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As much as I know how inconvenient and sometimes irritating these calls can be, let me put the shoe on the other foot for a second....
I "worked" once as a telemarketer for 3 whole days, and at the company where I "worked" they simply have sheets of "connected" phone numbers, listed in consecutive order, a hundred to a page (ie xxxx xx00 to xx99), and often the last known name that the number belonged to. These numbers are purchased on a CD, surprisingly often NOT from Telstra but from other sources, and when working there you just grab the next sheet of paper off the pile and start dialling the numbers one by one.
Before I get abused (again) for having tried this "career" I'll point out that this was at a time (the only time!) in my life when I was unemployed, when I was getting $418 a fortnight unemployment benefit, and my house payment was $413 a fortnight. As the 5 bucks left over didnt go very far I tried telemarketing in lieue of having any other job ... I didn't actually earn anything for this work, as you are "on trial" for the first week and only get paid on results, ie sales. If you make enough sales after a week or so they might offer you an ongoing job at an hourly rate, and trust me it is not glamourous money either!
Of course in my 3 days I had no results - unless of course you consider being abused beyond belief on about every 2nd or 3rd call a "result". I was called every foul and abusive name you could think of and then some, usually within the first 5 seconds of conversation, and usually in the same tone of voice that you hear being used by angry mobs on tv when they find a paedophile has moved into the street. I have never felt such raw hatred directed towards me EVER as was directed at me during those 3 shifts by these total strangers, who knew nothing about me at all EXCEPT that I had phoned their number.
If you want to try a totally soul destroying activity give it a go: try sitting in a little booth for 8 hours straight being called ... well there's no way I can even get CLOSE to getting that language past the abuse filters here. Just think of every 3, 4, 5 and 6 letter word you can, randomly put them in infinite combinations, add as much venom as you can imagine, and string several of them together. If you think thats an exageration then all I can say if TRY IT, after you get over the initial shock (and it IS a shock) of what many people are prepared to call another human being, you think you'll get past being abused once, or twice .... do that for 8 hours straight, knowing that at present you are not earning so much as a cent, and it has cost you money to actually get here by car or public transport, and see how you feel.
If you get these calls at home then do what you feel you must - tell them you're not interested, screen your calls, put them on hold, even hang up pleasantly if you must, but please these are HUMANS and don't abuse them ok? Chances are they are only trying to find a way to survive in a tough situation by doing a completely thankless job and being treated worse that shyte for it.
Oh yes, interesting fact - male telemarketers get abused by everyone pretty much equally, men and women alike have no trouble using the vilest language you can imagine, however women telemarketers may get abused by women (especially if the caller sounds sexy) but most men are actually too polite to abuse a women caller (especially if the caller sounds sexy!) but they have no problem at all abusing male callers. There's a total sexual double standard here, and I still don't know which side of it is the more objectionable - do you blame those who discriminate, or those who abuse everyone regardless?
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