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Maybe the reason that I never had a problem with them is that I treat them as human beings who are trying to earn a living. Before I had Caller ID when I got a call I would do one of two things. If I was somewhat interested, I would put them on a short leash -- I'd give them a minute to get my interest. If I wasn't interested, I'd just thank them and tell them politely that I wasn't interested. If I wasn't interested in taking a call, I just wouldn't pick up. Now I run a business from home and I need to take calls, but I use Caller ID to screen. I want to know who is on the line before I pick up.

I understand that you were anxious because of the the ER call that you were waiting for, but a polite 'no thanks' taking 5 seconds would have saved you 5 minutes of grief and anxiety.

I just can't understand the deep hatred that so many people have for telemarketers.

Maybe the reason that I never had a problem with them is that I treat them as human beings who are trying to earn a living.

The biggest problem I see is that I can't just reroute them to your home phone and you can talk nice to them. btw, most are not humans. Most calls I get are from computers and recorded messages. And when it isn't a recorded message but a live person, I can't say how many times I've had a computer disconnect with me because it was dialing multiple numbers at the same time and some other poor bloke answered before I did and the telemarketer disconnected from my phone after I picked up went to THAT phone and left me hanging repeating "hello" into the phone. You are either completely ignorant of telemarketing or you are a telemarketer. I got more news for you.... I used to be a telemarketer. I was a top marketer because I *accepted* that I was a nuisance and never let the hangups get to me because I knew I deserved them. I quit the business after two months and found *real* work that didn't annoy 99.99% of those I came into contact with. I worked for MCI. They even connected me to a senior citizen at a nursing home. Made me ill.

I understand that you were anxious because of the the ER call that you were waiting for, but a polite 'no thanks' taking 5 seconds would have saved you 5 minutes of grief and anxiety.

btw, this is the most incredibly stupid response I have ever seen. I hope no one you care about is ever victimized or at the least, you never learn about it. I suspect with an attitude like yours, there is much that goes on around you that you never hear about.

Maybe the reason that I never had a problem with them is that I treat them as human beings who are trying to earn a living.

There's your mistake. It simply would never occur to me to do that, any more than it would occur to me to treat al-Qaeda as human beings who are trying to express a political grievance.