I wanna play "I don't care Friday," but there's a stupid layoff at the NJ job and our regular payroll person is off today so it's up to me. Now, if the timekeeper on the job site could get me the time sheets pronto, then I can not care afterwards
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You should fear anything that can bleed for seven days without dying... (as told to Mr. DS on 3-12-10)
Finally Friday has arrived. I for one like it. It was cool here this morning. When I left for work it was on 52*. I don't think it is supposed to make it to 70* today. What a nice day. I am awaiting 4pm. It was a long work week and I only needed 1.5 hours today to fulfill my 40 hours for the week. Now that I've done that I can't wait to leave. I suppose I ought to accomplish some more things today as there is plenty of time remaining.
JR - the Phillies will attemp to help the Brewers this weekend. It would be nice if they decide to do their part as well. The Phillies magic number to win the NL East is two. Hopefully the are able to finish that tonight with a win over the Cardinals and a Braves loss. The magic number to clinch homefield throughout the playoffs is three. Hopefully that can be accomplished by Saturday.
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Stop trying to be what you see. Be what you ought to be.
It is still cool today. I even turned my space heater on here in the office for a while to take the chill off. It is supposed to warm back up this weekend.
We had a guy stop at our house last night about 7:00. He said that my brother sent him. Turns out that this guy was a salesman selling those heat detector alarms that have been around for ages. My brother did buy some, and we later found out that if you refer someone, you get a $100 discount on your install. I'll get even with my brother later.
Anyway, I remember when I was a kid, probably about 1975 or so, a salesman came around and sold my dad on these things. He still has them in his house. I remember they were very expensive back then too. They are a wind-up alarm with a heat fuse on the front. They look like a land mine on the wall. I remember when I was a kid, the presentation scared the jammies off me that we were going to die in a fire that night if we didn't get those things. My brother lives in what used to be my grandparent's home. They had bought them about the same time my dad did. My brother just added a few more and upgraded the old ones with new fuses.
Well, the presentation hasn't changed much. Several newspaper clippings of fires where people died because the smoke alarms didn't work. Then, finally a clipping where someone who had this system and they lived because the much better heat alarm did go off.
It got to the end and the salesman figured out we would need 8 heat detectors and one of their better smoke detectors for a total of nine units. Because he liked us, we'd get the better rate of 8 units and if we'd refer someone like my brother did, we'd get the $100 discount, so our price would only be right at $2,500. Yup, they are still expensive. He stepped outside for a bit to give us time to talk it over which we decided it was too much money. We had him come back in and told him thanks, but no.
The whole time, he was saying how he's not a pushy guy, he's just a former rancher trying to protect people and he only presents the offer and leaves it at that. He lied. After we told him no, he went into the sales force again of financing offers, 1/2 down, 1/2 later etc. We still said no. His final question was "Can I ask then, what price can you put on your family's protection?" It ticked me off that a "non pushy" salesman would ask that kind of unanswerable question.
I then turned it around on him . . . I said well, what price do you think is too much for 9 alarms? If $2,500 is a good price, then what is too much to you? $5,000? $10,000, $100,000?
I said: if you had quoted us $1,500 then $2,500 would sound like too much.
I said: My family's protection is worth a lot more than $2,500 but these alarms are not worth $250 each.
With that he finally thanked us, packed up, and left.
At work all the time I get these calls for free magazines. We do get two free magazines that are related to our industry (I don't think they're very worthwhile, but my boss likes them, so we still get them), which must have gotten us on a list to be called about every freaking magazine. I think they make their money selling to advertisers, and they can trump up the numbers by sending them out for free.
So the calls usually go like, "We would like to continue your free subscription to Wireless Design (or Heavy Machinery Weekly, or Technology Manufacturing Digest, or Spatula Flippers Monthly, you get the point), and we just need to update your information."
If I'm luckily, I can interrupt here and say, "This doesn't sound like a publication I would be interested in." Some just keep talking over me.
If they actually respond, then they go on to give me a description of the magazine with a tone like, "Duh, of course you need this."
When I repeat my line, then they ask if there's someone else I can give it to. When I say no, some give up, others I just end up hanging up on.
If they've tricked me into actually confirming my address, once we've gotten past the "no, I am not giving you my email, I do not want it emailed to me," then they start asking industry questions. Things like how many employees we have, annual revenue, and other questions that are none of their business.
Then they go on to the "pick one of the above" questions. Things like, "What is your job title? Is it, A- Senior Pancake Flipper, B- Hamburger Chef..." I usually try to interrupt them, tell them I'm a graphic designer, and let them figure out where to put it.
And then there's the "What industry are you in?" questions. I could tell the Wireless Design one I got the other day wasn't what I thought it was once we got to this point. He lists off this huge list of things like cell phone manufacturers, and then I say, "Well, I don't think we fall into any of those. We do printing and mailing, I don't think this is the right magazine for us." He says he wants to recite the whole list again, and I lie, "A customer just walked in, I need to go."
THEN! he picks one, which was something like Motherboard Manufacturers, and says, "Does this fit your business." At which point, I lost my patience and said, "Fine, whatever, I need to go," and hung up.
I realize it's not these people's fault, and I try to be nice, but I'm really tempted to just start hanging up as soon as they say, "Free subscription."
I don't like the cold calls that occasionally come in here. They get the switchboard and they say I want someone in X department. What sucks is when the same company has manged to get me and the boss both involved. He isn't even in this state.
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Stop trying to be what you see. Be what you ought to be.
I get those too for woodworking industry magazines. Same, thing: "Which best describes your business?" then they list 50 things of which none match what I do.
I've got a specialty pen company in Phoenix that calls every couple months and they really need a new script. I swear, they have used the same line for the 17 years I've been here and they have been calling:
Him: "Hi, I'm [insert different name every time] from Specialty Pen Company in Phoenix. I'm the guy that makes all those cool custom imprinted pens that you see everywhere. I've got an overstock right now and I'll give you a great deal on a lot of xx if you will take them off my hands."
Me: "OH! So YOU'RE that guy that makes those pens? Wow, you make billions of pens and you you still have time to make these phone calls yourself?"
Either he hangs up or says something like "Hey, I'm just trying to do my job here, you don't have to be a jerk."
To which I reply "Oh, so you're NOT really THE GUY that makes all those pens? That means you lied to me. I don't do business with people I know I can't trust". At that point if he's still on the line, I hang up.
I get those too for woodworking industry magazines. Same, thing: "Which best describes your business?" then they list 50 things of which none match what I do.
I've got a specialty pen company in Phoenix that calls every couple months and they really need a new script. I swear, they have used the same line for the 17 years I've been here and they have been calling:
Him: "Hi, I'm [insert different name every time] from Specialty Pen Company in Phoenix. I'm the guy that makes all those cool custom imprinted pens that you see everywhere. I've got an overstock right now and I'll give you a great deal on a lot of xx if you will take them off my hands."
Me: "OH! So YOU'RE that guy that makes those pens? Wow, you make billions of pens and you you still have time to make these phone calls yourself?"
Either he hangs up or says something like "Hey, I'm just trying to do my job here, you don't have to be a jerk."
To which I reply "Oh, so you're NOT really THE GUY that makes all those pens? That means you lied to me. I don't do business with people I know I can't trust". At that point if he's still on the line, I hang up.
They probably don't even print them there.
Just tell them you've got a place in Indiana that's better than they are.
Another one is a sandpaper company. Again, they have been using the same line for YEARS and they keep calling.
Him: "Hi, I'm [name from [sandpaper co]. How about, I tell a corny joke, make you a great offer on some sandpaper and if you don't like it, we part as friends . . . fair enough?"
Me: "Hi, orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, how about, you accept I'm not interested, we skip the corny joke and offer and get to the part where we just part as friends . . . fair enough?
At that point, they either hang up on me or laugh and say "Ok, fair enough!"
I just can't believe that these places keep calling the same company every few weeks with the SAME script FOR YEARS and think that one day they might get a sale.
I don't usually answer the phones unless our receptionist is on another line or out of the office. If it's a sales call I usually say, "I'm sorry, you've reached the answering service. I can take a message and forward it to *whatever department they're wanting*. One time, THE MAN walked in my office as I was doing this and he just stared at me like "WTH?" After I explained that it was a sales call for him, he was more relaxed and found humor in it...
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You should fear anything that can bleed for seven days without dying... (as told to Mr. DS on 3-12-10)
Oh yeah, often I'm looking at my boss as I'm telling the obvious telemarketer, "I'm sorry, she's not available right now. Would you like her voicemail?"
The magazine places will say, "Does she have an assistant that I could talk to?" "Nope. Would you like her voicemail?"
Good day, all. It is cloudy and chilly here today, presently 55*, but at least it stopped raining for now. And it is FRIDAY!!
Happily I don't get sales calls at work. Since I dumped my land line, I also don't get them at home. Every now and again I did used to enjoy messing with the other phone companies when they would call though. Since SBC was my home phone company, they used to always try to sell me their "The Works" package. That was Caller ID, Voicemail, call waiting, and call forwarding in a bundle. I would always come back with, "The busy signal has worked fine for all these years. If I'm on the phone and someone else wants to talk to me, they can call back. I already bought an answering machine, so why pay for one every month? AND how dare you suggest I pay $7.95 per month for you to enable delivery of Calling Party Information when that is a single bit in the SS7 message stream that you actually have to turn off in order for it to not be delivered! That is a scam." Around about then, they would always ask who I work for.
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MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
Good day, all. It is cloudy and chilly here today, presently 55*, but at least it stopped raining for now. And it is FRIDAY!!
Happily I don't get sales calls at work. Since I dumped my land line, I also don't get them at home. Every now and again I did used to enjoy messing with the other phone companies when they would call though. Since SBC was my home phone company, they used to always try to sell me their "The Works" package. That was Caller ID, Voicemail, call waiting, and call forwarding in a bundle. I would always come back with, "The busy signal has worked fine for all these years. If I'm on the phone and someone else wants to talk to me, they can call back. I already bought an answering machine, so why pay for one every month? AND how dare you suggest I pay $7.95 per month for you to enable delivery of Calling Party Information when that is a single bit in the SS7 message stream that you actually have to turn off in order for it to not be delivered! That is a scam." Around about then, they would always ask who I work for.
Nah... I'd usually fess up. Even better was the cold calls from long distance service providers. They would do their pitch and ask who I have and what I pay. I'd say, "Sprint, and they pay me to use their service. If you would like to pay me more than they do, we can certainly talk." Then they ask how much I'm getting paid and for how long. That's where the fun would start.
__________________
MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
I wanna play "I don't care Friday," but there's a stupid layoff at the NJ job and our regular payroll person is off today 
so it's up to me. Now, if the timekeeper on the job site could get me the time sheets pronto, then I can not care afterwards 
And it is FRIDAY!!
