Bad Telemarketer, Bad

I received an interesting phone call this weekend.

The phone rang, I answered it.

Me: “Hello.”

Him: “Ms. ****?”

Me: “Who is this?”

Him: “Wrong answer!” (in a tone very much like my drill sergeant used to use)

Me: “What do you mean? You called me, and I want to know who you are!” (indignant)

Him: “Don’t answer the phone if you don’t want to …”

Me: “Fine!”

I hung up. By the way, I will answer my phone whenever I (expletive) feel like it and if he doesn’t like it, too (expletive) bad! He has no business calling me and expecting anything from me.

At first, I was shocked. I could not believe a telemarketer would be so rude. After all, it is not enlightened self-interest to antagonize a potential customer. I think maybe this is another guy in the wrong line of work. If he does not like people to ask him to identify himself and his organization, he needs another job. Preferably one that does not require people skills. But if it was not a telemarketer, then who was it?

Puzzled, I checked my caller ID for the phone number, and dialed it. It rang, and then a recorded message told me it belonged to Gutter Max (in Houston). It told me all their representatives were busy, and I could leave a message. I left a message. I told them I was offended at such rudeness. I did not however, leave my name. Perhaps they have caller ID like I do. I really don’t care.

The audacity and arrogance that man must possess! I really hate telemarketers. They seem to feel they have a right to bother me at home. They tell you that if you don’t like being called at home, you can pay a fee to get on a “no-call” list. I don’t think we should have to pay a fee for that! In essence, that is having to pay to keep people from harassing you! The telemarketing companies should pay for the list. In fact, it baffles me that they even want to call people who don’t want to be called. They pay their representatives to call us. Every time we hang up on them without buying anything, they still have to pay their representatives. I would think they would want a list of people who don’t want to be called; just so they don’t waste resources on those like me. Ironically, I don’t own the house I live in, and I would not be interested in buying gutters for a rental property. They really need to re-evaluate their lists.

On the other hand, this incident motivated me to finally set up the answering machine function of my phone. Now, I can screen calls and avoid this type of thing in the future. That’s why I bought this model of phone in the first place, so I can screen calls. I just kept putting it off…

Further thoughts to ponder:

That man’s response reminds me of how perpetrators and predators will “blame their victim” when they don’t get what they want. It’s insane, really.

My husband told me a story that happened to an ex-girlfriend of his. As the story goes, she was leaving her college campus one night and a man jumped her. His stated intent was to rob her. She fought back, kicked him until he fell over. She then proceeded to stomp him with her cowboy boots. (It is Texas, after all!) He managed to get up and ran to his buddy who was just driving up. He hollered “Get me out of here, she’s a crazy b****”!

I ask you, who’s really the crazy one?

Other hypothetical examples:

• A rapist injures a victim, and says “If she had not struggled, I would not have had to hurt her”.
• Or, one country invades another and gets angry and offended when the citizens of that (invaded) country decide to fight back.

You know, if the predators and perpetrators would not prey on others, they would not have these problems.