Thursday, September 25, 2003
I got a call from a telemarketer the other night. First one I've taken in ages, except for the ones you get from credit cards you already have. I've been on the Do Not Call list for Colorado pretty much since they started it, but I hadn't put the new number on there, after the move.
Isn't it funny how the modern age has totally taken the joy out of someone telling you you've just won something? How we assume that we'll never see whatever fabulous prize it is they're talking about, or if we do, it won't be worth the degrading Faustian tradeoff of answering their twenty minute's worth of survey questions or whatever? Exactly how much of my time and personal info is worth a free camera, retail value $149.99 (in Moscow maybe after all the excise taxes and kickbacks to local crime lords / elected officials) not including seventy dollars shipping and handling?
Fortunately, Colorado has a Do Not Call list. I have followed some of the debate in different places and in the news regarding the Do Not Call list, and have decided I have to, in good conscience, be in favor of a national list, since I am on the Colorado list and a big believer in the Golden Rule. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander. (That's an odd expression, Bruce.)
The backlash against telemarketers seems to have lowered the pay grade for telemarketers a good deal. I'm basing this purely on the difference between my experience with telemarketers a few years ago and now. As I recall, they used to sound professional and polite, if annoying. Now, they kind of have the quality of those kids who come to your door to sell you magazines, that I should buy to keep them out of trouble and help them win a trip to Acapulco.
Isn't it funny how the modern age has totally taken the joy out of someone telling you you've just won something? How we assume that we'll never see whatever fabulous prize it is they're talking about, or if we do, it won't be worth the degrading Faustian tradeoff of answering their twenty minute's worth of survey questions or whatever? Exactly how much of my time and personal info is worth a free camera, retail value $149.99 (in Moscow maybe after all the excise taxes and kickbacks to local crime lords / elected officials) not including seventy dollars shipping and handling?
Fortunately, Colorado has a Do Not Call list. I have followed some of the debate in different places and in the news regarding the Do Not Call list, and have decided I have to, in good conscience, be in favor of a national list, since I am on the Colorado list and a big believer in the Golden Rule. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander. (That's an odd expression, Bruce.)
The backlash against telemarketers seems to have lowered the pay grade for telemarketers a good deal. I'm basing this purely on the difference between my experience with telemarketers a few years ago and now. As I recall, they used to sound professional and polite, if annoying. Now, they kind of have the quality of those kids who come to your door to sell you magazines, that I should buy to keep them out of trouble and help them win a trip to Acapulco.
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