Conference quark::human_relations-v1

    Reminds me of the last boss I had at DEC...  seems I always end
    a phone conversation with Be Good - (guess its because I usually
    talk to the kids on the phone)... used to drive her bananas...
    she said I never said good-bye to her, just be good.....
    
    wonder if its the same thing...
    
    G

    You say the same thing to me Gale, but at least you say "Good-bye"...
    :-)
    
    A lot of people I speak with on the phone usually say "Thank you."
    (if I've helped them out of their situation) or "Yep." (if I haven't)
    and then hang up.  I'm usually caught saying "Bye" to the dialtone...
    *sigh*

    
    I run into that alot too.  Not saying bye (to me) is worse than
    not saying hi.  I get many dial tones too. *sigh* *sigh* *sigh*
    

    Actually, the just-hang-uppers probably learned it from TV. When's
    the last time you heard someone say "Goodbye" to end a phone
    conversation on the tube? (To be fair, they have limited time in
    which to get their story across and don't want to "waste" it on
    things like pausing long enough between remarks for a real phone
    conversation to take place.)
    
    There is another form of "not saying goodbye": when the person one is
    talking to simply won't let go. "Nice talking to you," I'll say, and
    they say, "Oh, wait, I just remembered something I wanted to tell you."
    Chat, chat. "Bye, now," I'll say. Reply: "OK, see you - oh, and are you
    going to that show next week?" Chat, chat... And so forth. (This is
    related to the syndrome my mother suffers from - she can't say goodbye
    in person. She has spent as much as an hour going from door to car,
    "saying goodbye" to whoever the host was. Dad usually has to break in
    to actually get her to leave!) 
    
    'bye - oh, wait, I heard a funny story about this once...
    
    -b

	Just the other day I responded to a magazine sales pitch that
	instructed me to call in order to be eligible for a sweepstakes 
	drawing and even though I knew their intent I called.

	The sales person was as nice as could be as we were talking.  He
	informed me that I would get a years subscription to a popular
	magazine for free and when he layed the catch that I had to buy
	another magazine for a three year subscription I said I wasn't
	intrested and he simply hung up.

	On the other side of it, similiar to note 314 about people who
	don't say "Hi", have you ever called someone on the phone who
	simply doesn't say anything?  It's really odd.  There's a pause
	on my part after the phone has been answered waiting for them to
	respond only to find out they aren't going to speak. (I generally
	don't call someone on the phone and start chatting first!)

	- Jim

I had an unpleasant experience in this area recently.

The conversation went something like this:

Hello?

Hello, Eric Osman please ?

Yes, this is me.

Hello, Eric.  I'm a technical recuiter and...

I've got a job, and I enjoy it and I'm not looking for another, thanks
anyway.

Uh Eric ?

Yes ?

I've just got one more brief question if it's o.k. with you.

Yes ?

Do you take it up the ass ?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I was shocked to silence for at least several seconds before
I realized the vulgarity of the question, since until this point
he was being straight.

After the several seconds of silence, I decided to play straight and
not give him satisfaction of any retort.  I started to say

What do you mean...

in a calm voice, but as I started to ask, he hung up.

Yeah, I know, I probably should have just hung up and not responded at
all, but I was sort of in a state of shock.

No, I have no idea who he was, so I never filed any complaints.

Fortunately he didn't call back.

WHen I originally said "no thanks, I already like my job", I probably
sounded a bit impatient and irritated, but obviously not deserving that
kind of response.

It just kind of stung...

/Eric

    He probably felt safe in doing so as you had no way to identify him.
    Even so, that was definitely unprofessional.  Probably a newly-hired
    young guy with a lot of pressure.
    
    					Steve

    reply. .7
    
    
    thats interesting, because i just recently received a call from 
    a headhunter, i acted in the same manner as you and i got the same 
    come-back question.
    
    maybe they're trained to say that? 

    
    My guess is that it's just a sicko crank call.  Probably someone
    who got a hold of a DEC Telephone directory,  or even possibly someone
    from within the company.  In a 100,000+ population, there are bound
    to be plenty of people with mental problems.
    
    Ignore it and hang up the same as you would have if you got a "Do
    you have Prince Albert in a can?" call at home.
    
    -Don-

    re: .7
    
    Your caller  isn't alone. Recently I got a call from an investment
    brokerage firm, who wanted to know why I hadn't returned the "request
    for more information, please" type of card.
    
    He was very unhappy when I told him I normally trashed ALL 4th class
    letters without even opening them.
    
    He became abrasive, verbally abusive, and made a similiar type of
    suggestion to  me, except he stated I could do it myself (or words
    to that effect).
    
    In deference to my job, I ususally tell these people not to call
    me at work; that their calling me is an infringement upon my rights,
    and that they are sexually harrassing me, and I resent their intrusion
    upon my business hours.
    
    Calling it harassment generally gets them a  little off guard, since
    courts are more impressed with SH suits than nuisance calls.
    
    The better and more responsible sales types will either pitch for
    an alternate time or apologize and hang up. I am somewhat impress
    with these types, and encourage them a little by arranging to talk
    to them after hours. (I can always hang up at home if they get unruly).
    
    Bob

    Bob,
    
      You should contact that brokerage firm and complain.  If that 
    dosen't get you any justice then perhaps threatening to contact 
    the Better Business Bureau.
    
    Dave

On the subject of sales folks who get rude and don't say "bye"...

I was living alone in an apartment for quite some time, and solicitors were not 
allowed in our halls; we had security doors.  One day, I took the trash to the 
chute at the end of our hall, and two guys, in their late 20's, wearing suits, 
asked me if I'd heard about the free ski trip giveaway.  I made the mistake of 
answering.  I said, "No."  They had me sign up for a free ski trip, then 
started pitching me on the dishes they were selling.  They followed me back to 
my apartment, walked in, and shut the door!  Needless to say, with two strange 
men in my apartment, I began to feel panicked.  I told them I wasn't interested 
in their dishes, and they asked if I had friends to whom I might refer them. I 
certainly didn't want these people to go to any friends of mine, and use my 
name as a referral, so I said No.  A couple more pitches from them; me still 
feeling nervous; I didn't respond to what they were saying except to say that I 
wasn't interested, and they started out the door; the last one out said, "Well 
I can certainly see why you have no friends."

I called the apartment manager, who kicked them out; the one with the cute 
exiting remark had given me his card, so I called the number and complained to 
whomever it was who answered, and that was that.

Two thoughts here:

	 The first  is that this could be deliberate sabotage.  Headhunting
    is surely a savage way to make a living, it tends to breed that kind of
    thing.

	 The second is that this is an accepted sales practice - I've heard
    of  it  before.   The  salescreature  is trained in the creative use of
    abuse  -  generally,  in  person  they would sound you out by your body
    language and by watching your reaction to small insults embedded in the
    sales  pitch.   If  they  determine  you're  the 'type', the abuse gets
    ladled  on.  Just the fact that it works occasionally is justification.

	 Ever wonder  why  some  countries  on  earth  get  along just fine
    without a single salescreature?

	 JJRitz