I work for a hearing aid/audiology center in Sheboygan, where half of my job is telemarketing. Now, before you go judging my profession, know that I'm not trying to sell anything over the phone nor swindle anyone. What I do for my work is call out to the community members and see if they would like to get their hearing checked. Most of my clientele are elderly and have hearing loss. Statistics show that of all the people who could be helped by hearing devices, only 10 % of them own them. This is striking, since 1. it would be great for my business to even tap into another 10 %, and 2. That's a lot of people missing out on life and annoying the heck out of everyone else. You know the old lady who's apartment is next door to yours with her TV so loud you know exactly what's going on with her TV show, right? That's the kind of person I'm trying to help.
In addition to my outreach calling, I also clean instruments from time to time and do administrative work like filing, entering data, and the like for the company. There's lots of responsibility and I love the patients that I work for. They really make my job worthwhile sometimes.
There are other days, like today, where I'm overwhelmed by rudeness. I understand that people do consider my telemarketing to be invasive, but that's what the no call list is for. I respect this list because I have to and because I understand why people are on it. My problem is people who don't take two seconds to sign up for it (whether it be for your home telephone or your cell phone... sign yours up today!!!) and then you won't be bothered by the likes of me.
Today I got cussed out by someone pretty badly... definately in the top 3 since I started working here almost three years ago. What I don't understand is why people do this? I'm used to getting hung up on and people refusing our services, but why can't you just be a little nice about it? I'm someone's daughter, someone's friend, someone's sister, not just some no-name robot automatic message. Would you do something like that to a family member? Would you be okay knowing that someone you loved was working as hard as they can to try and help people and happen to make a living at it as well? I don't understand how some people can be so incredibly insensitive to other human beings.
I've always lived by the philosophy of "treat others like you would want to be treated." I know I fail miserably sometimes, but it's a general rule that I think really helps everyone everyday, no matter how small. Just a smile or a "thank you" or holding the door for someone... the little things aren't so little afterall.
It's all about kharma!
YES. That's my golden rule throughout life as well "treat others the way you'd like to be treated". And believe me, I definitely know where you're coming from. I've been cussed out just for being a woman in my workplace before, so I really understand the rudeness factor. I mean seriously, we were taught to treat others the way we wanted to be treated all the way back in PRESCHOOL! You'd think more people would uphold to that, especially since we actually absorb more information as children anyway. I have my theories on why some people are just that rude and one that sounds really mean, but I think it's true: people are rude because they WANT to be. I think people know exactly when they're being rude to another person. They've probably had a bad day, and who better to take it out on than a person they'll most likely never see or talk to again? Better than taking it out on a family member or friend, I suppose. But still, it sucks for the rest of us. I'm guilty of being rude too(but NEVER cussing someone out, that's just uncalled for, I don't care how grumpy you are), we're all human. :/
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that society does things like this. Krista's right, we did learn that golden rule "treat others as you would like to be treated" clear back in preschool, but for some people in never sank in. Then again, some folks are just going to be plain mean. People walk around with all this burden, then they get a phone call, or there's a cashier at the counter...and suddenly there's an outlet for them. A puncture wound to pour all of their burdens onto with no regard for the person.
ReplyDeleteAlbeit I have met some very nice people in my life. I think we all have that one person we wish the rest of the world was like.
There is actually a fieldstudy included on our textbook's website about telemarketers. It's called "On the Line" by Sam Samuels. You can find it under "Student Essays":
ReplyDeletehttp://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/fieldworking3e/