The direction of our society

[halljams]

I just got a call. 8:30 pm. Just finished dinner.

Lady says "hi it's ..... I'm calling from ....... we are doing a study on Canadian Fitness and it's effects on health etc etc."

 

She seems nice enough, so rather than the usual (spoken in a fast manner)

"No sorry not interested" - hang up. I say "No thank you, i am not interested in taking part". "Well if you are too busy we can call back another time" she says. "No i said, i am always busy and not intere....." before i could finish SHE HANGS UP ON ME!

Damn!.

What is this world coming to. People invade your privacy at a rude time of day by a VERY questionable means, and when you politely say no thank you, they are rude to you.

 

Have You ever got one of these calls where you answer and nothing is there, than a few seconds later an automated voice comes on asking YOU to hold????? ON YOUR OWN PHONE AS THE RECEIVING CALLER!!!!

ARE YOU {censored}ING KIDDING ME. How rude can this {censored} get?

 

That's it for me though. If anyone wants to get in touch with me about asking for help or donations they better write me a letter on THIN recycle-able paper or they are gonna get a talking to about re-thinking their present career.

Good Grief.

[Billster]

So this evening I got a call...

 

Is Mrs. B available?

 

No.

 

Is there a cell phone number I could try?

 

Where are you calling from?

 

So-and-so recruiting firm with a job opportunity in your area

 

Try tomorrow (Mrs. has been looking at job change)

 

What time does she usually leave for work?

 

Call tomorrow.

 

Is there a cell phone number I could try?

 

***click***

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I mean talk about agressive.

[the stranger]

meaningless phone calls

to clutter our existence

wanna buy some shoes?

[Ani]

How about the telephone SPAM a RAMA that chews up every ounce of message space on your recorder within a day's time. I'm just about ready to change my number because I have to wade through 29 calls of "Please hold on an someone will be with you shortly" messages.

[spokenward]

Who's askin'?

 

Is this a "Background Investigation"? The 'recruiter' scenario stinks of that.

 

Actually, a lot of these unsolicited contacts are suspect. And every time someone asks you to sign a "privacy notice" you have less of it. Some of these calls are just verifying a working phone number. They don't care what they say, or what you have to say.

[Rubber Lizard]

The direction of our society? Wait... Weren't we going to the mall?

[UstadKhanAli]

Responses:

 

"So hi...what are you wearing?"

 

"Hey, are you a telemarketer? Did you know that 4 out of 5 telemarketers suffer from listening fatigue from their headsets? My name is Ken with Acme Headset company, and we make a headset that is more comfortable than the leading brand..."

[halljams]

 

Responses: "So hi...what are you wearing?" "Hey, are you a telemarketer? Did you know that 4 out of 5 telemarketers suffer from listening fatigue from their headsets? My name is Ken with Acme Headset company, and we make a headset that is more comfortable than the leading brand..."

 

 

Hmmm, sounds like you guys get more of it than i do.

Letters, thats the only way from now on. You wanna play squash on Thursday, write me a letter last Wednesday.

[Ernest Buckley]

No exaggeration, I get at least 3 telemarketers a night after 6p and I`m not counting those that call during the day. Now my Cable service is even calling my cell. So I put myself on the DO NOT CALL list. Its gotten out of hand but these companies must have some success with cold calling because they keep calling or they just enjoy aggravating the public!

[Paully]

A couple thoughts. For land-based phones, Verizon offers a ($5/month) service that blocks calls that can't be IDed. I actually used it for several months when those calls became annoying.

 

OT, but just as annoying is the use of animated pop-ups with audio that cable companies are running during actual programs. Not only rude and annoying, but no longer can you tape a show without those f**king popups being there for eternity. One company actually puts a different show's title right next to the channel's logo and leaves it there for the entire show. Haven't these clowns learned anything from the computer industry's battle to remove popups?

 

Paul

[meccajay]

Jay's rule: If I don't know you(recognize your number), I ain't answering!!

[tucktronix]

No exaggeration, I get at least 3 telemarketers a night after 6p and I`m not counting those that call during the day. Now my Cable service is even calling my cell. So I put myself on the DO NOT CALL list. Its gotten out of hand but these companies must have some success with cold calling because they keep calling or they just enjoy aggravating the public!

 

Same here, at least 3-4 telemarketer calls per day. The call normally shows up in the caller ID as "Toll Free Call" with a 1-800 number. My wife and I would always let these calls go to voicemail. The caller hangs up in the middle of the outgoing message, usually a tell-tale sign of a telemarketer. We were on the DNC list before, but didn't realize that you would have to re-register every so-often.

[Super 8]

 

"No i said, i am always busy and not intere....." before i could finish SHE HANGS UP ON ME! Damn!.

 

 

SWSWSWN

Some Will, Some Won't, So What, Next.

 

 

That's the telemarketer's mantra.

 

I got on the no call list when they started it. The calls were getting to be a problem. We get a lot more peace around here since they started it, although there are a few calls we get that can slip in on a technicality I guess. I get calls from guys -it's always authoritative sounding men- who are trying to get me to send them money for the police and for which I get a sticker for my car. I have to assume it's a put on, although I suppose it could be legit. I hang up on them. We used to get a few calls from Chase, because we have an account there. I got one the other day from a heart association (I don't remember if it was the American Heart Assoc.) who were telling me they DON'T want to sell me anything, but want to send me stuff that I'm supposed to put in envelopes and mail to my neighbors.

 

I have no idea what this stuff is or if any of it is real. But I have a rule about solicitors. I don't do business over the phone. If the earth is dry and you have the last glass of water, you better not call me to sell it because I don't do business over the phone. You never really know who you are talking to, and it's rude to be bothered at home anyway. Why encourage them?

[coyote-1]

I once ran a boiler room.

 

They KNOW they will never encounter you at a personal level, so the moment they encounter obstruction they will hang up and move on to the next. Such marketing is strictly a numbers game, and the only to make your numbers is to plow through all the NOs til you find a YES - and do so as qwuickly as possible. The guy who makes 300 calls per day will statistically get perhaps 5 more GOOD leads per month than the guy making 275 calls per day... if they ain't hanging up the moment anything but YES is the answer, they ain't doing their jobs.

[bbach]

Wow. You guys get a lot of spam calls. We hardly get any. Talk about being unloved. Even the telemarketers don't like us.

[alphajerk]

i had a MCI telemarketer call me early one morning waking me up to sell me something... in a haze most asleep i said "not interested" and hung up.... he calls me back to cuss me out! that woke me up, called up MCI and reported the asshole and told them i would NEVER do business with them EVER because of this and to never call me again. ironically a few years earlier while working in a screen shop, i printed 50k MCI tshirts and have that logo so burned into my retinas i wouldnt ever want to see that logo again anyway... until a few weeks later while walking downtown DC, i stumble upon all the people the shirts were made for all wearing them. nightmare.

[rasputin1963]

Sometimes there is the weirdest tone of collusion in their voices, a kind of plea for understanding...

 

They'll recite their long (written down) script to you in a pleasant tone, but then when you say "No, thanks" they drop all pretense of trying to be your friend.

 

It's as though they are longing to say to you, "Look, this hokey {censored} is how I make my living. So won't you be a mensch and bear with me while I recite my shtick as I've been told to do?"

 

As though you are doing THEM a favor just by listening...

[coyote-1]

Any of them that have an iota of intelligence DO NOT want you to listen to the entire spiel unless you're gonna be a legit sales lead. The greatest favor you can do them is "NO THANKS" and hang up the moment you know you're not interested in their pitch.

 

As though you are doing THEM a favor just by listening...

 

[halljams]

 

The greatest favor you can do them is "NO THANKS" and hang up

 

You got a witness!

[philbo]

This has worked well for me:

 

1. Turn off the ringer

2. Turn off the volume on the answering machine

3. Tell friends that using your land line will get them nowhere & give 'em your cell number.

4. Set your answering machine to say 'Hello' then wait 25 seconds, then say "If you are calling for he moved to Tibet to study with the Dalai Lama 3 months ago. You might find his new number at whitepages.com -- or you might not.... but I guess that's your problem isn't it? Well, it was very nice talking to you. Call this answering machine again some time if you really need to talk, OK? Bye!"

[Paully]

Here's a thought. Most of these calls do not show a number/name on caller ID. Why hasn't someone invented a unit that will trap these calls (or even calls from names that you could store in memory) before the second ring, then automatically disconnect before the answering machine goes off or a standard caller ID unit could register the call. I'd certainly buy one, especially with the election coming up.

 

Paul

[Cry Logic]

If you're feeling frivolous the following ploys can be amusing.

 

 

If you're not in the mood for any of the above: just hang up.....

[blue2blue]

 

I just got a call. 8:30 pm. Just finished dinner. Lady says "hi it's ..... I'm calling from ....... we are doing a study on Canadian Fitness and it's effects on health etc etc." She seems nice enough, so rather than the usual (spoken in a fast manner) "No sorry not interested" - hang up. I say "No thank you, i am not interested in taking part". "Well if you are too busy we can call back another time" she says. "No i said, i am always busy and not intere....." before i could finish SHE HANGS UP ON ME! Damn!. What is this world coming to. People invade your privacy at a rude time of day by a VERY questionable means, and when you politely say no thank you, they are rude to you. Have You ever got one of these calls where you answer and nothing is there, than a few seconds later an automated voice comes on asking YOU to hold????? ON YOUR OWN PHONE AS THE RECEIVING CALLER!!!! ARE YOU {censored}ING KIDDING ME. How rude can this {censored} get? That's it for me though. If anyone wants to get in touch with me about asking for help or donations they better write me a letter on THIN recycle-able paper or they are gonna get a talking to about re-thinking their present career. Good Grief.

 

 

What?!? You have national healthcare but you don't have a do not call list?!?

 

Dang.

 

Tell Ottawa -- or wherever you guys call the capital -- you want a do not call list -- with real teeth.

[veracohr]

 

Here's a thought. Most of these calls do not show a number/name on caller ID. Why hasn't someone invented a unit that will trap these calls (or even calls from names that you could store in memory) before the second ring, then automatically disconnect before the answering machine goes off or a standard caller ID unit could register the call. I'd certainly buy one, especially with the election coming up. Paul

 

 

Because no one needs to. That's what the eyes and brain are for.

 

RING RING

 

Walks to phone

 

"Hmmm, I don't know that number"

 

...

 

Goes to get a sandwich

[Paully]

 

Because no one needs to. That's what the eyes and brain are for.

 

 

Clever, but Verizon already has a pay service that does just this. Personally, I don't like wading thru a bunch of empty answering machine messages, and scrolling thru caller ID hits to find nothing but bulls**t. That's not what my eyes and brain are for.

 

Paul