Tele-marketing--Still a Hang-Up

I just had a telephone call that annoyed me.  It also made me think.    

 My husband is ill, so I treasure a short nap when I can get one.  With my spouse settled in bed, I was heading outside to my favorite chair in a sheltered corner when the phone rang.  It was someone asking to speak either to my husband or me.  I explained that we were both trying to rest, and the young man inquired, politely I admit, if everyone in our community was rude.

I told him that tele-marketing calls were an intrusion and that three or four times a day I had to stop what I was doing to answer the telephone.  After his critical comment about my neighbors, I struggled to speak courteously.

He said, “What about commercials on television?  They are just as much an intrusion.  And don’t forget, I’m only trying to earn a living.”

I thought later that I should have pointed out that the “mute” button easily took care of the commercial problem and also that perhaps he could find employment in another field.

Our conversation ended on a pleasant note when I wished him good luck, but I did ask him to remove our name from his list.

I must admit that on occasion I have played games with solicitors.  One that tickles me is the man who insists on speaking to my husband and asks for him by his given name, as if they’ve been buddies for years.  I ask him if he knows my husband well enough to call him by his first name.  He, of course, says,  “yes,” and that he has some great securities for his old friend. 

Because he has lied to me, I retaliate.  I put on my “old-bag-shrew” voice.  “I handle the business in this house,” I say, “not my husband, and I’m not interested.”  Click.  I smile as I imagine the names that man is calling me.

Another nasty ploy is to reply at length when someone calls and starts the conversation by asking how I am.  So I tell him.   “Well, the doctor gave me a new prescription the other day,” I say, “but I haven’t taken it long enough to know if it helps.  My indigestion is as bad as ever, though.  I’ve tried everything in the pharmacy and nothing relieves it.”  I continue and somewhere in there it becomes obvious that the caller doesn’t really care how I am.

An inexperienced marketer recently called my sister-in-law and asked to speak to her husband. She explained truthfully that her husband could not come to the telephone, because he had died the week before.  The poor guy could only mumble, “Oh, jeez.”

I do feel sorry that so many people have chosen tele-marketing to support themselves.  There has to be a better way to sell goods and services than to annoy people in their homes.  Meanwhile, I shall continue to ask that our names be removed from their lists.  I shall also try to be polite.