Hate Telemarketers?/National "Do Not Call" Registry Coming

bobg- Much as I DESPISE the whole telemarketing business, I think that ANY kind of honest work, done well, is worthy of respect. That does not mean that I have to become involved with the telemarketers, though.

Sometimes I will go into a mall, and am accosted by one of those folks who are working for marketing survey firms. I will never take one second of my time to respond. I just say, "not interested", and walk away. But that is MY choice. The people who perform this work ARE worthy of respect, even though I am not interested in what they are doing.

I feel the same way about evangelists who go from door to door, or stand on street corners & preach. They have a perfect right, in a free society, to do what they do, & I have the right not to listen to them!

Yeah, see phoenix, I realize that it's all just opinion and there's no way to hammer out a true "right and wrong".....but I disagree w/you when you say that telemarketing is honest work. Sure there are some telemarketing organizations whose people are very polite when you tell them you aren't interested and that's the end of it.....great. But there are a ton of them who badger you and some who are downright rude. There's nothing honest or noble or respectable about that. And for an industry spokesperson to say "don't shut us down because so many people will no longer be able to collect a paycheck" -- again there's nothing honest about that. In my earlier rant I compared it to a handout, and there's nothing honest or respectable about someone begging for or demanding a handout. It's shameful....and I see that kind of person as deserving shame and the disdain of his/her fellow citizens who ARE working hard in an industry that CONTRIBUTES to the society as a whole. Which is another dishonest element to the telemarketing industry.....they don't contribute anything......they bother decent people like you and me.

And just cos someone works hard does not automatically qualify them as deserving of respect. I'm sure there were plenty of low ranking soldiers in the German Army in WW2 who worked really really hard....but if there job was herding Jewish people into ovens was their hard work honorable?? Now I realize that there's a world of difference between telemarketers and nazis.....but I'm making a point. Don't be fooled by someone's "good intentions" -- the hardest working telemarketer doesn't have YOUR best interests at heart. That's all I'm saying.

And again, if the absolute only job that a person is capable of or qualified for is telemarketing, then I want to know how they even get dressed to go to work each day....cos that is one SORRY human being.

bobg- You could actually say the same thing about used car and insurance salesmen........even stockbrokers. Would you include them too in the category of people who don't contribute to society? The fact remains that some people like to do business with telemarketers, or it would not be such a huge business.

P.S. I would not call being a foot soldier for the Nazis "honest work" by any stretxh of the imagination.

People want used cars; people want, and to a great extent as dictated by law, must have insurance; anyone interested in retiring comfortably needs someone with a mastery of the stock market. Are there people in those industries who are not of the highest caliber, sure. But it isn't a mandatory part of the nature of those industries to agggressively bother people in their homes. Those industries can thrive w/out calling our homes. The telemarketing industry dies if they're no longer allowed to bother people in their homes. And that dear Phoenix, is what puts the telemarketing industry in a class by itself. Like I said earlier, no one is rushing to create a "stop selling microwave ovens" list. I stand by my statement that the telemarketing industry does not contribute.

And why wouldn't you call being a foot-soldier (even 1 in WW2 Germany) honest work? The average citizen (even in nazi Germany) really doesn't have/feel a politically vested interest in going to war, not in the same sense that their government has for declaring war. A young man is told by his government that it's his turn to pick up a gun and fight the "enemy". His job is then to do what he's told by the powers that be and to keep himself alive so he can go home at some point and resume a normal life. I'd say that's a damn noble pursuit. And please note that I am making the distinction between the "grunts" and the officers who made decisions and dictated policy. And I am by no means trying to put the whole nazi regime in a positive light. Again, I realize that it was a bit of an extreme comparison, but it was only that, a comparison.

The bottom line is that there really ISN'T another industry similar to the telemarketing industry. It is an entity unto itself.....one that might have been a good idea at one time. And in reality it wasn't ever a GOOD idea; it was an idea....it's been tried, I think the enrollments in the do not call list prove that most folks don't like this idea. So it's time to scrap it. No one's crying over the people who lost their jobs when the "Pet Rock" thing fell through.....it was an idea, we tried it, people lost interest and now there are no pet rocks. No big deal. Boo-hoo for the knuckleheads who had no skill at all but to make pet rocks.

I have no social life, I like talking to telemarketers when they call! Nobody ever really calls me, that is why im here most of the time. Thank God for telemarketers, without them the world would be a lonely place! Did you ever here about the man that was about to commit suicide and the telemarketer called to offer him some deal on a vacuum cleaner and so from there the man decided to live?

Hey There....bobg again, I just spent some time reading back over old discussion of this topic, and one of the common threads I noticed was the comparison of telemarketers to junk mail. And lot's of folks mentioned that they just toss junk mail in the trash and don't give it another thought. Of course being the abbrassive, vindictive jerk that I am, I've got a better idea that I'd like to share.

Lots of these junk mail solicitations come with a postage paid return envelope. Use the envelope to return their junk, including the envelope it came in, back to them. Now they've paid to ship that crap twice over. And you can also send them junk that other organizations send you. Give American Express a coupon for $100 off a new roof. Send pizza coupons to the United Way. If you have an offer for a credit card or home equity line of credit, just quickly scribble over your relevant info or rip the forms up and stuff'em into the prepaid envelope and put it right back into your mailbox for tomorrow's pick up. Stuff those prepaid envelopes to the gills. DON'T BE A VICTIM PEOPLE!!! And if you're signing up for "Do Not Call" lists, and chatting about telemarketers on the 'net, you obviously feel victimized to some extent. DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO UNTO YOU, now those are words to live by.

And again I will use this forum to promote the idea of verbally asaulting telemarketers when they invade your home. Treat them like the subhumans that they are.

And for the individual who described him/herself as a "dyed in the wool liberal" -- how do you keep any $$ to pay your bills, mortgage, etc??? There's always some piece of human garbage crossing our paths begging for a buck or some "charity gonna change the world" knocking on our doors asking that we do our part to help mass murderers get a better selection of cable channels in their cells. How do you pass any of them over?? You're concerned about the balance between our right to eat dinner in peace and the right(?) of a telemarketing organization to invade your privacy??!! I just don't get it. I'm really not trying to be rough or anything, but how can anyone for one moment worry about that balance. Next we'll be saying "it's OK for a child molester to get his jollies just as long as he ROMANCES the kid first?" There's balance for ya, everyone's happy; no one's "personal expression" is shackled or hampered. Some things are just WRONG. There is such a thing as "absolute" -- we don't have to see the grey area on every issue. We as a society dissect everything to death anymore. There's always 1 more side to the story. Blah blah blah.

It's becoming obvious that telemarketing is a "product" that no one wants. Evidenced by the massive response to the "do not call" list. The masses are speaking, but the industry refuses to listen, so we need the govt to step in and say "Hey you there with the speed dialer and nothing to relevant to say, cut it out".

There will always be more french fries to drop into the bubbling vat of oil; there will always be trash trucks that can't fill themselves; there will always be speedbumps in parking lots; so as the telemarketing industry fizzles into history along w/the Edsel and ColorForms the folks losing their jobs can choose from one of the 3 scintillating options listed above and continue to make their $5.45/hr. Boo-Hoo.

I've seen this suggestion in all sorts of places at all sorts of times.

Please don't do this. It doesn't get any sort of message across. All it does is waste energy and gets you nowhere. The people who open the mail at these places don't make the policy. All they do is open envelopes. These are generally minimum wage workers, and many of them are disabled so they're not going to be filling trash trucks or flipping burgers any time soon. All you're doing is adding junk to their workload and you're not accomplishing a dang thing.

Want to really make a difference? Contact the companies and complain through normal channels. Go to your Congressional representative and even the Consumer Affairs reporter at your local TV station if you like. How do you think the anti-telemarketing bill was promoted and passed in the first place? It was due to constituents bugging the hell out of their representatives, and making it an issue in the local press. You can do the same with junk mail and even spam. Make it a political issue. Put it on the table for Congressional and Senatorial elections and you'll be heard.

And recycle the enclosures.

Don't listen to Jespah, think about it, if everyone who received junk mail sent it back in at the cost of the sender, eventually they'd begin to see the cost effect their bottom line. It's not that it wastes energy -- it wastes money. The sender's money. Tons of junk mail being shipped twice!! Doubling the costs of the companies who send it.

And besides, like Jespah said, it mostly gimps & 'tards opening the stuff, many of them will probably be thrilled at all the pretty colors falling out of the return envelopes. You'd be making their day.

And Jespah, let's focus on reality for a moment. Junk mail existed long before telemarketing or spam; and people have hated it since about the second week. But nothing's been done. So I say, let's have a little fun at someone else's expense and avoid having to deal with the stuff. It takes all of 2 minutes to restuff the envelopes, time I now have free because I'm not on the phone w/telemarketers!!!, and I walk past my mailbox every morning anyway, so no effort to just pop something in.

And don't worry for 1 second about recycling all that crap. (1) how do you think stuff gets recycled, in factories that create pollution!!! and (2) it is a statistical fact that there are more trees in the United States now than when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. So we're OK on that front. The recycling cause is silly, it only serves as (1)political posturing to help municipal govt reps look like they're accomplishing something "meaningful" (2) it gives the nitwit hippies a way to socialize when they aren't stinking up some stadium or field flailing to Phish (3) the average citizen's elf-esteem gets a shot in the arm every time they separate their green glass from clear glass from cardboard cos they're helping Mother Earth.

You do that.

Yes junk mail, is annoying, and a waste of paper, but it's not an interuption. I tell telemarketers both-- charities and salesmen, (even ones I have a relationship with) that I never do business over the phone and if they want to contact me, put the details in writing and mail it too me. It's dangerous to do business with a stranger over the phone -- too many ripoffs out there, even with charities.

Junk mail is probably even more lucrative than phone calls so junk mail probably won't go away. Businesses still need to use some sort of "cold call" and mail is preferable to a knock on the door or annoying phone call.

What a boring response.

Good thing it was emailed. If it weren't electronic it would be a shameful waste of paper. Paper that could've been recycled by some 4th grade drop out who lost his job as a telemarketer. Much to the heartbreak of all the bleeding hearts who'd rather see someone employed at something meaningless than see a meaningless organization shut down.

I'm just funnin' with ya Jespah; if you were here I'd tousle yer hair & give ya a good-natured noogie. Ya crazy recyclin' dynamo. You go recycle and YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT.

Is someone pouting???

Jespah, just for you I'm gonna recycle something this wkend.

You're so cute with all your positive energy and gusto and belief in the system.

So here's a question......

Where are all the folks who HATE telemarketers........AND have some balls. So far I'm reading nothing but posts from folks who are mildly annoyed by telemarketers; folks for whom telemarketers aren't their cup of tea; people whose pumpkins have been frosted by the telemarketing experience. Be angry people......if I walked into your home, put my boots up on the good tablecloth and started chewing the fat uninvited, you'd be pissed. (Except Jespah, who would probably ask if my boots needed polishing and try to understand why I was there) But seriously, that is what telemarketers are doing. I don't care about separating the companies from the employees. There IS always something else to do. Don't tell me that there is even 1 telemarketer in this country who couldn't go do some other equally mindless task for $5.45/hr.

Oh yeah......and does anyone have a really good recipe for peach cobbler??


This place is sooooooo much fun.

LOL

Ha ha ha, it's so interesting how you think my being busy or otherwise occupied has anything to do with you.

So sorry but I have other things that are considerably more pressing.

Polish your own damned boots.

I hate them as well since I've had many sleepless days when I worked nights because of them calling day in and day out. I would truly like to see the end of their calls. I do get angry when I'm is the middle of something (which is always) and I continuously have to drop what I'm doing to find them on the other end of my ringing phone. I'm thrilled that they have a no call list for people so we can be free of them once and for all. I put myself on the list in my area a few months ago and the calls are finally stopping. It's great :-)

You intrigue me, bobg. (Apology accepted, btw.) You swing wildly from being perfectly reasonable and articulate to ranting, raving and coming awfully close to being insulting to Jespah, surely one of the most level-headed and knowledgeable people on this forum. What's up with this dichotomy? Hate telemarketers all you want, that's your privilege. But please don't make it personal. Jespah is absolutely correct in her assesment of the futility of returning junk mail in the pre-paid envelopes (or any other envelopes). It's not a new idea. Another reason why it's not a good idea is that it just adds to the headaches the Post Office already has. It increases the amount of mail it has to sort. When you do that, all you're doing is tying up the service and making it even more inefficient. You are, in fact, aiding and abetting the very practice which you claim to deplore.

So it appears I've been "kicked out".

OK, maybe I haven't. yesterday I tried to respond to Merry Andrew, and noticed at the bottom of my screen that it said I could not reply or submit new posts. However in writing, the short note above, it did post successfully. So I'll try again.

If you want to be on the "do not call" list that comes out in October, you must sign up by TODAY!

http://www.msnbc.com/news/958624.asp?0cv=CB20&cp1=1