I just hung up with a phone solicitor. Normally, I would be saying that I just hung up ON a phone solicitor, but this one seemed different. His thick accent made it difficult to catch everything he was saying, but I believe he told me he was gathering data on the types of phone systems that businesses use. As a psych major, I understand the importance of data collection and analysis, so I obliged.
His questions started off reasonable enough.....How many employees do you have? How many phone lines are in your office?.....but things deteriorated rapidly. He started asking me questions about T-1 and T-3 lines, or something. I told him that I had no idea what those were. THEN he started reading the definition for each - as if THAT would somehow delve into the recesses of my brain and force an epiphany. I'm sure the tone of my voice began to convey the love I was feeling for him right about then!
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER he was still trying to torture the information out of me. The only people who could possibly understand what he was talking about would be the telephone technicians who fluently speak the language. It would also make a difference if I actually CARED how our phone system works. What's important to me is that I am able to place and receive phone calls and faxes. The rest of the inner workings shall forever remain one of life's great mysteries...at least to me.
Let's just say I have learned a lesson today. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be nice. As my uncle UR always says, "No good deed goes unpunished."
14 comments:
As my uncle UR always says, "No good deed goes unpunished."
This statement is soooo true!
A telemarketer once called my mom an idiot for not buying their product...she was fuming mad because there was no phone # she could call him back on!
Blah, ha, ha, ha...you crack me up. I can just imagine the conversation now. I think I have had a few this past week...halarious.
I just got off the phone with one too! She asked to speak to Russell (it was our home phone) and when I said that I would take a message, she just hung up. Not even a 'Kiss my ass', just click!!
Uhhhh ... you can still be nice, by telling them no in a nice way ; ) Henrietta is Krissa's MIL, right? Or did I totally get it wrong?
When I was in college I worked for a company that conducted these phone interviews for large companies. We were instructed to read all the questions just so and were listened in on sometimes to see if we were doing it right. I had nightmares about the questions.
"Did you find the taste of the pizza was
Excellent?
Very Good?
Acceptable?
Somewhat Disappointing? or
Unacceptable?"
"Did you find the temperature of the pizza was
Excellent?
Very Good?
Acceptable?
Somewhat Disappointing? or
Unacceptable?"
and it would go on and on and on and I HAD TO read each and every choice - even though they were always the same as the question before. And I was supposed to tell them all that I was just conducting a "short" survey that would take about 5 minutes to complete. Even though I knew some of those stupid surveys could take up to 20 minutes. It was terrible... I was so glad to quit.
Therefore I live by my caller i.d.
I am always very nice to those people and never just hang up, BUT, I always excuse myself and ask them to remove my name and number from their calling list. 99% of the time they are very nice when they say, "OK.", but they always say OK.
I always tell them I cannot talk...*click*
I ALWAYS hang up ON telemarketers and solicitors. I don't even want to get them started.
Of course, some can be persistent and unless you EXPLICITLY tell them to NOT call you back and remove you from their list, they'll call back. And when they do I always ask if the last time I hung up wasn't clear enough and then SLAM the phone down.
As much as I hate telemarketers, don't even get me started on calling customer service for my cell phone company...in India!!!!
Auds at Barking Mad
www.abritandabit.typepad.com
Very jealous of your Serendipity experience, promise to do an "do tell" one day...btw, he's doing a lot better today. Thanks for being there!
I tagged you for a meme when you get the chance:-)
LOL-- would you believe that telemarketer was my first job? :) And I did well.
So, you know I have to listen to their spill. - I am loyal, what can I say?
Been lurking for awhile and I had to come out of hiding. I hope you don't mind. Cute blog.
I have always tried to be nice to telemarketers...it's their job...at least they are trying(to work)...but some of them don't seem to understand the word "NO THANKYOU!"
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