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Made a telemarketer curse and hang up on me

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by EStreetJoe, Sep 24, 2013.

  1. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Versatile, I know where you're coming from, but that's not the way this works (at least that hasn't been the way it has with me).

    I should point out that I am referring to two classes of annoying callers:

    A) When one of those travel club circuses is coming through the area, I get calls two and three times a day for awhile. They always mention some survey I'm supposed to have taken at Wal-Mart or some such thing. Of course I never took any survey, and when I tell them that and to put me on their no-call list, they first feign real anger/frustration and then pretend to put me on some list. That never happens, of course, so the calls keep coming. And by "keep coming" I mean three and four times a day. I begin to get frustrated, ask to speak to a manager ... and they hang up. The number on the caller ID is fake, so there's no recourse there. I don't want to buy what they're selling, and I want them to quit calling. These are not remotely unreasonable wishes; I pay for my phone for my purposes, not theirs, and when that is not respected, I do not feel a powerful obligation to be nice.

    B) The Microsoft security scam. I get angry immediately here. This is not a minor inconvenience. It's not trying to sell me something I might, might value. It's attempted theft, pure and simple. And I have hung up immediately only to be called back immediately. I am not going to be nice. You are trying to steal from me and I will not have it.
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Victim mentality, exhibit 3,220.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Call center boss: Are you quitting?
    Small Town Guy: [long pause] I am.
    Call center boss: Come back any time, don't forget to disinfect your headset.
     
  4. Bodie_Broadus

    Bodie_Broadus Active Member

    What does that even mean?

    I don't work for a telemarketing company. Lots of people like to treat others like shit because they can. It makes them feel better about themselves.
     
  5. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    That same summer -- summer after college graduation -- I later worked as a wheelchair attendant at the airport. That one I actually lasted a few weeks (don't believe them if they say you'll get money on tips; people tip the electric cart drivers, not wheelchair pushers). But at the end, when I landed a newspaper job and could finally start my life and move on from these gigs, I told the lady at the agency and she told me to make sure I had my uniform dry-cleaned and it was some type of offense if I didn't. "You'll track me down if I don't?"

    "Yes."
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Obscene phone call laws DO NOT APPLY to incoming calls.

    If someone elects to call you, they are taking their chances on what kind of language you customarily use on the phone.

    The only thing you cannot do is make an immediate and credible threat of physical violence or other overtly illegal activity.

    Other than that -- go to town.
     
  7. Bodie_Broadus

    Bodie_Broadus Active Member

    They recycle the uniforms?

    Eww.
     
  8. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    This.
     
  9. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Now that I know I'm talking to an enslaved person, I will be nicer. Probably try to keep them on the line long enough to triangulate the call, find their location and send someone in on a rescue mission.
     
  10. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Not unless the storm forces us out of NATO. Third world doesn't necessarily mean poor. NATO members are the first world. The Communist bloc the second. Third world refers to everyone else.
     
  11. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    If telling them to fuck off or creating elaborate mindgames to fuck with their schedules actually keeps them from calling, great. Otherwise seems like a waste of energy, anger and creativity. Which is why I just hang up.
     
  12. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    I expected the usual snarky shit from you. ::)

    My point was, just like a cover letter on a job application, you make a better impression if you at least make the effort to target your inquiry appropriately.

    You don't send a cover letter to Apple Computer saying your skills as a master plumber are just what they are looking for.
     
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