On The Job

Oh I can hear you now..."Telemarketer!"
Who on earth would want to be a pesky
telemarketer? "ME" that's who!

After hurting my back in '93 I was no
longer able to do the job I had done for
8 years. I started working as a counter
person back in '85 and became a baker
two years later. After my fall I wasn't
even able to do counter work.....8-(

I became unemployed for three years! I
hated being at home 24/7. I needed to do
something but what? I wasn't able to
stand for long periods nor sit for that
matter. Who would want to hire me? I
needed a part time job that didn't
require any lifting or prolonged
standing. I searched the want ads daily.
Finally I saw something that could be
just the job for me....Telemarketing!

Of course it had to be the right kind of
telemarketing job. I wanted something
that didn't require selling on my part or
hard selling tactics. I wanted the type of
telemarketing job that when a customer
said "No" you thanked them for their
time and move on to the next call. I
found just that type of job making calls
for a carpet cleaning company.

My job consists of letting people I call
know we're running a special in their
area, giving them a few highlights of
what we do, and finding out what rooms
they would like to have cleaned. Some
will stop me right away and some will
pick out rooms. When a person picks
out rooms the call is turned over to the
phone room manager. He's the one who
closes the deal. On the most part the
people I talk to are very polite but there
are a few that can be a little nasty! Here
are a few responses that really bother
me!

1. Child answers the phone and asks who it is. You can hear them tell their Mom and her reply, "Tell them I'm not home"! To me this is teaching your children to lie!

2. Children who are rude on the phone. This really bothers me when a child has no respect for adults. But when I speak to the parent I can see where the child learned this rudeness!

3. People who say they have dirt floors and wooden spools for furniture. Just tell me your not interested. There's no need to lie.

4. People who answer the phone with a sweet "Jesus Loves You" and when they hear the words carpet cleaning that sweet voice turns into a mean and nasty tone! Now is that really being a Christian? I don't think so.

5. People who tell you to get a real job! Excuse me...this is a real job! I go to an office every morning, punch in, and sit at a desk to preform my job.

Do you ever stop and think who the people are behind the telemarketing calls? They're homemakers, disabled people, high school kids, and me!

The positive responses out weigh the negative a thousand times over. There's the sweet elderly lady that doesn't need any cleaning done but thanks you for taking the time to call. Or the children who politely answering the phone and ask if they can take a messages. (You want to say, "Tell your parents they did a good job teaching them the proper way to answer the phone!") Or even the husband who tells you to try back later to talk to his wife cause she handles that area and adds she was just talking about having some cleaning done! There are so many people out that the make me feel good about the job I'm doing! To them I would like to say, "Thank You!"