9 ms·

Good job on making things worse for underpaid workers who in all probability also hate what they do.

by erokar 11y ago

tunesmith 11y ago
I agree, this is pretty mean and funny at the same time. I think where it turns from mean to funny is about where we imagine ourselves a certain distance away from them. But I do remember a certain time where I got mad at a customer service rep and made some comments that were... a little too cutting, and I remember experiencing her react in a way that showed she was hurt and upset. It hit me hard and I haven't done that since.
- Nutmog 11y ago
  But if you had only been polite, would you have gone away feeling frustrated or ripped off? There's a reason people are rude to customer service staff - it's to vent their frustrations at the company that's causing them grief, and thus feel more relieved themselves. The job of the rep is to represent the company and that includes receiving gratitude as well as criticism, "I love you" as well as "you f*". Perhaps the problem is that there are people desperate enough to suffer abuse in exchange for money. We already solved similar issues protecting people from their own desperation with minimum wage and workplace safety laws so maybe we need a legally required "maximum personal abuse" requirement on employers to protect workers from this.
  - tamana 11y ago
    Tunesmith said some hurtful personal remarks to the agent (I could imagine something like "are you so stupid and your whole family so completely worthless, and you probably apat our several kids by several deadbeats to boot, that the only way you can scratch out a miserable existence is by trying to scamming people? You are going to die destitute and your children will always be homeless!", not complaints about the company
    - tunesmith 11y ago
      Actually it was almost literally what someone else on another subthread used to justify treating them badly. Something along the lines of, "Look, I'm sorry to be speaking so sharply to you, but you're the one who chose to work there."
Spivak 11y ago
So if I hired someone to follow you around in public and gently but constantly poke you with a stick you would treat this person well simply because I was paying them? You're just happy they have a job? At what point is a person responsible for their job/career? Regardless of whether it was a choice or not, if your job is to annoy, harass, and manipulate people, those people being angry and treating you like shit is just an occupational hazard.
- hardwaresofton 11y ago
  Have some empathy. Regardless of how this person got to their decision, you may be justified in the right to be annoyed, but why not choose to be kind? Also people complain about telemarketers so much, but how many calls are you really getting a day from them? Also, how many times has one really interrupted something important you were doing? They're just sales people whose business meetings happen over the phone. Yeah, you COULD treat your waiter like shit (angry customers are just an occupational hazard), but that's a shitty thing to choose to do, outside of extreme situations.
  - darkarmani 11y ago
    Oh, please. They are spoofing their phone number and violating the US telecommunications act by calling me on my cell phone. This is not the same as treating a waiter like shit. In fact, I not sure why this is considered treating them like shit. They will be talking to someone no matter what. Does it matter if they keep repeating themselves to one person or a bunch of people?
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    > Also people complain about telemarketers so much, but how many calls are you really getting a day from them? In one of the interviews, this guy says he was getting 4-5 telemarketing calls a day, some of them asking for someone who had the number many years ago.
    - hardwaresofton 11y ago
      Right except this isn't the usual case. and most likely isn't the case for most of the people in this threads that are brandishing pitchforks.
wstrange 11y ago
Telemarketers are intrusive, and most do not respect the do not call lists, or they find creative ways around it. If they want to waste my time, I see no reason not to waste theirs.
vinceguidry 11y ago
I wouldn't be so quick to say they hate their job. A person with a financial incentive to do so can swallow any justification to be enthusiastic about their job. Not all of them will, naturally, but if I'm allowed to be crass, some whores actually like being whores.
- tamana 11y ago
  Why are you talking about whores? Whores aren't trying to steal or hurt anyone.
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    I was thinking more of the "sell your dignity for a paycheck" part. The person I was responding to was discussing the internal motivations of those that work in telemarketing jobs. Saying they're trying to steal / hurt is an external judgment.
dave2000 11y ago
We should probably feel sorry for them. In many ways, they're the victim. Actually, muggers too. I understand some of them came from broken homes and didn't have the same advantages you or I had. If you don't give muggers money they may decide they have no choice than to murder you, which will almost certainly provoke a turn for the worse in their lifes. Give all you can - they need it more than you.
- Nutmog 11y ago
  In the 2nd recording on that page, the caller identified himself as a former soldier with PTSD. That sounds like someone who made a decision to take a high risk of ruining his life - and it happened. If you can't accept suffering mental illness and physical injury or death, then don't become a soldier.
  - tamana 11y ago
    The army doesn't recruit grunts who had the benefit of family wealth, solid public education, and job prospects.

Good job on making things worse for underpaid workers who in all probability also hate what they do.

by erokar 11y ago

Good job on making things worse for underpaid workers who in all probability also hate what they do.

I agree, this is pretty mean and funny at the same time. I think where it turns from mean to funny is about where we imagine ourselves a certain distance away from them. But I do remember a certain time where I got mad at a customer service rep and made some comments that were... a little too cutting, and I remember experiencing her react in a way that showed she was hurt and upset. It hit me hard and I haven't done that since.

Nutmog 11y ago
But if you had only been polite, would you have gone away feeling frustrated or ripped off? There's a reason people are rude to customer service staff - it's to vent their frustrations at the company that's causing them grief, and thus feel more relieved themselves. The job of the rep is to represent the company and that includes receiving gratitude as well as criticism, "I love you" as well as "you f*". Perhaps the problem is that there are people desperate enough to suffer abuse in exchange for money. We already solved similar issues protecting people from their own desperation with minimum wage and workplace safety laws so maybe we need a legally required "maximum personal abuse" requirement on employers to protect workers from this.
- tamana 11y ago
  Tunesmith said some hurtful personal remarks to the agent (I could imagine something like "are you so stupid and your whole family so completely worthless, and you probably apat our several kids by several deadbeats to boot, that the only way you can scratch out a miserable existence is by trying to scamming people? You are going to die destitute and your children will always be homeless!", not complaints about the company
  - tunesmith 11y ago
    Actually it was almost literally what someone else on another subthread used to justify treating them badly. Something along the lines of, "Look, I'm sorry to be speaking so sharply to you, but you're the one who chose to work there."

Spivak 11y ago

So if I hired someone to follow you around in public and gently but constantly poke you with a stick you would treat this person well simply because I was paying them? You're just happy they have a job? At what point is a person responsible for their job/career? Regardless of whether it was a choice or not, if your job is to annoy, harass, and manipulate people, those people being angry and treating you like shit is just an occupational hazard.

hardwaresofton 11y ago
Have some empathy. Regardless of how this person got to their decision, you may be justified in the right to be annoyed, but why not choose to be kind? Also people complain about telemarketers so much, but how many calls are you really getting a day from them? Also, how many times has one really interrupted something important you were doing? They're just sales people whose business meetings happen over the phone. Yeah, you COULD treat your waiter like shit (angry customers are just an occupational hazard), but that's a shitty thing to choose to do, outside of extreme situations.
- darkarmani 11y ago
  Oh, please. They are spoofing their phone number and violating the US telecommunications act by calling me on my cell phone. This is not the same as treating a waiter like shit. In fact, I not sure why this is considered treating them like shit. They will be talking to someone no matter what. Does it matter if they keep repeating themselves to one person or a bunch of people?
- gherkin0 11y ago
  > Also people complain about telemarketers so much, but how many calls are you really getting a day from them? In one of the interviews, this guy says he was getting 4-5 telemarketing calls a day, some of them asking for someone who had the number many years ago.
  - hardwaresofton 11y ago
    Right except this isn't the usual case. and most likely isn't the case for most of the people in this threads that are brandishing pitchforks.

wstrange 11y ago

Telemarketers are intrusive, and most do not respect the do not call lists, or they find creative ways around it. If they want to waste my time, I see no reason not to waste theirs.

vinceguidry 11y ago

I wouldn't be so quick to say they hate their job. A person with a financial incentive to do so can swallow any justification to be enthusiastic about their job. Not all of them will, naturally, but if I'm allowed to be crass, some whores actually like being whores.

tamana 11y ago
Why are you talking about whores? Whores aren't trying to steal or hurt anyone.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  I was thinking more of the "sell your dignity for a paycheck" part. The person I was responding to was discussing the internal motivations of those that work in telemarketing jobs. Saying they're trying to steal / hurt is an external judgment.

dave2000 11y ago

We should probably feel sorry for them. In many ways, they're the victim. Actually, muggers too. I understand some of them came from broken homes and didn't have the same advantages you or I had. If you don't give muggers money they may decide they have no choice than to murder you, which will almost certainly provoke a turn for the worse in their lifes. Give all you can - they need it more than you.

Nutmog 11y ago
In the 2nd recording on that page, the caller identified himself as a former soldier with PTSD. That sounds like someone who made a decision to take a high risk of ruining his life - and it happened. If you can't accept suffering mental illness and physical injury or death, then don't become a soldier.
- tamana 11y ago
  The army doesn't recruit grunts who had the benefit of family wealth, solid public education, and job prospects.