To say "No!" and slam the phone down to the millionth junk phone call to the wrong person.

[TotalChaos]

I get at least 10 phone calls per week for a Mr. GXXXXXX. A Mr. GXXXXXX has NEVER lived at my address. I suspect he may have had our phone number before we got it 6 months ago. Today I cracked - and just said "No!" and slammed the phone down when someone asked to speak to Mr. XXXX. Then the woman called me back to tell me off for being rude then slammed the phone down on me!!!! From what I can ascertain this Mr. G is on the phone list of dodgy loan companies etc.

Notalone - I don't advocate playing mind games. And I do recognise it's a crap job. But should anyone really be phoning me back just to tell me how rude I am when I've not sworn or been aggressive, just slammed the phone down?

The one that I hate the most goes like this:

"I can assure you that this is not a marketing call, we are just conducting a survey for the free installation of windows, conservatorys, porches"

"Mmm"

"If you could have any number of DG windows installed, free of charge, how many would that be?"

"None, they've all just been done"

"How about a conservatory, if you could have one free of charge, how big would you like it to be?"

"Tiny, we've just had a massive one installed"

"Porches, if you could.."

Slams phone down and runs to crying baby.

God no - Total chaos! No-one should ever call you back to say you have been rude. Although slamming the phone down isn't ideal when I am calling people, it at least enbables me to move onto the next caller swiftly and does not make me feel close to tears like some of the nasty ones do. The ones I am referring to are the ones who are abusive to me or deliberately waste my time by playing silly buggers when I have to hit targets or risk losing my job. At the end of the day the person who is calling, is just that, still a person and some of the abuse I have had to take over the past few months is horrendous, and noone deserves it.

I do however understand that these calls are v annoying and always come at the most inconvenient time so I am not pro cold calls either. At the end of the day I am just doing what I have to do to make ends meet.

No she shouldnt have called you back and hung up of course but she'd probably had a really crap day, you were the last in a long line of people to be rude to her and she just snapped. I ended up a nervous wreck when I did the job I dont know how anyone can do it long term as it is so demoralising.

Frankly, yes, notalone, I'd rather pay taxes so that you could have benefits, than have you spend your day being told to f off by people you've irritated!

It sounds like a miserable job to do (I've a mate who's temped in cold calling for years) & unless your company's USP is that you're flogging the Elixir of Youth at 50p a bottle, no-one's thanking you for disturbing them.

I do just say 'TSP, clear database, goodbye thanks' unless it's debt collection agencies chasing people I've never heard of. Then I quite often do the 'let's see how long I can keep this sucker on the 'phone'.

It is miserable Raven and I thank my lucky stars every day I am off to uni soon and will not be stuck there like so many others are. Sadly no - the usp is plain old boring leccy and gas at fixed prices to businesses. Apparently you don't get as much abuse dealing with busineses as you do with calling people at home. What I get is more than enough so god knows what the other side have to put up with