My dad yelled at a Charity Worker

[hinakiba777]

My dad has been having a lot of stress recently. Money disappearing from his chequing account, credit card issues, overworked at his job, etc. Because of all of this he's a little on edge, but even I have to admit he was a MAJOR SC the other day.

Due to his problems with credit cards, my dad has stopped giving donations via phone. I've personally answered most of the calls from charities and told them that this was the case. However, they actually need to hear it from my father himself, so there is not much I could do to stop the following.

*Phone Rings*
Me= Hello.
Charity guy= Hi I'm with (Charity) I was wondering if I could talk to Daddy Kiba please. {The guy seemed really nice.}
Me= Oh I'm sorry, He's no long giving donations over the phone.
CG= Oh, are you Mrs. Kiba?
Me= No I'm his daughter, but I can speak on behalf of my father and tell you he is no longer giving donations by phone.
CG= Thank you Ms. Kiba, but we do need to here it from your father himself.
Me= Alright one moment.

So I call my father in to the dining room and tell him a young man is calling from a charity. Dad repeats to me that he isn't giving donations over the phone, and I inform him that CG needs to hear this from him. Dad takes the phone.

Dad= Hello this is Dad......... I'm sorry I'm not donating money over the phone this year......Yes, I know I donated last year but I've decided this year I'm not donating over to phone anymore.........I'm sorry I'm just not donating over the phone......Listen Buddy, if you want me to donate then you need to tell the government to stop taxing the working man into the poor house ramblerambleramble.

My father spent the next 5 minutes making a rant about how this one guy working for a charity should make the government lower taxes, stop identity theft, and a few other impossible demands.

I felt SO bad for the guy. He just wanted a donation to build a camp for blind children.

[Draco]

I... Can't say I blame your father. He said no repeatedly. You said no. The guy on the phone, nice or not, kept pushing. Maybe your dad took it a bit too far, but the charity guy should have accepted it and not pushed.

[South Texan]

CG= Thank you Ms. Kiba, but we do need to here it from your father himself.

WHAT?

Does your father have some kind of automatic withdrawal set up with this charity that just needs to be verified every year? If not, then the demand to hear the "no" from your father himself displays a real presumptuous, entitlement attitude on the charity's part.

I would have not been very polite, either.

[PepperElf]

Indeed. It sounds like they weren't going to take "no" for an answer and kept pushing him.

You BOTH tried to tell them "no" politely but they wouldn't listen. I actually don't blame your father.


The only thing I will say is... hang up. Don't argue with them, just firmly say "no" followed by hanging up.

If the same charity calls back, ... then it's harassment.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

WHAT?

Does your father have some kind of automatic withdrawal set up with this charity that just needs to be verified every year? If not, then the demand to hear the "no" from your father himself displays a real presumptuous, entitlement attitude on the charity's part.

I would have not been very polite, either.

This. This right here.

He does NOT have to hear it from your father. Say no and hang up. The end. If someone told me "I have to hear it from xxx" in a case like that, my head would explode.

Your dad does not need to be giving out credit info over the phone anyways. It is now
RAINING SCAMS since the economy went down the crapper.

"I need to hear it from him." Ha. That is rich. Well, look on the bright side, Charity got what he wanted. I don't think your old man was out of line in the least.

[Aisling]

Kiba, sweetie, you're way too nice. One polite "no" is all anyone should be required to give. It doesn't matter what they're asking for. No means no.

[Exaspera]

Y'know what they call the lists of people many charities use to get donations? Sucker Lists.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

No suck on your dad's part, other than maybe not hanging up right away, which is what I would've done.

If they call back, then I'd really let them have it.

No means no. Not maybe yes if I ask the question some other way. Everybody's hard up for money these days, and charities shouldn't be so entitled or guilt-tripping or whatever if they want people to donate.

[Shalom]

Arrgh.

I once had one phone-beggar not take several times "no" for an answer, so I hung up on him.

He had the chutzpah to call back and tell me that he was disconnected, and went on with his spiel. I told him no a few more times and hung up on him again.

He called back a second time. Starts ranting, literally yelling at me about how he's a human being, how dare I hang up on him, and so forth. I asked him how long he'd been in this business, and he said this was his first week volunteering. I told him he'd better get used to it then, because if he's going to be calling people and annoying them, being hung up on is the least that's going to happen to him; some people aren't as polite as I am.

To the OP: I think there wasn't suck involved, at least on your dad's side. Once they decide they're going to be wasting their caller's time by keeping them on the phone beyond what was necessary to determine if they're gonna get anything from you, they become fair game for having their own time wasted. As reference this classic comic strip from "For Better Or For Worse".

(My usual line is, "I do not make pledges over the phone. If you send me some literature, I'll evaluate it and make my decision at that time." Problem is, when I say this, they hear "Well I'll give you less than what you originally asked for, if you ask me for a lower amount." How what I said sounds like what they hear is beyond me.)

[Ironclad Alibi]

I've gotten to the point where I tell the telephone solicitors "I do not give to telephone solicitors" or "I'm not interested" then hang up without listening for or to a response.

My wife will sometimes receive a call from one charity (I think Planned Parenthood or an abortion rights group) that will not even identify themselves to me. I think it is because a lot of husbands have yelled at them.

[Magpie]

My dad's editor (I boarded with them for a while) had a good trick for phone solicitors - "sure, send me some of your literature, and I can make a decision on it". Got rid of most of the outright scammers, gave him enough info to catch most of the rest. Of course, it doesn't work when the person refuses to take anything other than "sure, here's my credit card number" for an answer.

[RxBoy]

I don't give myself a chance to get angry enough that I might become sucky to someone on the phone. I do not donate money over the phone under any circumstances, that is my personal policy. It is due to the fact that there is so much fraud and the fact that I choose personally who I donate money to. If someone calls me asking for a donation, I simply state "I'm sorry, but I do not donate money over the phone." If they persist, I simply repeat that statement and gently hang up the phone.

[PepperElf]

"sure, send me some of your literature, and I can make a decision on it".

especially since, if they're a scammer and dumb enough to mail you something for the scam... that'll add mail fraud to the list.


I guess another thing to do if they say "We need to hear it from so and so" is...

1) Deepen your voice and see if they fall for it.

2) Tell them he's "taking a dump". If they want to wait or to call back, tell them, "he'll be taking a dump all night long" *click*

3) "You need to talk to him? Could you hold?"
When they say yes, put the phone next to a speaker. Play the Lambchop song. On repeat.*


*note, at a tolerable volume of course. The key is to drive them insane, not make them go deaf.

[bainsidhe]

I know telemarketers use a Do Not Call list, but can non-profits? You should be able to ask them to remove you from their list, regardless of whether you are the daughter, the father or King Tut reincarnate. And I concur with others, it IS polite to simply say no and hang up.

[the lawsmeister]

Arrgh.

Once they decide they're going to be wasting their caller's time by keeping them on the phone beyond what was necessary to determine if they're gonna get anything from you, they become fair game for having their own time wasted. .)

My wife's grandfather is good at this. If someone starts to annoy him he goes into his doddering old man routine. Its like watching a live version of Grandpa Simpson