To have said to woman on phone...

[Happymm]

"You have to be fucking joking me?"

Bloody cold calling at this time of night, when have all 3DC's in the bath finally calm and playing nicely after fighting and falling out for last bloody 3hours, and having the bloody dog barking for attention for similar amount of time. Aaaaaaaaaargh!

Just wanted to sit on floor next to DC's (with nice glass of wine-have had BAD day in my defence) and enjoy next 30mins?

Hope they were recording that one for training purposes! :o

[hugglymugly]

Pippi:My phone just rang now. Guess what? I ignored it. I'm so clever me. Shame you moaners didn't think of that.

Not everyone can ignore the phone. Maybe you didn't think of that.

Shakey: YANBU to be annoyed but YABVU to have sworn. Not nice. Not cricket.

Unwarranted intrusion into someone's personal life isn't nice, isn't cricket.

Cold calling relies on most people's sense of politeness. And then once they've caught them they go in for the kill. That's not just not nice, that's nasty.

[messymammy]

It's not really too late, even if it is awkward timing. I usually just say "sorry it's a bad time, I'm making dinner/washing kids/etc"
YABU to have been so rude

[highsummer]

Somneone who accepts a job as a cold caller knows exactly what they are doing - they agree to hassle people in their homes, when not wanted, in return for being paid some money. That is their choice.

Of course I know how difficult it is to get a job, but that doesn't mean I would expect to be applauded for accepting a legal but morally dubious post as an arms seller, animal tester or cold caller. If I did, then I would expect some abuse and I would feel bad about myself. Obviously, if it was that or let my DC starve then I might do it anyway.

happymm YANBU

[QueenKate]

I really wouldn't bother to answer the phone if it's that inconvenient for you.

[Happymm]

Sorry, maybe I was a wee bit unreasonable, but had had a very trying day, then an extremely trying post school nonsense, then my shopping delivered with some of it broken/smashed and leaked into bread etc (so still had to go out to the bloody shop for bread for school tomorrow despite just having 2wks worth of shopping delivered) and having said delivery shop then phoning me up to say the driver had phoned them as so much of my stuff had been trashed and they wanted to know if I was upset-was good and didn't swear-told her I wasn't upset I was incensed!

Have telephone preference thingy but was an overseas cold call..........

Finally had kids calm and happy in bath, for phone to go! And yes, it wasn't late, but it was in middle of bath/bed routine :o

[stacey1981]

When cold callers call asking if you want a loan DH always asks for a few million pounds and they soon realise that he isn't being very serious

[ComeAlongPond]

Most annoying when they ring up and insist they aren't a sales call. So you listen, thinking okay, it's the bank/insurance/whatever, but then... sales call.

Is there any way to stop international ones? On the TPS thingo but doesn't get rid of the overseas ones. Last week we had ten in one day! I won't ignore the phone every time it rings, especially when people are working from home/waiting for calls from insurance/estate agents/etc.

[shakey1500]

hugglymuggly they are doing their job. You can be polite and STILL decline any offers. Swearing at them is rude and uncalled for.

[mumeeee]

YABA it was only 6.30 and she was just doing her job. DD2 did a Telesales job last sumner. She didn't like it but was the only job she could get. Yes she felt guilty of calling people and was actually pulled up for spending to much time listening to people rather than trying to sell to them.

[curtaincall]

How to get someone off your phone without being rude:

Cold caller: Would you like/can I tell you about/great offer etc....

Me: well the bad news is I don't have any money; the good news is I have just found Jesus and would love to tell you all about him.

[SurreyDad]

I just politely ask to be put through to their supervisor, ask for the supervisor's name, then threaten to get their details of where they live off the NHS database that everybody is on so I can harass them, then become rude and abusive until they threaten to put the phone down on me!

[outnumbered2to1]

after having the same overseas telesales company phone me 4 times in two hours while i was waiting to hear from the hospital about my terminally ill aunt i will admit on the 4th call i got very very rude. So rude in fact that the rough, hairy glaswegian burried deep within my psyche came out to play and used language that i haven't used since i was 18 years old.

I slammed the phone handset down so hard i broke it.

Twenty minutes later i got a call from the call centre supervisor telling me not to be so rude to her staff....... can you imagine what i said i to her????

[LolaRennt]

YABU, no one wants to be a telemarketer honestly. It is soul destroying, you do it because you have to do it. People like you are the reason it is soul destroying. And btw 6:30 "this time of night" what time would be appropriate? 2pm (kids are napping) 5pm (oh dear middle of dinner) well you see where I am going here

[SurreyDad]

TPS should include barring these calls. The person in the call centre should be thick skinned enough to take some verbal abuse. Its not like they're dealing face to face with someone in a shop, is it?

[thumbwitch]

YANBU to be annoyed, although 6:30 is really not that bad a time - 8:30 was fucking irritating!

But yes, you shouldn't have sworn at her. Switch the ringer off if it annoys you when it rings at that hour in the early evening.

[SurreyDad]

They're intruding into your house and your privacy. You have every right to be rude. If they don't like someone being rude to them, they should check to see if you're registered with the TPS and see whether or not you withold your number from the phone book before ringing you.

And it is not you who is responsible for swearing at them - it is their employer who is responsible by getting their employees to follow the working practices. These call centres could be prosecuted under Health and Safety law for causing their employees to be exposed to rudeness and stress by making them telephone people who do not want to be called.

[nooka]

Being a cold caller might be a crap job, I'm sure it is, but I really don't think that there is any excuse for ringing people in their own homes and then expecting them to be pleasant about being disturbed. Why should people be polite? I'm very rarely a swearer personally, but actually I don't think that it is uncalled for. 'it's just a job' seems a bit close to following orders to me, no one is obliged to be a cold caller.

It's a shitty thing to be doing trying to con people into buying stuff they don't want when they are vulnerable at home, and the idea that people now can't pick up the phone in their own home for fear of it being an unwanted caller is a gross invasion of privacy.

[Vicky2011]

YABU to have sworn, I have only done that once and is was where some foreigner was trying to persuade me I had won a prize and needed all my personal data to ensure that I was the right person. He DID get told he was a "fucking shyster". Normal run of the mill calls get a simple "not now, sorry'.
I admit I find the silent calls way more annoying than the ones when there is actually someone there.

[acatcalledbob]

YABU to have sworn, YABVU to come to Mumsnet and complain about it when you are in the middle of a bedtime routine and don't have the time to take a phonecall without swearing....

[redwineformethanks]

These people are working anti social hours for a low wage. Unacceptable to swear at them.

[SchrodingersMew]

SurreyDad They don't need to check if you withhold your number from the phone book. This is where lots of people get it wrong, many people will say over the phone "you shouldn't be calling me, I'm ex directory" but this doesn't make a difference.

You must be registered with the TPS for it to make any difference, and it's not a case of them checking. It's not their job to do that and they can't do that. It's the actual companies job to check if you are okay to call.

[LeaveYourDignityAtTheDoor]

When I used to get cold calls I would pass the phone to my then 5yr old DS who would drone on about Thomas the Tank Engine or Spongebob until they hung up.

3yrs down the line and I think I have had 4 cold calls in that time.

[charliejosh]

YANBU - tea time in MOST households so therefore it is the company being rude by interrupting family time!

[melikalikimaka]

No need to fucking swear!