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November 28, 2007
Telemarketers, Wow...
Before I begin this post, (wait...I just did, damn!) I want to apologize in advance should I offend telemarketers, people who come from, have ever lived in or visited India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or any other country where outsourcing has provided plentiful jobs. My impressions are just that, impressions, and have no bearing on individuals who work hard at their jobs, or happen to live in areas mentioned above.
So I'm sitting at work, completing TPS reports (with a new cover sheet!) when the phone rings. (Wait, wait...Shouldn't I be out fighting fires or something like that? No. We don't get many calls. Boo.) On the other end is a fella' who sounds like he's from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. He's a telemarketer from an online directory service, (i.e. Yellow Pages) trying to confirm our 'businesses' address, phone numbers, etc. Sounding like he did, I was somewhat tickled to hear his name, as he introduced himself as Bobby Daniels. It's akin to my name being Rahjiv, I figured, but what the hell. This guy is hard at work, so am I, so I'll help him out. Ol' Bobby said that he was just confirming contact info, and all I had to do was answer a few questions. Why not? I've done this sort of thing before, and thought this would be over in no time, and I could get back to my TPS reports.
So of we went into confirmation land. Yes, this is our address. Sure, this is our phone number. Yes, this is the name of our organization.
Moving forward, Bobby said that he was now going to connect us to a computer that will begin asking questions to re-re-confirm this information, and I should just answer the questions, and not press any buttons on the phone. A little odd, thinks I, but I needed a break anyway.
Mind you, I have zero authority to do anything, at any time. (Okay, so I have some authority over my wife and kids. No, wait. Just over my kids. Barely.)
So Ms. Computer, (who sounds straight out of Silicon Valley) asks the very same questions, and one more, which was, "Can you confirm that you are 18 years of age or older, and are a person of authority who can agree to being charged $39.95 a month to have our organization listed..." ...in this online directory. "No!" was my obvious answer. (Not having any authority, mind you.) Bobby gets back on the line and asks me if I have any questions. I tell him that I have no authority to authorize anything, and in fact, we are a Fire/EMS department, and are not interested in being listed in a business directory. He begins to argue with me, telling me, in broken English, that we are already listed, and that all I need to do is confirm the information. I tell Bobby that I am no longer interested, and he needs to--"...but Jonathan, you are already listed in our directory. We need to confirm--" "Wait...wait...” I say. "We are a public Fire/EMS department run by our county. We do not need to be listed in your directory. We provide fire suppression and First Responders should county residents need them." "But you are already listed. You will not be charged the $39.95...” At this point, I cut him off, and tell him that he needs to speak to my Captain, who is charge of all this crap. I transfer the call, and then begin to stew...
We all have to work. (Most of us anyway.) We have to earn a living to pay our bills, keep a roof over our heads, feed our faces, and the faces of our families. I understand this better than most, having worked some pretty crappy jobs. Telemarketers are no different. They have families. They have roofs. They have a job to do. But do they have to argue with a potential customer? Can they not tell whom they are calling? Did "Bobby" not see whom he was calling? Since he was clearly not calling from this country, did he not know what a Fire/EMS department was/is? I wanted to help you Bobby. I sincerely wanted to update our information. But as a result of your lack of understanding, you had to talk to my Captain, and for that, I feel, you got what you deserved, and you have suffered enough.
Posted by Jon at November 28, 2007 12:32 PM