Fun with telemarketers

A telemarketer called our house recently. Normally a very mundane event, but my husband has found a way to make it both fun and informative. After listening to the opening spiel, he said that he had a question. The telemarketer was delighted to answer any question.

“How did you vote in the last presidential election?” After a bit of sputtering and stammering, he said that he doesn’t believe in voting. This led to a good ten minutes of discussion. The telemarketer had never thought much about politics so he had some trouble deciding what he thought. Apparently, he considered government to be sort of like a mother. It tells you what to do, and what is good for you, and what you need to know. He never did come up with an answer for how our leaders should be chosen.

Eventually, my husband let him continue with his sales pitch.

“What kind of services do you get from your cable or dish provider?”

“I don’t watch TV.”

“You don’t have cable?”

“I don’t have a TV.” (the TV is on in the background, but probably too low for him to hear)

“Well I guess I can’t sell you any of these services then!” (from a very put upon telemarketer)

end of call

I was really looking forward to the next telemarketer. I was going to conduct a poll, and then write about it. After two weeks, the few that have called, called when we were out. They left messages on the machine. Now I know how to get on the real "do not call" list. 13 days and counting ...