Cold Callers
Direct marketers, who doesn’t like to hate them? In many ways they are “spamming” your time in attempts in trying to sell you something random that you may have not known that you had a need for but decided not wanting them anyway. Like business opportunities in direct marketing or insurance1. And the worse part of this technology is that there’s no spam filters attached to phones.
Usually the ones that I personally find really obnoxious are the ones whom just plainly refuse to state their intentions upfront and are hellbent to go through the whole script of dubious questions to bait into agreeing with him – and then goes on with a barrage of reasons why I would want whatever that he sells. What’s worse? The ones that either doesn’t give up or who just couldn’t tell that I’m on the brink of spouting expletives and four letter words after multiple polite and firm rejections.
So now I’m pretty paranoid in giving out my mobile phone number, at least hold it off long enough before it appears into some sort of list that will be sold and circulated cheaply by unethical people. But probably I could use some training in the art of rejection, take the advice of Randy Pausch to learn to hang up yourself some times, or maybe wish that I’ll be able to reach a point when I could afford a secretary as my gatekeeper.
I think I can live with learning how to hang up myself.
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No offense to both industries, to be honest – I’m just occasionally miffed by unsolicited calls from agents. There’s a counter joke being that insurance are things people thought they don’t need until the time they do. And, as a disclaimer, I do own an insurance agent license, but I don’t cold call. ↩
Written by
Seh Hui Leong
Python programmer by trade, interested in a broad range of creative fields: illustrating, game design, writing, choreography and most recently building physical things. Described by a friend as a modern renaissance man.