Telemarketers: villains or victims?

[Tamas]

ETA: Far be it from me to accuse you guys of ITG Syndrome, but I find the ones who usually whined the hardest about telemarketers "not taking no for an answer" were the ones who beat around the bush and wasted both their and my time.  If they think there's ANY chance in hell of a sale going through, they're going to take it when it means the difference between 7.15/hr and 8.00/hr for the pay period.

yeah that's what I not get in the "not taking no for an answer". Huh? When I hear it is going to be some telemarketing BS, I take the first moment of opportunity, say "no, thank you, bye" and hang up.

[Syt]

I don't get many telemarketers here, but I find their street equivalent ("Hi, do you have a second for endangered animals/child abuse/political refugees?") extremely annoying, and more than one was close to being punched in the face when (s)he refused to make way.

[The Larch]

In my experience, there is a simple test to see whether a telemarketer is just an aggressive peddler, or an outright swindler.  If he hangs up after you clearly say "I'm not interested" twice, you could've done business with him.  If he doesn't hang up, then you shouldn't do business with them.

In some places they dont allow them to terminate the conversation.

[DontSayBanana]

In some places they dont allow them to terminate the conversation.

Actually, it's a good measure on whether they're on the up-and-up.  Every salesman gets taught that there's a soft refusal and a hard refusal.  A soft refusal might be convinced to turn around with a little more info, but a hard refusal means it's time to disengage.  The first "I'm not interested" might be a soft refusal because it's a pretty generic answer to a sales pitch, but the second one means they really mean it.

[DontSayBanana]

Oh, and Seeds, you're damn right about being overqualified.  By the end of those six months, I felt like they were only keeping me around because I kept the computers in the office running better than the guy from corporate could.

[Martinus]

In some places they dont allow them to terminate the conversation.

Actually, it's a good measure on whether they're on the up-and-up.  Every salesman gets taught that there's a soft refusal and a hard refusal.  A soft refusal might be convinced to turn around with a little more info, but a hard refusal means it's time to disengage.  The first "I'm not interested" might be a soft refusal because it's a pretty generic answer to a sales pitch, but the second one means they really mean it.

See, this is why sales people/telemarketers are scum and should be treated as such. Because when I tell a telemarketer I am not interested, it does not mean an invitation to convince me - it means I'm not interested and he or she is wasting my time. If people go into a job to be that kind of scum and/or are taught to be scum like that, they are scum. Period.

[DontSayBanana]

See, this is why sales people/telemarketers are scum and should be treated as such. Because when I tell a telemarketer I am not interested, it does not mean an invitation to convince me - it means I'm not interested and he or she is wasting my time. If people go into a job to be that kind of scum and/or are taught to be scum like that, they are scum. Period.

Sure, because the way you do things is clearly representative of the way everyone does everything and should form the baseline for employee training.  It's not like people make kneejerk comments without knowing what they're talking about.

[Eddie Teach]

Sure, because the way you do things is clearly representative of the way everyone does everything and should form the baseline for employee training.  It's not like people make kneejerk comments without knowing what they're talking about.

Uhhh, both people and Marty make kneejerk comments. 

[Admiral Yi]

Actually, it's a good measure on whether they're on the up-and-up.  Every salesman gets taught that there's a soft refusal See, this is why sales people/telemarketers are scum and should be treated as such. Because when I tell a telemarketer I am not interested, it does not mean an invitation to convince me - it means I'm not interested and he or she is wasting my time. If people go into a job to be that kind of scum and/or are taught to be scum like that, they are scum. Period.

Much like the how, when you say you're quitting Languish, it really means you're quitting Languish.

[The Brain]

Oh no he didn't!

[Josquius]

In some places they dont allow them to terminate the conversation.

Actually, it's a good measure on whether they're on the up-and-up.  Every salesman gets taught that there's a soft refusal and a hard refusal.  A soft refusal might be convinced to turn around with a little more info, but a hard refusal means it's time to disengage.  The first "I'm not interested" might be a soft refusal because it's a pretty generic answer to a sales pitch, but the second one means they really mean it.

When I was working for the census we had a similar system.
A soft refusal was when someone was too busy to talk to you, was a little bit worried about not being able to do it, etc... the idea was you'd come back another time.
A hard refusal was when they said they were going to fucking kill you for being a stooge of the evil government trying to invade their privacy.
Suffice to say there were a lot of the second type...