h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i get two sorts that ring me, rude and polite.

it they are polite then i just say not interested and put the phone down, wasting no more of anybodies time.

when they are rude or snotty then i take that as permission to wind them up.....one the other day sounded really drunk and was all slury. he wanted to know if i wanted to chane my gas/electric supplier so i told him i dont pay the bill so there really wasnt much point asking me so he said he had asked for my mum but actually he could have asked for a pint of beer and i'd have been none the wiser......

the best ones are when they ask for me by name and then ask if i want double glazing. where am i going to put it? in my tent?!


generally if they are really persistant i play very dumb and that makes them most cross.

i really hate it when you get kids phone from a party in the middle of the night for a joke. i have to get up at 6. i dont find it funny.


FABT

Funniest one I know of was when a conservatory company phoned my father in law, asking if he was interested.
He said he was very interested, and spent about 10 minutes being told all the details before telling the poor guy he lived on the 9th floor.

If I'm busy, then whatever they are selling, I say "no, I'm not interested, goodbye" and hang up.

if I'm boared shirtless, and not doing anything then I pretend to be slightly "simple" (Pretend?; well maybe there isn't too much pretending in it), and wind them up for fun:

I don't mind doing either approch, I used to work in telesales for, go guess, windows : it was a job, people swore at me, people hung up, and, most supprisingly of all, some people had windows put in! I didn't mind what response I got, though I obviously prefered the commision from sales.
Because of that I don't see any problem hanging up, being curt, etc., cause if they are the kind of person who would take offence then they are in the wrong job.
And, don't forget; you can be taken off the lists if you wish: if I remember corectly, most such firms use lists compiled by about two or three firms, who then sell the telephone/name/address lists to teh telesales firms; listing people of the criteria they want: normaly by location.
So, if its not changed in teh years and years since I last did telesales as a part time job, then there are about three calls to make, and (theoretically) remove your number from the lists and stop these calls.

On-on-and-on-to-another-place

The first time I got a call from a telesales/telemarketing person after I'd moved here, I was really baffled, because the only time anyone had tried 'selling' anything to me in Sweden was some cancer research organisation.
Anyways, they were usually pretty polite when they called,and when I told them I rented (which I did at the time) and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to have anything redone, they just said okay, thanked for taking the time and then hung up.

Working at a technical helpcentre, I have had my fair share of yellings at, where the customer just needs to yell at someone to get rid of pent up frustration when their stuff breaks down. I can imagine that it could be something like that for the telesales/marketing people as well.

Yes, they call at silly times, and yes, they can annoy you, but as others have said, they're just people trying to pay the rent.

...then let them find a j*b, a real j*b.

latest development...now i am being phoned by a pre-recorded message
that is trying to sell me insurance...these people are no fun!!!

Genie (under whatever it's latest guise is) is bothering me at the moment. I know it is them because in the end I get a call from them saying I signed up for free text messages (yeah - three years ago!!) and do I want their latest deal - I've told them four times in the last year NONONONONONONO but the message doesnt seem to be getting through. But then genie has a problem with getting through - my biggest gripe is that they call my mobile at all times of the day and night (on average about once a week) and when I answer it the caller hangs up. I know that this is a problem with the dialling package and the staff needing to take breaks (the only way they can do it is to get the millisecond there isn't a call or hang up on you) but it still gets me angry.

Oh no no no, that guff about telemarketers just being people who are trying to pay the rent won't wash as a justification for constantly phoning me.

When someone calls me or knocks on my door, they're trying to force themselves into my home, uninvited, and trying to get me to part with my money, for something I probably don't want or need. It's all about business, it's all about greed. That's the bottom line. If I wanted whatever they're selling I would have have gone out and bought it already. We've heard too many tales of slick salesmen who have managed to get people to overstretch their finances and cause them misery for years by playing on the innate 'niceness' of others. Most people don't want to be rude to another human being, even in extreme circumstances; salesmen and telemarketers take advantage of that. I remember seeing a documentary about this very thing which included a piece about a man who couldn't get a salesman out of his house for three hours. This bloke was obviously too damn nice. I'd have given the salesman two choices - either I call the police and have him arrested for trespass, or I pick him up bodily and throw him out onto the street.

Furthermore, when you get four of these calls in an hour, and as many as ten a day, I think that's too many. I think that's *ten* too many. It's like a persistent little child who hasn't yet learnt that it can't always get its parents attention the instant it wants it and keeps pulling at the hem of its mother's dress and going "Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, mum." The fact that this particular child is many different people says one thing to me - divide and rule. That might sound like hyperbole, but it's the way I see it. Each telemarketing company knows that there are many others out there doing the same thing so it must be ok, right? No, it's not ok, and the only people who actually welcome these calls are those on society's fringes who have no-one else to talk to because they either have no social skills (stereotype - live in a trailer home, have no friends, watch tv all day, eat nothing but convenience food), or have been left on their own because society today stresses individualism and selfishness to such a degree.

Telemarketers don't have to do it. There are always other ways to make a living.