I didn't say that telemarketers are waiters -- just that you have the option to also treat them like shit for making a mistake, but most people more readily view that for what it is: you being unkind.
Also, you choose to have phone service. One of the things that comes with that is the possibility you will be called by someone you do not know.
You CAN also complain to people in charge of telemarketers.
You also CAN prevent them from calling you again. There is relevant legislation, there is precedent, you have technological options (another user mentioned these, with links), you're just not exercising them, and choosing to be rude instead, hoping (possibly rightfully so) that that will deter them.
> You CAN also complain to people in charge of telemarketers.
I've literally never, not once, had a telemarketer admit to me on whose behalf they were calling. It's always an instant-hang-up.
> There is relevant legislation, there is precedent
Again, I need to know who to point the long arm of the law at, and at best, it's very hard.
> you have technological options (another user mentioned these, with links)
That are easily circumvented by moving to a different number. (And now, maybe I've blocked my doctor's new number, or my mother-in-law's, or who else knows whose.)
> choosing to be rude instead
Yeah. I am. Fuck 'em. To use my 10-year-old's response, "they started it". It's rude to cold-call me and sell me something without knowing whether I could even use it - I don't need aluminum siding on an apartment I rent. It's doubly-rude - criminal, in fact - to call me despite me being on a do-not-call list. It's extra-flavored criminal to call me pretending to be Microsoft and to ask me to install malware on my device.
The absolute worst I could do is keep an honest person on the line and baffle them. As I said in my original comment, that's not cruel. It's rude at best.
You are absolutely free to be rude when you want. I am not saying you should never be rude to a telemarketer, but it's not warranted to be rude in every single situation.
My problem with the tone in this thread is that everyone is seemingly groupthinking on how to best use their pitchforks to hunt telemarketers.
The ones that are doing shitty stuff should be dealth with, but if your response to every single telemarketer (whether they are doing the really evil stuff, or just calling you at 3PM), is not reasonable.
Start from this perspective, it is the caller who is being rude, the caller who responds to kindness with additional rudeness, and the caller who wants to take money from you. Kindness doesn't work in this case.
They are calling from huge banks of numbers in my own local exchange, Ohio, Florida; you can't just block all numbers. I get 5-10 per day. They won't reveal who they are working for in many cases, so there is no one to complain about. The whole idea of being called by someone you don't know is at risk, and we are going to have to switch to a clean list, instead of a block list.
The best solutions just make it much more expensive for them to do this. What it does have to do is cost the company money, and increase total utility by preventing them from wasting others' time.
Yes, the caller has done many rude things. There is no point, however, where responding kindly is not an option. You always have a choice on how to respond.
Also, I'm not against making this more expensive for telemarketing companies, I'm just against this particular means, and the seemingly prevalent groupthink that every telemarketer on the end of any phone line is a scumbag trying to harm you and your family in any way possible.
Also, all you're going to do is start an arms race. If it become profitable for telemarketing companies to hire developers to find ways to detect this "solution", things will just go back to the way they were.
Could you help us understand, which companies are using telemarketing to sell legitimate services that some customers want? And why don't they clearly identify themselves and respect the customer's concerns (not just reading off a script)
Also, you choose to have phone service. One of the things that comes with that is the possibility you will be called by someone you do not know.
You CAN also complain to people in charge of telemarketers.
You also CAN prevent them from calling you again. There is relevant legislation, there is precedent, you have technological options (another user mentioned these, with links), you're just not exercising them, and choosing to be rude instead, hoping (possibly rightfully so) that that will deter them.