Gaeri's PSA on telemarketers

WOW, you're my telemarketer-pwn-hero!

dude, I am weirded out from the video, but thanks for the tips.

So I'm a theatre major with a lovely summer telemarketing job. I enjoy looking at these sites because it makes my inner sociologist amused. Actually you pretty much have to be a sociology major/ minor or a "closet" sociology minor to enjoy telemarketing but anyway...I haven't gotten anything as bizarre as this yet however I have been refused by some random person using a homestar runner voice twice. Two different people. Unfortunately I have to remain professional because people monitor out calls, otherwise I totally would have done the pitch as strongbad. I also like making fun of telemarketing while telemarketing. I've been known to say "sorry to call during dinner that was very cliche of us." Soooo I make the best out of the situation. I really don't know where I'm going with this so yeah there ya go some telemarketers are theatre majors who are capable of putting up with a loooot of crap. Also, our supervisor train us to rebuttal and we can get written up if we don't try a second/ third attempt, depending on the day...so the "souless/ obnoxious/ beligerant qualities" come from fear of getting written up half the time...
aaand I'm done.
*click*

You know another way to avoid getting written up?  Get a job that contributes value to society, and stop blaming your supervisor for your ethically repugnant employment decisions.

I have been selling on the phone for over 20 years. I am also responsable for training thousands of others. I am a motivational speaker and the owner of a very large phone room. It takes a great deal of talent to work the phone not to mention confidence. Most telemarketers are young people who have come from broken lives, and cant find what you people deem a normal job. These are the people that with out this type of work would probably be selling drugs to your kids or breaking into your homes. They are fellow Human beings with real lives and real life problems. At least they have a job. And not to mention the reality is. Phone work gives them confidence self worth and pays very well. The top 20% of telemarketers earn over 100 thousand anually not including bonuses. And if anyone thinks that they can use these lame [***] attemps to discourage a real pro I promis you . You will get eaten.

Well, most of the people your broken-life kids are calling have homes breaking down because they are having financial trouble and as a result, family and other personal problems as well.  So your broken-life young people are making money by harassing the hell out of people who are short on it.  And by the way, I woud probably classify as a disadvantaged young person, I was even homeless once, should I now call someone like myself and make them feel like sh*t?  Hey, it might give me a confidence boost.

And the people who keep calling me sound more like middle-aged women from the suburbs or outsourced reps from India.

I think these suggestions are stupid and a waste of time.
I simply (politely) ask the caller to please hang on, I have to turn the stove off so I can talk.
Of course I don't come back to the phone until I hear the caller hang up.
It's their money not mine.

Ooh ooh I got one...ask the telemarketer what they're wearing and act like a sex-starved maniac.  Like you just got called by a phone sex line.  Lots of dirty talk.  You get extra points for creepiness if the person is the same gender as you are.  Awesome advice.  Max out the weirdness.

Unfortunately this kind of stuff will keep disturbing our lives until we decide to stop buying anything over the telephone.

This "Telephone Tough Guy" has been annoying people for over 20 years and training others to do the same annoying work?  

I would like to doubt it is true.  However, I ran into a sky diving company that ran such an operation.  There was one particular guy in their phone room that could sell anything to anyone.  He sold thousands of dollars a day to individuals that represented groups.  Most of the other folks in the telephone room rarely made a sale.  After the holiday season most were fired.  In other words, they no longer had a job and they had the bad experience of being fired.  Did that make them stronger?  Certainly their confidence was shot.  The jobs were minimum wage plus commission if commissions exceeded minimum wage.

Hiring was constant.  It had to be since every month at least 10% of the telephone room staff were cut and then the larger post-holiday mass firing.

'Telephone tough guy' said: "Most telemarketers are young people who have come from broken lives"

So your trying to hire the same people that pimps try to recruit as hookers?

'Telephone tough guy' said: "The top 20% of telemarketers earn over 100 thousand anually"

I make more than that with out working!

'Telephone tough guy' said: "You will get eaten."

Bring it on, tough guy, and you will be fined out of business!

Really, all of you telemarketers should quit and get a real job.

Before the "Do-Not-Call" list, I used to pretend like I really wanted what they were selling and ask to please tell me more. Then I would ask questions about it, again telling them that it sounds like a great product/opportunity. Finally, I would order a very large amount of the product ie: 600 cases of vitamins. When the credit card was requested, I'd say "hold on, let me go get it". Then I'd set the phone down and for 10 minutes, come back and read off 4 numbers, stop and say "wait, this card's expired. Let me get my other card." Set the phone down and walk away. They're more likely to wait if they think they got a "live one", thus wasting much more of their time.

ive tried and tested this one a couple times, just like Call H8er, sound reeeaaallly interested, then ask for all of the details, then just hang up... quietly... a couple times i hung on the line to see how long they talk, its really quite funny

Common, you can do better! This sucks, I am a telemarketer and I get better, more entertaining calls than this.

Tough Guy:  "I've been a telemarketer for niegh on to twenty some odd years."   Call me, you'll retire after you hang up.  What do you sell, toilet paper?   What's your home phone number.

I say, whenever someone calls trying to sell you something, respond by "I'm glad you've called," and then try to sell them something.

Is this supposed to be funny? These bunghole telemarketers are a serious problem and we have to watch comicbook guy here do his lameass comedy routine? How about we storm the f'n government with what we..the PEOPLE.. want from our government! Seeing this just makes me weep for the future.