Originally published September 14, 2000
by Adam Zurn

Stop the ringing, please. If I did anything this summer with any regularity, it was answer the telephone. It seemed like it was always ringing. It rang every meal and several times in between.

That phone wouldn't stop ringing until late in the evening. It got to the point where I just stopped answering it.

It wasn't friends calling to invite me to barbecues, and it wasn't girls asking me to swim at their pool. The unceasing ringing was caused by telemarketers.

They called wanting to sell credit cards, life insurance, magazine subscriptions, educational video series, long distance telephone rates, low interest loans, 500 pounds of beef and NRA memberships. Now, I'm not even safe here in my dorm room because they occasionally even call me there.

It felt as if I was trapped in a swamp of quicksand and couldn't escape. I was under siege by an army of telemarketers, and I was losing the war.

I finally stopped answering the phone because I got tired of telling them I wasn't interested. But that's no way to live-in fear. I had forgotten that the telephone is not for the callers' convenience but mine.

I have some sympathy for the people working as telemarketers. I would imagine that a large number of them are high school or college students just trying to make ends meet. We all know how hard that is.

My sympathy probably runs deeper than most. I, too have telemarketing experience. I was misled into the job. I applied for an advertising position with a magazine that I understood was going to consist of design work and some sales.
Instead, the job turned out to be me making cold call after cold call to local business people who didn't want to talk to me. After nine solid hours of this, I was counting the days to the end of summer when I realized this was no way to spend it. I quietly resigned the next day.

I was there long enough though to understand just how much people hated talking to you when you're a telemarketer.

I received such rudeness and all I could do was bite my tongue and thank them for their time. So trust me when I say that as a telemarketer, I disliked making the call to you as much as you hated receiving it.

So now instead of not answering the phone, I pick it up saying, "I'm not interested." But if that person wants to chat some that would be fine because I realize many are paid by the hour so why not waste some time. They often agree.

I ask where they are, what the weather is like, and other first date type questions. Eventually, the telemarketer whispers that his/her manager is coming, and it's time to go.

Think about it, there's no need to get mean and rude, these are people who are trying to make a living just like you and me. Besides, no one is forcing you to answer the phone during dinner anyway. I'm sure the machine can handle it. If it's really that bad why not just get Caller ID.

So next time a telemarketer calls, try chatting instead of yelling. Everyone should try it. I see this as a new type of pen pal program, and who knows who you'll meet. It might just turn a negative experience into a positive one.