At one of my lowest points I tried to do this. It was horrible and I was horrible at it. I guess there are various different kinds of telemarketing, but the particular kind I tried relied heavily on your ability to tell bald faced lies. It was really little more than electronic panhandling and it just wasn't for me.

Outside of the job itself it was actually pretty interesting because of the different kinds of people that worked in the office. One man that worked there was a fairly successful oil man in the '70s, but for various reasons he hit hard times and ended up there. Another was a professor at Texas A&M. Alcoholism drug him down to being a telemarkter. On the other side there were people there that saw telemarketing as a step up. A couple of them were former street walkers. It made for some rather bizarre conversations around the office.

I would be embarassed to have this job. I see these people as lazy. Sitting on your ass making phone calls all day? Not for me.

Should be outlawed.

I tried to be a telemarketer, but I couldn't cut it.  I was always dialing the numbers of my ex-wives and trying to sell them a pile of different stuff.  One of them caught on and got me fired.

I pity the poor saps who have no other employment options and they aren't to blame for the annoying nature of their chosen feild.  Its not like they are the ones who choose who to call and when to call them.  That said, it is an annoying intrusion into my prescious private time.  I don't give such calls more than enough time to identify themselves before terminating the call with a "Thanks, but I'm not interested" *click* - *buzzzzz*.  There's no need for me to be rude to someone getting paid peanuts who hates their job.  If the family is at the dinner table, we let the machine get it because 90% of the time its a telemarketer. 

On a side note, I always find it hilarious when you see a television or magazine ad that features a call centre employee who is "standing by to take your order" or there to help when you activate your Onstar.  They are without exception attractive, well groomed and dressed in a very high quality and excellent fitting business suit.  The office building next to the one I work in has a call centre in it.  The staff congregate in the common courtyard between our buildings for their smoke break.  A more motely crew you will not find outside of a rave or bowery barroom.  There are more tatoos and piercings and punk/goth/hobo clothing than you'll find roaming the streets on Halloween.  They all have pleasant well modulated speaking voices though.

Getting paid to call strangers up in the middle of their dinner or when there in the middle of their shower isn't exactly for me. I'm sure i'd be on the receiving end of verbal abuse and rejection 99 percent of the time since most time in sales you have to go in for the closing repetitive times(or so it seems). The economy would have to be at it's worsts. I don't mean bad like it is. I mean worst than it is for me to get a job as a telemarketer. I don't think I could be that desperate.

Can't get much worse than this

there annoying

Telemarketers are real good at making a nuicance of themselves. What I get a kick out of  is once you have told them you aren't interested they still keep talking and talking....

telemarketers are annoying

I would HATE that job. lol. peeple constantly hanging up on u and swearing at u.

i don't want to get fussed out

he he....no

Ranks up there with drug dealer

I feel sorry for them because I know they get hung up on and cursed at all the time. They have a job to do like everyone else. But they are extremely annoying, and yes, I hang up on them.

i hate when these people call

fuck that

no

I can care less if a person wants to keep or get rid of what ever they signed up for.

what

errrrrrrr stop fucking calling!!!

I would hate wearing a sack over my head all the time to hide the shame.

I wouldn't because at least half of the country would hate you.

no cause they r annoying

anoing

Hate em, if I became one, I'd hate myself.

CAUSE

omg....I couldn't be that nice and cheerful for long..I'd kill someone!

Despite the attractive, professional looking woman pictured here, these people are Satan spawn.

so annoying, but everyone has to bring home bacon I guess.

Great. A job where most people don't want to hear from you, and after work you'd rather not admit what you do.

about as useful as the clergy!

When ever you play lazer tag next time name your self "Telemarketer" and see how many times more you will get hit.

This would be a hellish job. You dial random phone numbers and depending on who's on the other line, you'll either get hung up on or get yelled at in a vulgar manner. This does help your confidence and happiness at all.

The only redeeming quality of a telemarketer is that it reminds the rest of us that things could be worse. We're actually not as bad off as the telemarketer who we hang up on. Thank goodness for the "Do Not Call" list.

Not enough money in the world for me to do this job....I have sure tormented my share of them though!

Completely useless and annoying. If you hang up on them, they'll can you back!!

I've almost had to beat some sales monkeys in my line of work that made a habit of giving customers bad information. I don't do business with satellite retailers that make sales this way anymore. They have higher cancelation rates and I sometimes have to dicount MY LABOR on account of a stupid sales monkey.

I'm sure there are rants here against telemarketers, but (for some unkown reason) I feel bad for them. . .I hang up the phone and think about all the degrading jobs I had through high school and college- but calling people? I'd steal first. . .

A terrible predicament to be in. I used to be a telemarketer and I have to admit I liked it at one time. Eventually I realized I was a parasite and I fortunately got out of it. The one advantage is that if your life falls apart the telemarketing is always there. You can grind it out for a few weeks and hopefully stack up enough checks to get out again.

I know people need to put food on their tables,but telemarketing is stooping pretty low.

Finally a job in which I get paid to make pointless phone calls!

the worst job you can imagine, i've done for a week and i got sick myself more than telemarketing is ballbreaking

Yeah I love to annoy people on the phone during their dinner hour.

This must be a horrible job. I know that we all have to make a living somehow, but just imagine how some of these people feel when they are ust doing their "job" by calling and intruding on people, who 95% of the time are not interested, and then getting yelled at and sometimes cursed at for their efforts. Nothing annoys me more than eating dinner and having some telemarketer call and interrupt me. If I want to buy or order your product, I'll call you!

I could never do that job. I really dislike the idea of selling products or bothering people I don't know.

This is a job that I would not want to have. Being hated by about 90% of the country is not an ideal job. You spend your entire work day calling people who don't want to hear what you have to say. Some don't answer the phone and others answer with nasty words and threats. Not enticing at all.

Paid to interrupt peoples' lives and annoy them in the privacy of their homes. Pathetic...

Telemarketers have a bizzare habit of calling at the most inconvenient times. I don't enjoy having to jump out of the shower to answer the phone only to have someone ask me if I want my windshield replaced.

Who wants to call people at 5PM and get yelled at people who are just trying to eat thier supper?