We're not telemarketers, we are conducting a survey

Anyone else notice the explosion of people who call to do surveys? (Do Not Call list really messed that industry, I assume...)

Last week Tara took one from someone who was pushing an online College. The person on the other end started out by saying they were doing a survey and wanted to know if she was interested in Education. (I think it's a little stretch to say that one question followed by a sales pitch can be concidered a survey...) Anyway, they wasted 10 minutes of her time before she could get them to realize that if she wanted to go back to school, she could do it here for free. (It sounded like they were kind of aggressive...)

They called for me late yesterday afternoon. I recognized it from what Tara told me right away. I had also been up all night the night before patching servers, and hadn't gotten all that much sleep in by late afternoon, so I was in no mood to play. After her opening volley about my being interested in education, I told her that I was not interested in education, and how did she get my number. She told me she was just doing a survey. I asked again, "Who sold you my name and number, how did you get it?" Then the lady actually said, (I am not making this up) "Sir, you are not listening to me. I want to know if you are interested in education, I want to give you a survey." This didn't provoke the response she was looking for, I gaurentee it. From then, I instructed her to make sure they never called me back again, etc, etc. There was a slight(not awkward on my end) pause, followed by "Thank you sir, goodbye." I just hope someone else was listening in on that one.

Occasionally I am in the mood to participate in surveys. Once in a while at least. I am never in the mood to buy something over the phone, and I really don't like the people who try to telemarket in the guise of doing a survey. If they call back, I will take the gloves off.