or not?"

Stolen response set #2:

* "Hi, I represent the Acme Widget Company. We're offering..."
* "Hey, I'll listen to your sales pitch, but could you do me a favor first?"
* "What's that?"
* "Could you talk to my plants for a minute?"
* "Excuse me?"
* "They're upset with me right now. Maybe you can talk some sense into them."
* "...Your PLANTS?"
* "Yeah. Tell them that they have well-shaped leaves and smell nice or something. Okay? Here's my row of begonias."
* "..."

*coughs* speaking as an ex telemarketer ( or is that telemarketeer?) I gotta just say.....give these people a break. For you its a few minutes of annoyance for them its a day ( or evening) long drag of dialling peoples numbers watching the scoreboards, feel;ing the pressure getting sexually harrassed by the fieldreps( ok maybe they dont all but thats my experience) and threatened with dismissal if they cant meet their quotas......
is it too much trouble to just say

"Yeah, look I know you are just doing your job, but I dont have time for this right now/dont wish to hear about your services. Thanks for the call though."

Usually the people working those jobs are doing it because they havent any other options available to them which they can reasonably pursue. They are usually the members of an organisation who are treated the worst and have the fewest legal protections. They are also usually calling off canvass sheets which they have to trawl through again and again. Many of the jobs I had ( and they never last long) the managers were reluctant to "waste" new leads on you until you had thoroughly exhausted the canvass sheets you were working through. Consequently i made many calls which I knew to be stupid, knew would result in nothing but aggro but had to call because to do otherwise would have led to my sitting inactive with no calls to make and a supervisor explaining to me why I was no longer needed.

You could have turned to a more honorable profession, like prostitution, or murder for hire.

Arm or leg?

What dialing? They've got automated predictive dialers which connect them to me after I pick up. Or, if they don't have enough drones, I get silence.

Yes, it is. Particularly when I would have to say that many times a day and NOT get paid for it.

Have you considered panhandling? Cuts the middleman right out.

Why should I be polite to someone whose job it is to annoy me, just because it is their job?

Every telemarketer fired is one more round of minimal training for the new hire, decreasing the profit to the company. Likewise for wasting the time of a telemarketer.

wow, a profession more disliked than mine
nice!