Hello,
        I respect workers.

Then do you LIE to others you respect? (see below)

There are major problems with telemarketing--with the exception of solicitation for legitimate charities, the products and services offered via telemarketing are flawed.

Buster, you have it exactly backwards.

You and your chosen charity are MUCH better off if you contribute directly. Paid fundraisers typically keep 80-90% or more of the proceeds. But too many people are like you. They won't get off their patooties and give without prompting. That is why charities are thrilled to have companies use their name and then receive maybe as little as 7% for the priviledge.

By the same token, the commercial offers made via telemarketing are traditionally great bargains. No other advertising method allows as much control over sales, and companies who use telemarketing realize they have to offer something special to appeal to people a fraction as biased as yourself.

Your condemnation is also too sweeping. Most Fortune 1000 companies use telemarketing at some time or another, as well as many small local businesses. Do you plan to boycott the world?

People who have to resort to jobs cold-calling private homes are in trouble to start out with in most cases (I would guess).

Again a flawed perception. Telemarketing is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Like any other, it requires management, IT professionals, technology, etc. It is also a business with a long history -- going back to right after the invention of the telephone. And telemarketing is difficult. While entry-level jobs may be easy to obtain in some companies, a telemarketer who excels and endures can earn a fine living. Just think, the next stranger to call quite likely makes MORE money than you!

I do not choose to add to their troubles, but running at breakneck speed to catch the phone before it goes over into our family's telephone answering machine (three rings) has had me near break a leg....Sometimes out of the shower, UGH!

I will give you the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe you just have a bad habit. It should be easier to quit than, say, smoking cigarettes. Next time you are in the shower and the phone rings, just grit your teeth and say to yourself, "Let the machine get it." I hear cold turkey is the best method.

Everytime this happens it is a moral crisis for me. It's a real workover.

Okay, so you abuse strangers, then guilt trip over it.

The best way I have found to deal with all these calls is to say "We don't do business over the phone"--obviously not true, because we initiate outgoing business calls, but it works.

Another guy who never ordered a pizza. Why not just say, "no thank you" and then hang up? Besides telling a lie, aren't you being snide? Some folks feel so small themselves they take pleasure in putting others down.

With the economy strong there is no need for telephone harrassment from people who won't accept "no" or "not interested" as viable communicaton.

Well, my friend, by sending this letter, you proved a point. In the same paragraph where you clicked to send me this, did I not say, "I am not interested in hearing anything anti-telemarketing"? And here you mailed me this anyway. And I am so glad you did.

How many times have you gone into a retail store, with money in your pocket, knowing what you wanted and were ready to buy, and then told an approaching clerk that you were "just looking"? Yep, I thought so.

Yes, I do get caught off guard and have been short with people. But I used to work in the world and remember that I had to let a lot of stuff go and not take it personally.

Kind of animalistic, isn't it? Like the guy who gets chewed out by his boss (or spouse) then kicks the cat (or cusses a telemarketer) for release. Telemarketers don't take it personally, and of course, you missed the whole point: social graces and manners don't need to stop when the phone rings.

By the way, where do you work now? The asteroid belt?

        Your site has merit, but I disagree. Jim in Philadelphia, PA

Glad you enjoyed it. With all due respect, I am sure you are not the only one who will disagree, especially as this portion of my site grows.