phone solicitation

[NorthShoreCoug]

When solicitors call me and I have time to kill I usually string them along for a while. Then I try and turn it into a missionary discussion which usually involves me asking The Golden Question. For a solicitor, time is money and they usually figure out I'm not interested in helping them after a while so they hang up and don't call back.

I sometimes play games with them as well, but I haven't tried this one. I think I'll try it.

Most typically, I'll string them along for a while by interrupting the caller to deal with my "noisy" kids making it difficult to continue the conversation. (Our house typically is crazy enough that I don't really have to fake this). I act really interested when I'm on the phone. But each interruption gets longer and longer until they are no longer on the phone when I pick it back up.

I also sometimes reply to junk mail if they provide an envelope with postage to be paid by the company. I'll usually put in my name and address, followed by some short message like "TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST". I then drop it in the mail so they can pay for the postage for me to inform them to get lost.

[Surfah]

I sometimes play games with them as well, but I haven't tried this one. I think I'll try it.

Most typically, I'll string them along for a while by interrupting the caller to deal with my "noisy" kids making it difficult to continue the conversation. (Our house typically is crazy enough that I don't really have to fake this). I act really interested when I'm on the phone. But each interruption gets longer and longer until they are no longer on the phone when I pick it back up.

I also sometimes reply to junk mail if they provide an envelope with postage to be paid by the company. I'll usually put in my name and address, followed by some short message like "TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST". I then drop it in the mail so they can pay for the postage for me to inform them to get lost.

I'll admit to working in a call center for exactly 2 weeks in college when I needed the cash to make a car payment. I loved people that did this because then I wasn't making outbound calls. I stayed on the line as long as the people did. It was outbound surveys which typically took as long as 20 minutes sometimes. I cannot believe the number of people that agreed to do them. I think there are a lot of bored and lonely people who simply enjoyed interacting with another person. Kind of sad when you think about it that way.

[Tick's wife]

I'll admit to working in a call center for exactly 2 weeks in college when I needed the cash to make a car payment. I loved people that did this because then I wasn't making outbound calls. I stayed on the line as long as the people did. It was outbound surveys which typically took as long as 20 minutes sometimes. I cannot believe the number of people that agreed to do them. I think there are a lot of bored and lonely people who simply enjoyed interacting with another person. Kind of sad when you think about it that way.

I try to be civil because Tick worked in a call center for yrs but some are just annoying and down right mean. Oh, and if they can't speak clear English, forget it.

[falafel]

I'll admit to working in a call center for exactly 2 weeks in college when I needed the cash to make a car payment. I loved people that did this because then I wasn't making outbound calls. I stayed on the line as long as the people did. It was outbound surveys which typically took as long as 20 minutes sometimes. I cannot believe the number of people that agreed to do them. I think there are a lot of bored and lonely people who simply enjoyed interacting with another person. Kind of sad when you think about it that way.

Part of the problem is that you have no idea how much longer the survey is going to last! They say its "short," but you never know when the last question will finally arrive.

[Maximus]

When I worked as a phone solicitator, I ahd some very interesting experiences. One lady whined to me for about 10 minutes on how President Bush already has a secret missile launch system in space, when we asked a survey about peoples feelings on a missile defense system. Another lady told me how dangerous the mormon church was when I told her I was from utah. She told me like 20 times to always ask questions.

[il Padrino Ute]

I'll admit to working in a call center for exactly 2 weeks in college when I needed the cash to make a car payment. I loved people that did this because then I wasn't making outbound calls. I stayed on the line as long as the people did. It was outbound surveys which typically took as long as 20 minutes sometimes. I cannot believe the number of people that agreed to do them. I think there are a lot of bored and lonely people who simply enjoyed interacting with another person. Kind of sad when you think about it that way.

There is nothing wrong with working at a call center when the calls are incoming. It's the outbound calls that are bad.