I absolutely despise Telemarketers. They steal my time and they use the telephone service I pay for to do so. I cannot think of another "nuisance activity" that requires me to register on a list to avoid it. Our local municipality has several ordinances on the books to protect me from noise, unwanted peddlers, and unsafe construction practices. I don't have to register to benefit from these protections. Just the opposite. The contractor, sales person, or party organizer must get a permit to do their thing in my neighborhood. And I can even protest the permit without cost, if I chose to do so. But, for some reason known only to the US Congress and my telecommunications provider, I am the one who has to register to get a waiver from the Telemarketer's right to steal my time and abuse my telephone service. It is called the DO NOT CALL list.
My land line telephone number has been on that list for the past 5 years and I still get these calls. Only difference now is the calls are made by machines. No sweet-talking human voice, just a pre-recorded sales pitch that informs me I am "entitled" to a very special discount price on something I never knew I needed. At the end of the pitch I am politely told to "Press 1 for more details, Press 2 to be removed from our call list" The first time I got such a call, I pressed 2 and the line went dead. A few weeks later I got a call from the same telemarketer so I knew pressing 2 was a waste of time.
Figuring I was a bit smarter this time, I pressed 1 and waited to see where that led me. Sure enough a human voice responded. The person on the other end seemed very happy that I had responded and in very broken English informed me that by signing up today I could get a 10% discount on whatever it was he was pitching. If I weren't so dang angry, this would have been a funny scene. It reminded me of that TV series last season called "Outsourced" It was based on a movie by the same name and it was hilarious. But I had a serious message to convey so I composed myself and asked if our conversation was being recorded for quality control. He responded yes. So I said I wanted my phone number removed from their Call List immediately. I noted that I had kept a record of the days and times they had called me and was meeting with my Attorney to sue the company he represented for violation of my DO NOT Call rights. Then I concluded with an apology to the sales person to recognize his humanity and assure him that this was not personal and that we both were victims of corporate greed. I told him I would pray that he got a better job and would not have to resort to such deceit to make a living. And that is where the hidden value lies in this incident.
Both of us were victims of a business model we did not create and would not accept if we had a choice. Yet when we remind ourselves that we are both human beings trying to make our way in these difficult times, then we can turn bad karma to good and that has more power than any ordinance or corporation.
Pick 102 - Generation Alpha
Screen technologies are the base of everything that characterizes Generation Alpha and truly distinguishes them from every other generati...
No comments:
Post a Comment
This unique Picker's Archive is dedicated to the people, places, things, and events that comprise life in the 21st Century. Comments and contributions are welcome.