Get Ready For Telemarketing Calls

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All the telemarketing calls I've gotten in the past two years have been machines. That's right, no person whatsoever! If that's the norm, that argument doesn't hold up.

While it's nowhere near as bad here as it is in other parts of the country (the more densely populated your area, the more likely you'll get called), it is kind of annoying whenever you're expecting a call and you get a machine.

 

My brother worked for a telemarketing agency when he was 18. He quit 3 days later. It's a load of bull****. But that's the price we pay for capitalism. I hope it goes through. There will always be people with no jobs. There will always be people who are poor. In fact, I'm probably going to be one soon. I don't see what the concern is. They'll find another job - the one they have now is only temporary anyway.

 

Why not come up with a firewall for telephones?

The phone company would have to implement an unblockable caller ID. And then it would just take a little black box, and some kind of weekly compiled list of marketing numbers. The only thing the phone company can do is allow spoofed numbers, which can be abused by terrorists and child molestors. Which makes them look bad, and everyone changes to sprint PCS.

Or just keep doing things like we've been doing. Personally, I set the phone down at the first second I realize who it is. Lets the poor caller guy/girl get their speech out of their system, and wastes their time so they can't harrass/bother as many people per hour.

I try to hook my fellow man (woman) up, whenever I can.

 

If she has a cute voice try asking her out on a date, could be an interesting conversation. If they really bother you it might be interesting to act wierd / demented, it lets you have a good laugh at their expense.

 

When I was sure it was a telemarketer, I used to answer like a little kid, a shy one, one who says little (it's harder to see through the sham the more you talk.)

So I would say "hello?" really hesitantly, and then when they asked for Mr. _____ or my Mom or dad, I'd say "they not home!" really quietly and scared like -- as if I were about to cry. They'd say they'd call back later. It was funny.

 

Ha, Ha, Ha. This is so funny. For those of you who have not seen this piece on CNN, I lifted this from their website.


CNN NEWSNIGHT AARON BROWN


It does not happen off, we admit. But sometimes, life is simply too perfect. Every now and then, a story comes along and you find yourself looking to the heavens in thanks. This is that story. It involves the do-not-call list and some of the people who signed up, hoping to avoid those annoying little calls. And you sometimes say there is no good news.

Here is CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We decided to see just who has registered on that do-not-call list.

(on camera): Michael Sherman.

(voice-over): Sherman is the chairman of the Direct Marketing Association.

(on camera): There we go. He's registered.

(voice-over): And doesn't want to be bothered by telemarketers, even though the association he heads up represents telemarketers and pushed hard to defeat the federal do-not-call list.

According to an investigation by Jack Dolan of "The Hartford Courant," at least 11 top executives of the Direct Marketing Association are on the do-not-call list themselves. Michael Sherman told CNN his family -- quote -- "just moved to a new home and were getting a lot of calls from movers."

JIM GUEST, CONSUMERS UNION: The executives of the telemarketing firms, their jobs are to defend the interests of the telemarketing firms. But what they're really showing us is, when push comes to shove, in their private lives, in their homes, they don't want these telemarketing calls anymore than anybody else does.

HINOJOSA: Telemarketers love to get people on the line right away. That's why they call you at home during dinner. But telemarketing executives?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave a message. I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can.

HINOJOSA: We wanted to talk to them about putting their names on the do-not-call list. But they wouldn't talk to us. Some put us on hold for what seemed like forever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's on another line at the moment.

HINOJOSA (on camera): OK. We can hold.

(voice-over): We waited patiently for a while, a long while, just to ask a vice president of West Corp., one of the country's largest telemarketers, why her boss had been on the do-not-call list. She wouldn't answer that, so I tried another.

(on camera): What's the kind of call that you would take, that you would like to take from a telemarketer?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boy, that's a tough question.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): Yes, it is. Just ask Jerry Seinfeld.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SEINFELD")

JERRY SEINFELD, ACTOR: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Hi, would you be interested in switching over to TMI long distance service?

SEINFELD: Oh, gee, I can't talk right now. Why don't you give me your home number and I'll call you later?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Well, I'm sorry. We're not allowed to do that.

SEINFELD: Oh, I guess you don't want people calling you at home.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No.

SEINFELD: Well, now you know how I feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HINOJOSA: We tried to find out whether Jerry Seinfeld had registered on the do-not-call list, but he couldn't take our call.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

 

I love messing with them too. If they are selling windows? I don't have windows. Its against our religion so we can't subscribe to your magazines. I'm sorry, I'm about to go watch some porn. That shuts them up. I've pretended once to be another telemarketer in their company. I told the person I was at the other end of the room. She was like, "Joe, is that you?" I told her to look at me and I'd wave back! That was really fun. I've done impressions of George Bush, and told them they got the private residence at the White House. The list goes on and on.