I could never be a telemarketer, it's such a tough job.

[jx820]

I trained as a telemarketer when I was a kid and quit during training.

Some lady picked up one of my training calls and some dude in the background starts yelling about "who you on the phone with" I guess he heard a dudes voice. The phone hung up before what I assume was an ass whipping, but I try to tell myself that maybe they just thought it was funny to mess with telemarketers.

20 years later I still remember that call.

 

[fingercuffs]

Did you ever use the word "bollocks" during a sales pitch?

Don't think so. I was called out for using the words "can we not just get this fucking done now" on the phone to Ticketmaster trying to get a load balancing deal sorted on LA time from the UK sat on my doorstep smoking at 2am, didn't realise I was on the phone to the boardroom and not one person...still got the deal in though

I accepted a year's server maintenance purchase order with "fuck it yeah let's do it". That guy was quality. Still in touch with most of my customers, we used to go to gigs and stuff together.

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Don't think so. I was called out for using the words "can we not just get this fucking done now" on the phone to Ticketmaster trying to get a load balancing deal sorted on LA time from the UK sat on my doorstep smoking at 2am, didn't realise I was on the phone to the boardroom and not one person...still got the deal in though

I accepted a year's server maintenance purchase order with "fuck it yeah let's do it". That guy was quality. Still in touch with most of my customers, we used to go to gigs and stuff together.

For a time we'd get calls from the Ronin Corp, (A British Market Research outfit?) They'd always be British, and I'd always get the call. At the time I was subscribed to SuberBike Magazine. EX:
https://www.superbike.co.uk/article/ten-minutes-with-kevin-schwantz-an-interview

Usually it was a pretty BS questionnaire, so I'd only consent if the called would let me grill them for the latest limey-slang! It was worthwhile and I could always answer in Texas tones with Texas cursing.

It was a veritable meeting of the international minds.

 

[Yoel Bromero]

Did it for a few days in college, made it through the training and walked out first day calling people.

Computer would cold call people and I'd offer discounts for gas bills, just a shit to make and receive. The person's last name and their bill would show up on the screen, I see 'jones' and their bill.

'hi Mrs jones, my name is told and...'

'i'm going to stop you right there yoel, I'm not Mrs jones and I havnt been since Mr Jones fucked my sister.'

We both started laughing and said have a good night and that was it.

About 10 minutes later I get called to the supervisor's cubicle and she's upset at me for not sticking to the script. Plays the recording of my call with the ex mrs jones and can't understand why I laughed with her and let her off the phone without telling her my offer.

I couldn't take the conversation seriously and didn't really need the job, stood up and peaced out with a big smile. Great day

 

[fingercuffs]

For a time we'd get calls from the Ronin Corp, (A British Market Research outfit?) They'd always be British, and I'd always get the call. At the time I was subscribed to SuberBike Magazine. EX:
https://www.superbike.co.uk/article/ten-minutes-with-kevin-schwantz-an-interview

Usually it was a pretty BS questionnaire, so I'd only consent if the called would let me grill them for the latest limey-slang! It was worthwhile and I could always answer in Texas tones with Texas cursing.

It was a veritable meeting of the international minds.

Oh I love it! I'm mainly an F1 nut but that is absolutely wicked. It's a real shame RR isn't around anymore, I want to move to Austin next year and he always said he would hook me up with hospitality and tickets.

I only ever did B2B, not phoning people at home, I was quite crafty. Only reason I got into Ticketmaster was I went to a Korn concert near wear the guy I was prospecting's house and that was it, he invited me in and I got a pretty hefty purchase order and was their main security Cisco supplier which was pretty massive at the time.

 

[Plutoburn]

I did it for a month during the summer between High school and university to save money to buy a gaming PC. Because I was part time, I could only do the 3pm to 11pm shift which sucked. We call the east coast until 8pm then the switchboard would have us call the west coast after. Hated it but loved the fruit of my labor.

 

[JoshTehV]

Oh I love it! I'm mainly an F1 nut but that is absolutely wicked. It's a real shame RR isn't around anymore, I want to move to Austin next year and he always said he would hook me up with hospitality and tickets.

I only ever did B2B, not phoning people at home, I was quite crafty. Only reason I got into Ticketmaster was I went to a Korn concert near wear the guy I was prospecting's house and that was it, he invited me in and I got a pretty hefty purchase order and was their main security Cisco supplier which was pretty massive at the time.

Did god tell you, you got the life?

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Oh I love it! I'm mainly an F1 nut but that is absolutely wicked. It's a real shame RR isn't around anymore, I want to move to Austin next year and he always said he would hook me up with hospitality and tickets.

I only ever did B2B, not phoning people at home, I was quite crafty. Only reason I got into Ticketmaster was I went to a Korn concert near wear the guy I was prospecting's house and that was it, he invited me in and I got a pretty hefty purchase order and was their main security Cisco supplier which was pretty massive at the time.

Superbike Magazine in the Late 90s was stellar. I still have the Pin ups in my garage, and a coffin sized box of all the old issues, before they started inviting American journalists to write for them, and I bailed on the subscription.

I've never been a car fan, but I did enjoy Rush, the shelby daytona documentaries and the F1 series on Netflix.

That's about it, give me bikes anyday

 

[MWB1982]

If I answer and it's a telemarketer, I don't even waste my time.. I hang up and block their number..

Most of the time if I get a call that isn't in my contacts or of I don't recognize the number, I won't answer. I hit the button that sends them straight to my voicemail...

 

[gnyg]

Have done telemarketing briefly selling electricial supplies (you know the power in your light bulbs). Worked three weeks and quit as it was only selling by being cynical. Which I am not. Anywho I once called this guy who didnt have a smart phone to accept the sms, and he said that if I tricked him he would find me and kill me because he was 90 years old and knew stuff. Hilarious

 

[Jesus X]

I did surveys as a part time job over the phone it was agony as far as boredom is concerned 20 mins felt like an hour. I much rather do hard labor than sit on my ass all day doing surveys.

 

[lsa]

Those people are so annoying and persistent but hey someone's gotta do that job

not really..
Where I live 99% of the telemarketing is a scam.
Only time is legit is when approach by telco companies the rest are more or less scammers.
Its 2020 we dont need this shit.

 

[Alphaboy]

I reckon I could probably do it again what with the accent.

My first week here, some guy who cold called really wanted some if you know what I mean. Like been on the phone for a minute and was asking for my Instagram and Facebook stuff and how he could reach me. As far as he knew I could be a fat whale...people are strange. I politely said no to very thing and hung up.

Now I can relate to your customers. On Friday I was training to use this new conferencing platform, it was based in the UK. The lady who was training me had the sexiest British accent. Now every other person on TV has it in the US so it doesn't really do anything for me, but you rarely hear it in real life and when you do it's the coolest thing.

I just didn't wanna leave the call, I was hoping the platform was more complex so I could sit on longer. Didn't help that she was easy on the eyes too.

 

[fingercuffs]

Now I can relate to your customers. On Friday I was training to use this new conferencing platform, it was based in the UK. The lady who was training me had the sexiest British accent. Now every other person on TV has it in the US so it doesn't really do anything for me, but you rarely hear it in real life and when you do it's the coolest thing.

I just didn't wanna leave the call, I was hoping the platform was more complex so I could sit on longer. Didn't help that she was easy on the eyes too.
View attachment 813249

Yeah, let's say I get a lot of male attention at work I assume due to the accent. I dread it when I know it's coming if it's in front of my boss because while she's VERY lesbian and wouldn't want it she gets really jealous. She and I support the same football team but the CEO will only talk to me about the score when he comes in on a Monday morning.
An English guy comes in every now and again and only chats to me as well I guess because of familiarity so she can't win either way, bless her.

 

[Alphaboy]

I dread it when I know it's coming if it's in front of my boss because while she's VERY lesbian and wouldn't want it she gets really jealous.

That is hilarious to me!

Curious question if you don't mind. Do you have to deal with advances from a female boss the way many women have to from a male boss?

 

[Rocco Siffredi]

I could never be a telemarketer, bill collector, etc. I have absolutely no patience when dealing with assholes.

Although they're annoying, I give them props for being able to do that type of job. It's a pain in the ass enough dealing with people, let alone random people or folks who are avoiding you.

I have a job where we set up all sorts of programs. Due to the whole "Chinuh virus" we have been doing things virtually, almost exclusively through zoom. People sign up for our (free) programs and we send them a zoom link.

Problem is, for whatever reason most e-mails think it's spam and people don't know to check their spam folders; they end up thinking we never sent them anything. So we decide to call families one by one to let them know.

Most of the calls were okay, or went to voicemail. Generally, when I call, people are initially defensive or tell me "I don't have time, what you need?!!" until they realize who I am and they sort of soften up.

today I called a lady:

> Hi, I'm Alphaboy calling from xyz company... am I speaking to---

>> (pissed off sounding) I gotta go to court soon, hurry up make it quick! What do you want?

> I want to know if you'll be attending our progra--

>> Y'all never sent me anything!

> (While trying to maintain professionalism, my voice took on that annoyed, segmented tone). Yes. That. Is. Why. I. Am. Calling. You. To. Let. You. Know. Tha--

>> I gotta go to court just gimme the information!!!

> Aight... I'll call you back... *I leave*

I'm not in sales, folks sign up for us. Sometimes they forget or sometimes they have a change of heart, but generally they're ecstatic when they realize we're not some bill collectors or something.

Has anyone ever done a sales job, telemarketer or something? I can imagine how frustrating that can be if I run into shit from people who actually came to us (although admittedly it's rare).

hung up after first sentence

 

[Alphaboy]

hung up after first sentence

If you were me or the other person? Lol

 

[fingercuffs]

That is hilarious to me!

Curious question if you don't mind. Do you have to deal with advances from a female boss the way many women have to from a male boss?

No, I'm 20 years older than her and look like a girl, she's not really into girl looking girls. I've spent the majority of the 3 months I've known her in pretty dresses and skirts and stuff...she doesn't go for anything like that at all.
Sounds terrible but I put on a really short skirt and low cut blouse the other day to piss her off because she'd moaned at me the day before about something. I was wanting her to say something about it then go to our male boss and see if he thought I looked okay...because I knew he would say I looked fine
Edit: I mean I looked okay, not FIIIINE.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

I did this as a student because the place was right beside my school. So it was easy. I was the worst. I never used rebuttals, never tried to pressure people and never used other tricks to boost your numbers. I remember there was a running tally of sales on the flip chart and people had tons of sales. I had zero. I also figured out that they needed people to make and answer the calls and they weren’t gonna fire me. I eventually quit, but it wasn’t a great job.

 

[crabmeat]

I did it for about a three months for Time Warner cable. It was funny listening to people rant, when they already had their service. The service sucks, etc. ... My favorite were the people offended that I didn't know they already had it. The killer was sitting at a desk for eight hours a day.

Now, door to door is another thing. Calling someone at home is one thing. Knocking on their door is another. People just want to kick your ass. I can't really blame them, though. I had this contracted gig through the city water department. It was water conservation stuff. We had to canvas an area going door to door with pamphlets, low-flo heads, and bladders for their toilet tanks. I had to do these stupid roleplays with supervisors for a week. I almost quit over that along, but I kept going. I can't tell you why. Well, I had two days canvasing a really shitty, low-income housing area. "What chu want?!", was a common greeting. On the first day, some dude thought I was there to repo his car, so he came to the door with a shotgun. On the second day, I just left the shit on their doorstep and quit at the end of the day.

I ended up taking some of the stuff home to try for myself. The showerheads sucked. It's bad enough, if you don't have a water softener, in Florida. It's worse with the lo-flo heads. They pretty much sprayed a mist. It was pretty pointless because you had to stay in the shower forever to rinse. The toilet tank bladders caused you have to flush the toilet 3-4 times, to send a turd home.