Telemarketers. Just the word sends shivers through many adults. In years past, the prime calling time was evening, when families were prepping for or eating dinner, helping the children with homework or having quality family time together.
The caller, eager to get in as much as possible before being cut off, would jump into a spiel about a product, service or survey, speaking as rapidly as a professional auctioneer. During those years, people were far less likely to simply hang up on someone, so often they listened until the telemarketer took that first deep breath to jump in.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not interested.”
This should have ended the conversations. However, telemarketers were trained not to take no for an answer and would jump back in with more rapid speech, hoping to wear down the person on the other end of the call.
How do I know all of this? I was a telemarketer for a few months while in college in the late 1980s. It was through a financial institution, and my job was to get folks interested in financial investments. I was given a list of “prequalified” names with phone numbers and a pre-approved speech to spit out once a person answered his or her phone.
While it was honest work, it was not easy. The responses were often polite, even if the person was not interested, but there were times when I was also yelled at, cussed at and told I was a terrible person, if not worse. It didn’t take too long for me to discover that, although I love to talk to people, I was not cut out to be a telemarketer.
In 1991, a law was created to protect consumers from telemarketers, allowing them to request to be put on a company’s “do not call” list. This had to be renewed every five years. Automated dialers and robocalls were not legal. In 2003, a national “do not call” registry was created, and by 2008, it was no longer a five-year plan. People could be put on it permanently. This showed a drastic reduction in telemarketing calls for a time.
However, in 2010, internet services expanded to include phone calls through the internet, which drastically reduced the cost of international calls. This meant many of these telemarketing companies could relocate outside the U.S., regaining the freedom to annoy whomever they wished. The U.S. laws no longer applied. Scammers also took advantage of this opportunity.
Now, answering a phone call, even if from your local area code, often means getting a recorded spiel. Most of the time, there is no way to ask to be put on a “do not call list,” unless you sit through the whole recording and wait to be connected to a live person at the end. And really, what is the point? If they’re outside the U.S., they don’t have to abide by the request anyway.
But they look like they’re calling from a U.S. number, sometimes from a local area number. That’s their latest trick. These companies have learned to spoof numbers, to make it appear they’re local. It’s safer to simply not answer an unknown number, especially if it’s from another state’s area code.
This makes my job a little more difficult. I have an Alabama area code. I have had this phone number since 2004. Everything is tied to it, from bills and rewards cards to family and friends. It would take weeks to ferret out everything linked to it in order to change my phone number. As we really don’t have “long distance” charges any more, it’s not necessary to change it to save those charges. Along with this, keeping the number allows a sentimental link to my hometown and family.
However, what it does mean is that when calling to interview folks for the paper, it’s often assumed I’m a telemarketer, and people won’t answer my calls. Thank goodness for voicemails, where I can explain who I am.
With my telemarketing experiences from 30 years ago, I’m grateful no one has yet been rude to me when I have called. Those who have tentatively answered have politely allowed me to rapidly rattle off that I’m with the paper and calling to interview them for a story. It does mean delays in getting through to people sometimes, but at least I’ve not yet been asked to put someone on a “do not call” list.
