Tele-Marketers

May 11th, 2010 - Nothing makes me crazier than a Telemarketing that calls at the wrong time, is purely reading from a script and has no idea why you should really being trying the product, does not know how to take no for answer, and then gets scarastic with you when they finally get the message you are not buying.

Now I realize everyone has a job to do, but timing is everything. For most of America dinner is being prepared between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm each evening. So let's figure it out, that might not be a great time to call. Think of your own house, two children hanging on your legs, or a teenager has just flopped in the house looking right at you and the spaghetti in your hand and says "what's for dinner", or perhaps your spouse has just walked in the door and is asking if you registered the new lawn mower you bought last weekend and did you file the discount with it. Folks, let's get a grip. The dinner hour is for cooking or eating, that is why it is called the 'dinner hour.' As you pour the spaghetti into the boiling water, knowing it needs to cook for precisely 10 minutes or you will have mush, the phone rings. At this point everyone in the room becomes deaf, except the person doing the cooking. Kids simply can't hear the tone of the phone over their whining while hanging on your leg. Your teenager ignors it as anyone he knows would be calling on their cell phone, which by the way, you are probably paying for. And your spouse is already lost in thought on if you did not file the paperwork on the lawn mower is he going to have to do it, and he knows it must be done at this exact moment, or the world could possible stop. There will be no diviation in your spouses thoughts until this is put to bed. So, you reach for the phone and with a sigh, "yes, yes, this is the women of the house, no, no thank you I am not interested". At this point you should hang up the phone, but the manners we were taught as children stick, and you listen, nod, and then try again. "yes, thanks you that sounds great but I really am not interested, no one in our house can read and it would be a waste, sorry no thank you." Again you don't hang up, everyone else in the room continues to talk to you as if they can not see you are on the phone, and the Telemarketer goes on. "now with frustration mounting, your spaghetti boiling over, you jump in and say, "No really I am not interested, we are moving to a third world country and they don't allow newspapers, my husband just lost his job, and he would be depressed if he looked at a paper everyday and saw all the job postings that he is not eligible for, and my teenager is still living in his own world and unless the paper comes through on his phone as text he is not interested, and alas, you will be having surgery in the near future to have the two kids removed from your legs. With that the Telemarketer, gets scarcastic, tells you you are missing opportunity of a lifetime, perhaps there is a better time he can call when you have your family under control. Before you can answer he says, "I will call tomorrow" and hangs up. Dinner is ruined, kids are still crying, your teenager is not hungry he already wolfed down two sandwiches while you were on the phone and your spouse, having found the papers he was looking for, looks up and says, "you look tired anything I can help you with".

Some things never change, dinner hour is always a hassle, but it could be done so much easier without a telemarketer in the mix. You would think they would learn by now and pick a better time for you not them. So the next time they call, and they will, answer the phone, say yes, yes, I would like all that you have, please deliver all the papers to my house, and any extra magazines you might be selling, now please hold on while I get my credit card. Than place the phone between two bath towels, set on a chair, and go finish cooking your dinner.