SE on the phone

[Banrion]

My standard reply is a staccato "Not Interested" and hanging up. I really don't see any reason to have to sit through some spiel 3 times for the sake of manners.

[trunks2k]

I also think we're confusing what it is and isn't to be rude when a telemarketer calls.

Is cutting off their spiel and saying "not interested", and hanging up rude? By most standards, I would consider that rude, but an acceptable rudeness. This is primarily the behavior I talk about when I say it's acceptable to be rude to a telemarketer.

There are various levels of rudeness. First call from someone? It's a "no thanks" and hanging up after they let me get a word in edgewise. Second call from someone? It's a "no thank you, please stop calling me" when they let me get a word in edgewise. Third call? It's a "I'm not interested, stop calling me" as soon as they start their spiel. Fourth call? well, by that point, you've forfeited any right to any politeness exhibited by me.

[MadMike]

OK, I probably should have headed this off as soon as I saw the first post instead of replying to it. My bad.

We've already had a thread on telemarketing, and that one ended badly. This one is already starting to head down that same path, so I'm going to shut it down before it gets really bad, and people start getting themselves in trouble.

Feel free to take this discussion over to Fratching. There is already a thread going on this particular subject, which can be found here.