Rou

A few years ago, our government, in one of its most useful moments, created a telemarketer's "Do Not Call" list. It's wonderful. I've had hardly a moment's peace interrupted since.

However, this does not mean I don’t get to hear about it from time to time around the proverbial water cooler (otherwise known as the giant open area I’m forced to sit in for 12 hours a day). Take today for example. Some lady, who wasn’t bright enough to put her name on the ‘do not call’ list, so she got a call from a telemarketer. After saying no thank you a few times, the guy just wouldn’t give up. He asked to speak to the “man of the house”. So, she blew up and yelled at him until he hung up. She’s… umm… a bit of a militant feminist. So, today at work, she relays this story.

Her coworker attacked her for doing it. He said that while the comment was perhaps inappropriate, she shouldn’t abuse the telemarketer. It’s just a low paying job and it’s mostly done by people that are not very well off. It’s not like most people want to grow up and sell stuff over the phone. Then he went off into an analogy that basically said that you wouldn’t behave that way to a clerk in a store.

So, I’m taking a moment to rant here because if I stand up and take up this conversation, there is a good chance I’ll bash his larynx in with a baseball bat. Bear with me.

Telemarketers are different from just about every other class of people on the planet. The few other groups I can think of that are similar religious missionaries, and door to door sales. You’ll note the lack of sales clerk in there.

These things are similar because they all want something from you. But, because you don’t generally want to give it to them, they must aggressively seek you out on your own time. In your own homes.

They don’t want you to think about it, and come looking for their product. They want to push it on you. To force you to defend yourself against their sale. They don’t want you to think about it. They want to confuse you, pressure you, and take advantage of you.

For all of these reasons, I can not just let them be. They’re not just doing their job. They’re involving themselves in MY life. They’re taking MY time away from me. They’re refusing to allow me to make choices for myself.

Maybe life didn’t deal them a happy life with a condo in Honolulu, but I’m still waiting for that myself. There are a number of career options that require the same level of expertise as telemarketing. Most pay about the same. These people that try to take my time from me CHOOSE to do this. No one held a gun to their head. They just decided no to do more honest work. The penalty for that is that the people you annoy, get to abuse you until you go away.