Funny!!!

I have heard this one before and I always wish I could remember it when a telemarketer calls

I always feel so bad with the charity things but OMG I cant give money to everyone in the world I am glad we dont get as many calls as we used to. Especially those phone rate ones.

Poor guy! :-)

My husband will usually say: "No, I`m not Mr C, but I`ll get him, one sec..." Then, he`ll walk away, and after 10mins, he`ll check if the telemarketer is still there.

I cannot bring myself to annoy them and waste their time. They are probably on low wages and bonuses, so time is money for them. I`m sure most of them really would like to do something else.

I`ll just tell them, firmly but friendlily, that we are on the Telephone Preference List (we are, but the calls are still coming!) so it`s illegal that they call us. Half of them don`t even say bye-bye before they hang up, and I hope that our number is removed from their list for good.

When I was a probation officer, "telemarketing" jobs were the only local employers that never seemed to turn anyone away. It was the "last resort" job for many of the folks on my probation caseload (I hesitated to suggest it, until after a person had exhausted all other options).

It's such a stressful job, that many people just can't handle it (especially sinced the people who CAN handle it, rarely want the job).

I do feel badly for anyone who has to take the job (if it suits there personality and they like it, that's a different story. Just in my experience I would guess that isn't the average telemarketer's situation).

That doesn't mean that I'm willing to let their situation impinge on my life. I think a polite but firm response is generally the best. I agree with Stella on the best approach (I believe in the US, it's called the The National Do Not Call Registry). After you've been on the list for a month, you can file complaints against companies that do not follow the list (there are some exceptions, for example when I worked for State Farm, the legal exception was that if you already had a contract with a company, it was legal for them to contact you with offers for different services. So your bank, insurance carrier, phone company, cable company.... could call you asking if you'd like to change, modify or add new services).

You can still ask these companies not to call you (and most will comply, especially if you inform them that your business with them is contingent upon them honoring your request. I know State Farm had it's own no-call list, for customers that didn't wish to be called at home).

My aunt sent me an email yesterday that she received a call from a person asking if she'd be willing to donate clothes to the hungry overseas. She said, " Heck no! If they can fit into my clothes than they are OBVIOUSLY not starving! "

I hear ya, starving folks don't need my clothes.

I do feel for the telemarketers, it's got to be the worlds crappiest job. You either don't care or you have to have a hide thicker than a mammoth to do that job.

We do get a lot of tm calls at the veterinary hospital where I work and they are a horrid nuisance for us. But we just tell them no, or if we're super busy, just hang up. No offense, but bleeding patients take priority.

I did have a tm stalk me a few years ago. It was not fun. The dumb thing is, his phone# actually showed up on our caller id. So I did a reverse search lookup and found his address. Then my dh called him back and told him we knew where he lived/worked and if he called again, we would call the cops and turn him in for stalking. He finally quit.