Posing a question to everyone?
I have worked in the telephone industry for about 3 years now and I wanted to pose a question to everyone. My question is why we are so rude to the ones that call us. Given the question I know the simple answer is that they just keep on calling and bothering you. That is the simple answer to this question but I would like a thoughtful answer one with actually an answer. In my line of work I’ve called people that I have had a conversation with in the past 6 months before and they have been rude. I have talked with people for the first time ever and they are rude. I have talked to the old and to the new comers. I have talked with the rich and the poor. People today are so rude when answering the phone that I also pose the question why should anyone call you about any thing. When you have a fraud alert on your account should be call you? When you qualify for more funds should we call you? When you’re late on payments or ahead? When should a company make a call to talk with its customer? Why most we be rude to hundred of thousands of people that work on the phones everyday to help all of us. If you don’t know about something is it ok for someone to tell you? Everyone of us has went to school, some of us like me has paid thousands to get information, yet we shut out those willing to give it to us for free. Is this because of pride? Please help me understand why people don’t want to listen to anyone. I have got so confused these last years as to why it is a sin to call some one. Anyone that can shed some light to these questions please place a comment and let me know as I am so interest to know the reason. Why are we so rude to each other.
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Comments: 67
Period.
If you aren't a close friend or relative - don't call me. I don't want to talk to you.
You are wasting my time, you are possibly blocking a call from someone to whom I DO want to talk. If there are fraudulent charges on my credit card, I'll be able to find them when I reconcile my statement - and I can call you then - and it won't cost me a DIME more than it would if you pestered me about "seemingly fraudulent" charges that just happen to be legitimate changes in my purchasing habits.
Don't call me. I don't care about your political stance. I won't vote for you or your candidate if you pester me by phone.
Don't call me. If I want to donate to your charity, I will donate. If you want me to know about your cause - snail-mail still works fine. Don't call me. Calling me will do nothing but guarantee that I will NEVER donate to your charity.
Don't call me. I don't care about your religion. I've probably already considered and rejected its theology over 20 years ago.
Don't call me. I'm on the National Do-Not Call list, and I WILL report you if you call pretending to take a survey so you can tout your product.
Don't call me. Yes, I bought a car from your dealership 10 years ago. It sucked. Total lemon. I will never purchase another vehicle from you again. Die in a fire.
Don't call me. I already know that my payment is late, you vulture. You're only contributing to my medical distress and delaying your payment more due to increased medical bills. Don't call me.
Don't call me.
I'm sorry that people are rude to you when you are only trying to do your job. I think our lives are just so busy anymore. Plus there are so many telemarketers out there. What exactly do you do?
The one that sets me off the most is the computer calls that tie up the line even if you hang up.
When the local elections were going on some guy who was running for county sheriff used computer campaign calls and I must have gotten at least 10 of them from the same guy and someone ended up tracking this guy down and beating the hooey out of him - I can only guess that it was over the computer calls but it made me feel like giving him a kick in butt too.
My bank sends a text message to my email and cell phone if there is a problem with my account which I like a lot and they actually gave me an option of when they should call me when I registered my online account.
Once when we were out of state and I used my ATM card I got an alert on my cell phone for suspicious activity and to call them if I did not make the purchase within 2 minutes of the transaction being completed - I think this method is great.
As for all those other calls like Joan listed above - don't ring my number either.
I don't want to talk to you. Ever. Period. End of story.
If my grandmother (who has been dead for over 30 years) is found dead in the supermarket, it will be the 2nd coming of Christ and the press will be all over it, I'll hear it on the news. By the way - you don't "Buy" meatloaf - you make it.
I don't want to hear about your stupid investment scams. I don't care if it IS going to be the "next Google" - you don't know that NOW either. I'll take my chances.
My stockbroker's number is registered with the name of his agency, so THAT is what shows up in my caller-ID. Don't call me. I know you're a scam artist.
Anyone who would call to tell me that an investment was failing and that I better get my funds out right away would be telling me to divest my portfolio based on "insider trading information" which is highly illegal. I will not join you in prison, Snookiedimples - don't call me.
You chose your career - you knew it was possible someone might be rude. You could instead have chosen McDonalds or WalMart for your childish job. I have no sympathy. Don't EVER call me.
I see no reason to be rude or mean to someone for just doing their job. If I pick up the phone and it's someone selling something I don't want, I just say no thank you and hang up. We are on the national do not call list and hardly ever get sales calls. We get calls from charities and if we can donate, we do, if we can't we just say so. Big deal! I'm sorry people are rude to you.
I feel for you. I worked in an inbound call center and people would be rude just because you told them the truth. If you don't like the truth, then take action to change it, don't scream at the messenger.
If you don't want my money - fine. There are 100's of other folks out there who will gladly take it.
That's the risk you take with opening a business.
My preference is email, with snail mail second. I am also on the national do not call list. If I wanted unsolicited calls I would not be on this list. My telephone exists for my convenience and for the convenience of a small group of personal friends. Even my doctor's office confirms my appointments via email.
There are a lot of people out here who hate unsolicited phone calls of any sort for any reason. I am one. Joan is another. I suspect most of the public are that way. We don't want to argue with some telemarketer. I have a policy and I absolutely never ever buy anything over the phone unless I initiate the call. I never contribute anything to anyone unless I initiate the call. If a business calls, I give them my email address and tell them to contract me that way. If they call again I block their calls.
Although according to my set rules for my group"C" ~ Articles/Images That Start with the letter "C" (All subjects matter allowed...)" I have had to reject it.
In your case your article starts with the letter "W" Not "C", and like the rules say for this group the title must start with a "C".
I am also sorry for the delay of finally letting you know if it would be accepted or denied. I have finally got back to Gather after some time away. And I am trying my hardest to get through all my groups and the submitted pieces. I will be busy for at least a week if not longer.
Sorry once again for the delay.
I am going to be sounding rude and assholish on my answer. But first off I am not racist. I am more these days extremely upset with the whole fact of Offshoring. Especially companies who are American based and there are numerous americans who can still use the jobs.
What annoys me is the simple fact when some one who calls from India and I can not understand them, nor they cant understand me. As well the same company calls me multiple times in one day for the same issue. And as well I have to explain over and over again why I am not able to pay my bills. Honestly I would love to pay my bills the sooner it happens the sooner they leave me alone.
Although according to my set rules for my group " "E" ~ Articles/Images That Start with the letter "E" (All subjects matter allowed...)" I have had to reject it.
In your case your article starts with the letter "W" Not "E", and like the rules say for this group the title must start with a "E".
I am also sorry for the delay of finally letting you know if it would be accepted or denied. I have finally got back to Gather after some time away. And I am trying my hardest to get through all my groups and the submitted pieces. I will be busy for at least a week if not longer.
Sorry once again for the delay.
Don't call me.
I pay for my phone, not you. It is for MY convenience, not yours. People who I want to call me know who they are. You are not one of them.
If Folgers gave me a call to ask how the coffee was -and I had not previously agreed to taste-test for them for FREE, doing their job for NO MONEY - then I'd be one very, very rude woman to the caller.
Folgers should have a quality control department that handles taste-testing. I'm NOT their FREE CONSULTANT - got that, little boy? I'm a professional and my time both at work and at home is worth a lot of money. You want me to taste test your product - you're going to pay rather substantially.
I'm sorry, David, but there is not ONE SINGLE instance that you have (or will be able to) come up with that would justify you disturbing MY peace and quiet with your unsolicited telephone crap calls.
Don't call me. Ever.
Not all companies call me for "servicing" after I do business with them.
My local grocery market never calls me.
My local hardware store never calls me.
K-mart has never called me.
I've never gotten a call from Windex, Pepsi, Dave & Busters, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond....
I don't care WHAT your supervisor at work is telling you - telemarketing is a bottom-of-the-gene-pool kind of job and NOBODY wants your call. NOBODY. EVER.
Now, you asked why YOU, the corporation, should have to accept my calls. That is what I referred to when saying that's a risk you have to take as a business owner.
If you want my business - if you want MY money, then you have to accept my phone calls (on those rare occasions I call). Most often I do not conduct business over the phone. When I was looking to buy my house, I just walked into my real-estate agent's office. He had a sign up advertising his agency.
My broker had an ad in the newspaper advertising his services and asking for phone calls - an INVITATION to call him.
You have no invitation to call me. Don't EVER call me.
YOU can't remove anything. I don't play the lottery - if I did,I'd get my winning information from the internet or from the television. DON"T CALL ME.
If my son (don't have one) was arrested, the police would call, their number would appear in my Caller ID as "[town name] Police"
Oh jeez - now you pull in "Christian?" This country has ALWAYS had non-Christians in it, David. The Native population was NOT christian until the "christians" came and forced their misogynist religion on them at gunpoint.
Maybe you need to get into another field, David. It seems you are not psychologically suited for a career in telephonic annoyance.
I've given considerable consideration to your pov, David. I find it without merit.
You refuse to answer questions about what exactly your job entails - and you keep coming up with fake scenario after fake scenario to try and justify your position, but in reality, you cannot come up with ONE SINGLE possible scenario that would justify you calling me without invitation.
I've saved the text of my comments, David, and I'll share them on my blog with the rest of the world - with a link to your "article".
*smile*
I definitely agree with Felicia. The calls I most hate are those where the person on the other end cannot speak English clearly enough for me to understand them.
I did notice one thing in this thread and I think it is something you really should watch David. You apparently simply checked all the boxes for ever single group you belong to whether the subject is appropriate for the group or not. You cannot even imagine how annoying that is. You're not alone, of course, but than goodness there are very few people who won't play by the rules. I have taken to granting every person who posts inappropriately a 1 as a score.
You mention those phone dialers that tie up your phone line even after you hang up on them.
Those were outlawed in Denver during the time I lived there, as one of them had called a house and had tied up the telephone line (isolated mountain home - no neighbors) for over an hour.
A woman died because they could not "free" their phone from the telemarketer to call the ambulance.
I'm not obligated to listen to or speak with anyone who calls my home or work to solicit business, and I'll be as rude as I please. Many fine comments above, I second Joan D. especially.
Then you have the nerve to accuse US of being rude. I am never rude to callers. I answer all calls politely and then continue politely to express my lack of interest to the most obnoxious telemarketer. If they do not respect my desire to end the call, I may terminate it then.
You ask, " Why most [sic] we be rude to hundred of thousands of people that work on the phones everyday to help all of us."
The answer has two parts. It is not necessary that we be rude, but, on the other hand, most of those thousands of people are not calling to help us, though they (and you) would wish we believed that to be the case.
In my experience, most unsolicited calls are useless to me. They generally use some excuse in my relationship with the company to try to sell me something. I do not want to be sold things on the phone. I did not ask to be called. And, by the way, I did not ask to have this article sent to me disguised as a piece of flash fiction.
Apparently you don't have enough pride in your work to answer questions about what you actually do. Or did I miss that?
Although according to my set rules for my group"D" ~ Articles/Images That Start with the letter "D" (All subjects matter allowed...)" I have had to reject it.
In your case your article starts with the letter "W" Not "D", and like the rules say for this group the title must start with a "D".
I am also sorry for the delay of finally letting you know if it would be accepted or denied. I have finally got back to Gather after some time away. And I am trying my hardest to get through all my groups and the submitted pieces. I will be busy for at least a week if not longer.
Sorry once again for the delay.
I have worked in telemarketing and I currently work in an in-bound call center for a large company. The calls I get though are from employees with HR issues and pay & benefit questions. People are usually nicer when they are initiating the call but not always. As a center we are frequently complimented on our outstanding quality of service. So when I call in to call centers (like calling my mortgage company or the phone company) I'm so annoyed when their reps sound like mono-toned broken records that can't pronounce "Mueller".
People need to realize there's a big difference between telemarketers and "service" calls from companies you do business with. You often time CAN'T opt out of receiving any phone calls at all from companies you have accounts with and such.
I added my number to the national "do not call" list and I do not get telemarketing calls at all. You have to realize though that this law doesn't apply to non-profits and companies you have "agreed" to do business with.
I thought I had heard once that legally a company has to take you off their call list if you request it. I'm thinking that if this is true it must not apply to non-profits. The Lupus Foundation calls us almost once a week telling us there's going to be a truck in our neighborhood and do we have anything to donate. Now I do know someone with lupus and I can empathize with people with chronic and/or debilitating illnesses but enough is enough already. My husband and I have both asked this lupus foundation repeatedly to take us off their list and yet we still get calls.
No matter what though I try really hard to be at least cordial to the person calling. They are just regular folks either working to earn a meager living (telemarketing doesn't pay that well) or they are people that have a commitment to helping a worthy organization. It's not fair to take my frustration and aggravation out of them personally.
Rule number one in my book of life is to be KIND.
Also, if your sales calls are anything like your prose -- non-stop, poorly structured rambles filled with verbal errors -- it's not rudeness that causes them to hang up, it's self-defense.
Perhaps you should try getting a job that adds something positive to society, rather than helping tear it down.
One is people probably vent the days frustrations on strangers because they are an easy and welcome target. A lot of people here have said what most of us think. Why bother me unless it's actually important?
I dis agree with suspicious activities on credit cards or banking or hospital actions. That seems pretty nice to me. Other wise it brings up my other thought. Americans are bombarded with advertising. There seems no escape from it. Half the unwanted calls I personally get are people wanting me to buy something from them or take a survey for free. As if my time is so trivial I don't mind giving it away to someone who is most likely not going to take my advice anyway but go with the best bottom line idea. Phone companies asking how my service is, do I want more features, can I take a service survey. It's obnoxious.
However, I always use my manners because, and this may sound hokey, something I really try to avoid, but because my mother took time to teach me manners and why we use them. In case anyone wondered why manners were invented, it was to give everyone a basic and common ground to meet on. No matter what class you come from (yeah I said class) or locale, manners offer the person your speaking to the common respect one gives a stranger. I still use someones manners as a gage as to how well I'll ever be able to get to communicate with them, or get know them, and if they're going to be a potentially good friend, neighbor, etc. So far it's helped me out. Hope your experiences get better.
I have now also finally accepted this to my "Everything" group, sorry for any delays...
I wouldn't call Joan D. if I were you, she won't appreciate it, and you'll be better off for not doing it.
Second - Why are people "rude"? I listen to speil.....and then I say, "no, thank you", but they don't want me to hang up so they keep talking!!!! Now I hang up and I'm rude.
INCIDENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED IN MY LIFE WITH UNWANTED CALLS:
Third - Public servants(cops, specifically FOP, but there's another one also) who call begging money. This one is a big pain in my neck because I work for THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS!!! My union doesn't beg for money so leave me alone! I listen to their crap, I say no and then get the, "What happens if someone comes in to rape you and we don't come?" They get an earful and I tell them in no uncertain terms, my Union Doesn't beg for money or try to intimidate people! and I hang up--they called back every 5 minutes for the next 3 hours--too bad for them I have Vonage which actually records the phone numbers coming in....
4th - phone companies trying to sell me something. About 5 or 6 years ago, I listened to a salesperson give me the, "If you come back to Ameritech, we will give you riches beyond your ideals!!", I said no thank you and hung up. A couple of weeks later, I receive a phone call from a man saying he is Raul ****** from Ameritech. Do I remember him? No. He called me about services? I said, yes now I remember and I haven't changed my mind, but thank yo----"You don't understand b***h, I lost that job and its your fault -- all you had to do was say yes. You live at(and he had my address) and you just remember that I'm gonna make you pay--how does it feel?"
I cussed him out, told him anytime he wanted to show up, that he picked the wrong b***h to f*** with and that not only did I have weapons, but because of my job, I knew how to use them and I always shot expert! Then I hung up. I then called Ameritech & police who first denied they even had me on a list to call, that this person ever worked for them--again, the company that I used at the time, I could bring up my records on my computer -- both incoming and outgoing and I pinpointed when they called.
No--don't call me. If I'm late, I know it and I'll try to make it up(or maybe my check and your due date doesn't match), I've never overpaid a bill mistakenly and if you owe me money -- MAIL IT TO ME(duh).
However, where there is a number in doubt or I accidently pick up the reciever...I HATE being bombarded with a bunch of telemarketing bull. I don't need any new products...or credit cards...or bank accounts...those type of phone calls are annoying and unnecessary. They are suspiscious in the least. My grandmother had her identity stolen because you can't trust anyone over the phone anymore.
If something major happened to a family member or a loved one...It is up to a hospital, police, or relative to inform you...not a company employee.
Sorry David that your job sucks for you. I just don't see the need for your job really.
I prefer to recieve important information in E-mail, Formal Letter, or from and Official Phone Line that will show on my Caller ID and isn't from India, Japan, or some other foreign place where they pretend to understand and speak English when you are trying to get through to someone.
Anyway, most of telephone marketing is going towards automated people, and those customer help lines are all automated and you are on hold for hours before you get a real person...who is mostly short with you and doesn't care about the problem at hand...they just want you to leave them alone so they can clock out and get their pay check.
So maybe the questions should be...david...WHY ARE TELEPHONE CUSTOMER LINE PEOPLE AND TELEMARKETERS SO RUDE?
You still haven't come up with ONE SINGLE SOLITARY scenario where I would WANT you to call me. Go ahead, tell us what your "job" is. I can GUARANTEE that I have no desire for you to ever call me - but you think I'm wrong - so PROVE IT.
Prove to me that you have a LEGITIMATE reason for me to answer your intrusion into my life with anything other than the irritation and hatred that it so richly deserves.
If you call to "service" me, I do think my boyfriend would get JUST a little bit put out with you. *snicker*
At least you finally learned how to use the question mark to phrase your question.
This is a fascinating insight, people, into the way a telemarketer's mind works. They actually believe that because you own a telephone you are OBLIGATED to answer it when someone calls! What's more, you are further OBLIGATED to listen to a sales pitch you neither requested nor want!
The only people I have known who could tolerate working as telemarketers were drug addicts, criminals, or otherwise unemployable persons. David's conduct here and on my article about the United States Flag Code, which is completely unrelated, demonstrates how nicely he fits in with this characterization.
Unsolicited mail doesn't force you to stop what you're doing; there's no bell. You can open it any time, or you can discard it if you don't want another credit card or new windows or your trees trimmed. You don't even have to bring the mail into the house until you feel like it.
There have been increasing numbers of solicition phone calls in the last few years, and most of them seem to be scheduled for meal times or during the evenings. Before we had our number added to the national no-call list, we used to get dozens of calls starting at about 5 pm every day. This is just nuts! Why would we welcome all those calls, none of which we will respond to with anything but a polite no, during our dinner hour and family time?
Remember also, David, that voice on the phone is disembodied. We aren't seeing a person, we're dealing with the 17th unwanted call in 2 hours. I try never to be rude to people, but I gotta tell you, sometimes it's hard. All the calls sort of glom together, and all of a sudden, I'm just mad. That's what you're encountering.
Somebody up the thread suggested that businesses ask their customers how they want to be contacted. I think that's an excellent suggestion. If it were followed, it would shut down phone banks all over the world; but it would short-circuit a whole bunch of rudeness.
Cathy
:-p
Cathy
I read the original post, and all the replies.
Prejudice exists in many, many forms. In the form of insinuating that only crappy people would work as telemarketers (untrue, extremely untrue). The fact that someone asking a question about rudeness deserves to be attacked simply because he/she is potentially working in a "disliked" industry. The fact that, somehow, every business in every part of the land would somehow KNOW each consumer's individual preferences and be able to adapt to them -- it's coming folks, but you'll pay a hefty price for it. The idea that anyone doing something that you, personally, do not like is therefore a bad or evil or unimportant person.
The incredible rudeness by the majority of the people posting here -- all of whom seem to feel that it is their right to be rude and nasty to someone they don't know and ensure they have their justifications to back the nastiness up -- is a sad statement. Deborah O seems correct -- folks are being rude and nasty to make their points stand out.
But you get more flies with honey than with vinegar. And no one's mind was ever changed because they were attacked.
Oh, and how you write and what you write, and how you treat other people when you've got the "safety" and anonymity of the internet to protect you, says far more about you than any profile you can come up with.
As Dave Barry, Pulizter Prize winning author for humor, has said: A person who is nice to you but is not nice to the waiter is not a nice person.
You claim that he was attacked because he works in an industry people dislike. That is not the full truth. He pretended not to understand why the people he calls might not want to talk to him, and he further went on to rant and rave about how these people SHOULD want to talk to him - a point which is particularly galling to those of us who would prefer that our time at home with our families not be interrupted by telemarketing calls.
Furthermore, his definition of "rude" is much broader than mine ("Please help me understand why people don't want to listen to anyone"). I do not believe that it is rude for me not to want my dinner interrupted by a sales pitch. I do not believe that I have to listen to someone prattle on about this or that fantastic product or service simply because they happen to dial my telephone number. It's called having self-respect and boundaries. It is not wrong to tell someone "no."
There is a huge difference between being nice to the waiter and being nice to a telemarketer. The waiter is providing a service I want for a place of business I have chosen to spend my hard-earned money at. The telemarketer is simply dialing, dialing, dialing, hoping to sucker somebody - anybody - into listening to their schpiel, and I had no choice in that.
You're right about one thing, Jeanne. I was wrong to characterize all telemarketers as drug addicts, criminials, and otherwise unemployable persons. The other day I met a very nice gentleman who was working as a telemarketer. He had been duped by that company into thinking he was taking a marketing (not telemarketing) position. He said that he was looking for a new job because he could not "morally" go on in that line of work.
I made my remark after David Corn came to my unrelated article about the United States Flag code and posted a comment which read simply "Your a jerk, shut up!!" It was the kind of childish (and illiterate) behavior one might expect from the types of individuals I mentioned above. So I made the comparison. Unkind to those of you who believe you are doing the world a great service by harrassing them unmercifully in the privacy of their own homes, that I'll grant. However, I still believe that by and large it is not an inaccurate assessment.
Your comments to others show that you are a typical brain-dead phone pest. You demand the aswers you want, not the answers we have, and you won't answer legitimate quesitons posed by others.
Don't call me. I *will* report you. YOu knew what kind of sleaze you were signing up to be when you took the job. You made your bed; lie in it and shut up.
Just last week:
A company we have business with called on Wednesday. I asked them if there was anywhere my husband could look at their offer, and they said no, it's a phone offer. I told them to call after six. Instead, they called back the next day at the same time. I told them the same thing and that I have already told them before. They called on Friday at the same time. I saw the caller ID and I didn't answer it. They called back on Saturday and my husband told them he was not interested. They promised they wouldn't call again.
Yesterday the phone was ringing again, around the usual time. Caller ID said it was them. I didn't answer it.
Was I rude?
I pay for my phone service for MY convenience not for the telemarketers'.
I don't feel saying "I'm not interested" and "Please, don't call back." is rude...it is my right!
Also,
If you are not happy with the responses you are receiving from gather members you can delete your article, the same way I can hang up my phone after telling a telemarketer "I am not interested" even though they just keep on talking.