HollywoodBob, in a way that depends on what you mean by cold calling. Where I work we call people who are already customers at the company I work for, they at some point signed up for a pension insurance of some sort and it is through that we're calling and checking up on them (as previously stated). However, these customers haven't specifically signed up to be contacted that way, however they have not declined it either. If they don't want to be contacted we of course make a note of that and won't contact them again. So to answer your question about if I am a cold caller or not the answer has to be both yes and no.

We're definitely not trying to sell something that they're not in need of nor are we trying to make the customers do something against their will. As I said, if they're happy we send them on their way with well wishes, if they not happy we try to change it for the better, and that can often entail selling something. We don't go into the call with a "sales" attitude though nor do we get extra pay if we manage to sell anything.

"The one I worked for had a 5 week attrition average. In the US, call centers are like burger joints, they’re beginner jobs, and only a rare few people last to be promoted off the call floor."

Just like in Sweden, it's a job where you go nowhere fast.

"May I please have your home phone number, mobile phone number, your physical mail, and your email address. I have a myriad of products I’d like to solicit to you whenever it’s convenient for me."

Sure thing, but as said above if I'm not already a customer at you (which I'm sure I'm not) you're going to have to get my info from a third party company that deals in contact info databases. I would be a hypocrite if I just gave out my contact info to you here, I'm however not a hypocrite if you have to find it out yourself. However, I'll make it easy for you, my name is Daniel Jansson and the rest I'm sure you can get hold of through my website. Happy hunting, I'm expecting your call shortly!

"The unfortunate fact is that it’s the bad apples that ruin it for the rest of you"

You thoroughly hit the nail on the head there. It's something that the company I work for as well as many others in Sweden are working towards, to weed out the bad apples so only more serious companies can stay in business. I'd definitely welcome stronger legislation around this, for instance.

"is parting me from my money or getting their hands on my credit card number or other personal information."

Oh definitely, that's a surefire way to know it's a scam. That's like lesson one, you never give out your personal information over the phone, regardless who's calling.

"If through some miracle telemarketing suddenly ceased to exist, those who employ telemarketers could easily make up for the loss in some other way, and the world would go merrily on it’s way with nary a blip."

Indeed, they would pass the additional costs onto you: the customer. In the end of the day it's about 1/10 as expensive to have me call a customer versus sending the customer written information. The companies will definitely want to continue to get their information out, but they don't want to lose money. Who will pay for that in the end? (not to mention that TM is a hell of a lot more environmentally friendly :P)

"What’s obvious is that you take yourself and your job all too seriously. Bully for you that it pays the bills and you enjoy it, but if you go through life expecting people to respect your profession, prepare to be sorely disappointed."

Of course I take it seriously, I do that with any profession. It's called work-ethic.

I don't expect people to do much of anything, however I hope at the very least that they can respect me as a person after the call I've made.

What's been missing here in the midst of all the people who answer with hateful comments when you call is the actual myriad of people who are happy to be contacted that way as well. Sure we call at inopportune times, that's why we always (always!) ask if the person has time and if not when it is more appropriate for us to return. I realize though that that's not the business standard, and that's somewhat sad.

"Ummm, MrP; it’s meant to be a joke, ok?"

You might mean it as a joke, plenty of people who've said it to me have been dead serious. If it's a joke it's a bad one.

"You dirtbags get my number and several thousand more for a lump sum, usually amounting to a few cents per name."

Dirtbags? I don't even know what to say to that. It definitely shows that you're unable to see that people are different. In my mind saying that is generalizing in a way that saying that all black people eat watermelon is offensive.

Lump sum? Yes and no, it depends on the contents of the database. Usually they rank up quite a sum since you don't want to be calling in the cold so to speak. Ideally you want a database that's selected out for the specific target group you want to reach. In other words you wouldn't call a 80 year old person about a cell phone plan designed for 20 year olds, for instance.

Usually when I call it's to people who are already customers though (as I said, if you go back a bit and read) and thusly I'm calling straight out of the company database. Heck, I can't remember when I actually called with the intention to sell something last, most of what we do is to make sure that people are content in what they have and change it if need be. Yet, yes, that too is lumped into the TM field.

"And MrP; if your verbosity in this thread is an attempt to gain sympathy or even a little understanding for people in your line of work — FAIL."

Sympathy? Haha, no, I don't want your sympathy or pity, give that to someone who deserves it like the starving children in Africa or something. Understanding, yes, somewhat. If you're utterly unable to realize, from what I've written, that there are various sides to the TM business, both good and bad, serious and not so serious, then that error lies with you I'm afraid. I'm not saying that you have to agree with TM being a great method, or even a likeable one, but I am saying that there are two sides to the coin. Please do answer me that, are you really so blind that you're unable to see that there are more sides to this than you've previously cared to admit?

"And you apparently don’t know telemarketing in the US."

Yes and no. I know of the telemarketing climate, i.e. that it's far less serious than here and so forth and that it can be quite a lot of calling. I don't, however, know much about the legislation surrounding telemarketing. Especially not since it seems to differ from state to state.

Callcenter charity is indeed not much to cheer for, but telemarketing do have plenty of good and proper uses just as it has plenty of improper uses.

"Well you called me at home, so don’t you think I should be able to do the same to you?"

That's absolutely the most stupid thing you could say. I get that comment about once or twice a week and I always counter with: "Absolutely! Though you have to go through the same process as we did to get your number. First you have to purchase my data from a company that sells it, then you have to match it against the non-call registry and after that it's just a matter of calling. You're welcome and I expect your call shortly." and then I repeat my name so I'm sure they get it. Strangely enough I haven't gotten a single call.

Do you have any real reason why you should just be handed my number when we've had to jump through hoops to get yours? Surely the same conditions should apply for you just as for us, no?

"Let that assumption guide your responses."

I did, which is what I tried to show in the argument that one should open up ones eyes and see the whole picture. Actually recognize that there are different views than ones own and that they hold merit as well.

At least I speak from experience, I've worked in the business for quite a long time. Most people here speak about a business they know little else about than from what they hear through the phone.

Liz, you can doubt it's someone's only job for employment all you want. I live in a town with 25000 inhabitans. In the six months after I got out of 12th grade (our school system is different than yours, not going to go in and explain it) I applied for any job I could, both those I were qualified to and those which I didn't. I heard back from three or four jobs, saying that they didn't want me. Without the callcenter I would not have had a job in who knows how much longer time. So doubt it all you want, it doesn't change reality.

"Get another job"

I love it, seriously, that attitude amazes me. Yes, you can get another job, but have you been young, uneducated and trying to make a name for yourself on the job market? It doesn't matter where you go, you'll be flipping burgers, bagging groceries, running errands or working in a callcenter. I wouldn't call either a "carreer opportunity", they're pretty much all dead end jobs.

Frankly, I find those guys bagging groceries far more annoying than being called by telemarketers. If I want my groceries fondled by a perfect stranger who each and every time manages to put fragile things under heavy things then I can ask for it myself.

Or if you want to talk sales industry those guys working out in malls and so forth trying to sell cellphone plans and so forth are about a million times more annoying, they try by any desperate means to talk to you. I sat and studied one guy not long ago who had this whole routine where he tripped in front of a customer and as they were helping him up on his feet he started the pitch.

I quite like Ali S.'s method to tell the truth :)

Whoa, you obviously have no insight in the business whatsoever. I've already said, or at least strongly hinted at, that I do "roll with the abuse" as you so eloquently put it.

Who is begging anyone to treat anyone with respect? I'm saying it's idiotic to treat someone like garbage by the bases of someone being (sort of) anonymous on the other end of a phone line. I'm not begging anyone to do anything. Get off your high horse and read what's written instead of what you read into it.

I'm an aggressive beggar? I'm praying on the weak and elderly? Wow. Thanks for telling me, I've never looked at it like that. You mean that I'm being polite and curteous, informing people about their pension insurances at the company I'm calling for and asking if they're happy with what they got (and if I can do anything to change what they have for the better) is praying on the weak? I'm calling people who are at their oldest 60 years old and I'm praying on the elderly? Wow. Heck, I gotta revaluate my entire existance here.

Also, how many "panhandlers, spammers, etc" do you know who have a decent wage, collective bargaining agreement (i.e. strong union presence in the workplace), paid vacation and an array of other things which you have in a normal job? Guess what, I do and I honestly do take offense when you attribute traits to me that aren't fitting, by far.

Now, if that's because you're from the states and your view on telemarketing is somewhat tainted from the wide array of unserious and unscrouplous companies doing it over there and lack insight in how the Swedish telemarketing world looks like, that's a question I'll leave for you to answer. Is it too much however to ask that you open your eyes that there may be more to the whole picture than your narrowmindedness believes? Or are you content in living inside your own constructed world which doesn't bear any resemblance to the real one?

"You’ve obviously never worked at a call center."

Hahaha, I was WAITING for that comment. Yeah, I've worked in a call center for almost six years and I love my job. Though I got into it because there were NO other jobs either avaliable or that I was able to get, trust me I applied to anything which showed a pulse.

I can mirror what you said though that that is often the case. However, there are people that can't take it, over the years I've seen more people than it's possible to keep count of come in, work a few days and then resign because they cannot take the incessant badmouthing they get. So to say that everyone can just brush off the insults is a serious generalisation that's far from true.

Pranks are one thing, tormenting is another. I can easily count 100 angry people who've called me various euphemisms for every one time I've had an actual fun call, prank-wise anyway.

"because there is no other way to take action against their companies."

But...you're not taking any action against their companies. You're, to use the words of this neatorama post, tormenting an employee. It solves nothing, in the end it probably makes you feel worse than you would have if you had just said no thanks and moved on. Unless you get off from the prospect of ruining someone's day, in which case you're a far lower lowlife than the telemarketer.

Granted I'm not privvy to every law in the US, but here in Sweden telemarketing is perfectly legal. Regardless of legality I don't see a reason to be unreasonable with someone who hasn't deserved it. It's like yelling at a person in customer service for a decision that the company board made. Pointless, entirely and utterly.

"No matter how desperate you may think they are, they can always flip burgers or work as janitors."

Which shows exactly how little insight you have. I live in a small town, the local call center is the biggest private employer here. The job opportunities here stink, and that's an understatement. It's just not as simple as you make it out to be to be a picker and chooser when it comes to the job market. It depends on many variables.

"And you wouldn’t call this guy a sociopath outside the anonymity of the internets."

Firstly, I didn't call anyone a sociopath. I merely pointed out a sociopathic trait. One can have many traits without being anything. For instance, you're acting a bit like an idiot but that doesn't make you an idiot. See the difference?

Regardless, yes I would have voiced myself in pretty much the same way in real life. I've been brought up to stand for what I do and not be afraid to voice my thoughts. Honesty before silence.

While I realize that it can be fun to pull pranks I see no reason to torment someone for doing their job. If you're not interested just hang up. I somewhat think that messing with telemarketers is a sociopathic trait, it's not something people would do if the person was in front of them but because of the anonymity of the telephone many dare to act out.

Wait a minute, in the Explosion Containment Net, why is the terrorist a hippie? I sense negative discrimination here. Not all hippies blow themselves up, frankly, I'd say none has.

Al Jazeera should come bundled with FOX News (or vice versa), that way they can cancel each other out.

They're all just far too afraid of getting hit to be able to fight properly. It's more sad than it's cool.

Diabolus ex machina.

I'm amazed that you would even ask that.

Theoretically it is possible, though not with a regular car, nor probably staying within the earth's atmosphere since you have no additional thrust nor steering capabilities while airborne. In fact, I'd wager you NEED to get outside the atmosphere considering that the wind resistance from a craft traveling the sufficient speed if you're going need to stay within the atmosphere would tear pretty much anything apart. Thusly you'd need a vehicle capable of reentry without burning up, not to mention it needs to be pressurized for the "pilot's" comfort and survival, among other things.

This is definitely one of those things which are better left on the drawing board, or in viral videos.

Soooo...if I think about zombies that's what I will attract? Awesome!