How Did You Get My Number?

I worked as a telemarketer for part of my second year in university, so I know the pain that many of you experience when you have to listen to use ring up and read a script to you. The scripts are sometimes formatted like a flow-chart so that you can guide the conversation. Sometimes it's just a script that you have to alter to make it sound natural for you. One of the places I worked at we had a new script each night! Very confusing. For those of you who want to get a bit of fun out of the telemarketers who call you, check this out.

It's a script that shifts the balance of power in the conversation over to you, the receiver of the call. I now have this by the phone. Much more fun than just hanging up on them.

Just a quick aside, too. The majority of the people I worked with were high school drop-outs, single mothers, university students, etc. The money's not that great, but the only qualifications required are a pleasant phone manner. No matter how annoyed you are at them for calling you, just remember that they'd rather not be calling you at all, so please be polite when you tell them you're not interested. Yelling obscenitites at them just means that you'll be branded a rude, nasty person. And besides, how would you feel if all you were doing was trying to earn tuition and some guy cut fully sick on you just because you were doing your job?