Thursday, June 12, 2008

Whatever Lady, Get Off My Line

Telemarketers. Though I am convinced that the seventh rung of hell is reserved for those who work for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Cherokee Nation Distributors, I might be open to the idea of the sixth ring for telemarketers.

I just do not remember this being a major issue when we lived here before but since we have returned from Germany we have bombarded. Dave came up with several systems to combat the issue...we have to have several because we only have basic telephone service...no bells and whistles...no caller id, call waiting, blah...blah...

Strategy 1. THis is the one I primarily use. I answer the phone and if there is not an immediate response on the line I hang up. Sorry to the few folks that I have actually hung up on, but most telemarketers have a delay on the line.

Strategy 2. Let the answering machine get it and if it is someone important they will leave a message.

Strategy 3. This is Dave's favorite. Answer the phone in Spanish, French, "redneck" or using the Army answer, which is "McNay residency, Dr. McNay speaking, how may I help you sir or ma'm. This generally results in the party hanging up...though has also been known to confuse several friends as well.

TOnight my strategy did not work. Dave has rubbed off on me, and so I tend to be nice to these folks, and to pleasantly get off the phone. So, the call is from some dude in a neighboring town who got our number from public record (since we just purchased our home), and was offering a free gift certificate for dinner if we just let them come out and check our water and fill out a survey. The thing that really creeps me out about some of these folks is they ask all these personal questions, like, what time do you get home from work, and do you have children. Good grief, I don't know who the heck you are, and you could be planning to rob my house or kidnap my children...why in the world would I answer your questions?

So, anyway, he keeps pushing and asking when we get home from work so they can come out. I tell him that we aren't interested. He goes on a rampage about all the evils that live in the water... I assure him that I am not concerned, I have lived in a lot worse places than Georgia...the conversation continues as he rants about the water in Somalia...and again I assure him that I am not concerned about the water in Georgia. So, as I begin to kindly refuse him, he interupts me and says, "Whatever lady, get off my line!"

WHAT? Are you joking me...were you not the one who called me? So, as of tonight we are on the do not call list...hope I don't have anyone else yelling at me to get off "their" line.

4 comments:

Brea said...

Wow, I don't know how we would survive without caller ID. If I happen to talk to one, though, I usually say, "Thank you, we are not interested, and please remove our number from your calling list." By law, they are required to. That usually ends the conversation!

M & M said...

Wow! I can't believe he said that!
I have had the similar conversation with the "Water" people and it was incredibly hard to get rid of them!
And when we ask our few (yes, the do not call list really does work extraordinarily well!) callers to take us off the list, they normally argue--:(

Anonymous said...

I'm curious -- would you mind explaining the connection between "the seventh rung of hell" and Cherokee Nation Distributors? Is this a place that one should not want to work? Or, have you had a "bad CND experience" of some kind? Thank You.

Dave, Ami, Hadleigh Claire, Annelise, and True said...

Dave worked for CND for 2.5 years while we lived in Germany. It was a nightmare from beginning to end. They promised us one salary, and then once we moved gave us 20k less. They would change our contract after we signed it. Because we lived abroad we were not protected by labor laws so we were at their mercy. I could write a huge long post about all their shady dealings, under-handed, lying, cheating, sacks. We are thrilled to be done with them.