Blasted loopholes!

[Oniya]

So, Election Day is tomorrow in the States, and I have apparently never been more popular.  My phone has been ringing - if not constantly, then frequently.  It's woken me up once (I have a weird sleep schedule), caused me to run after the phone while I was cooking, even disturbed me in the bathroom.  (No, I didn't answer that one, but it's very anxiety-inducing to have the phone ringing up to four times when you simply can't answer it.)

I hate getting calls from strangers, especially the ones that want to sell me something, or try to convince me of something (that usually involves giving them money).  I really hate getting called by recordings that I can't at least explain why I don't want to hear from them evereverever again.  This is why I signed up for the Federal Do Not Call list.  Unfortunately, there's a loophole the size of Washington D.C. that allows political parties to call with impunity.  And they do - at least 7 times a day.

I just can't wait for tomorrow to be over, and I can get back to just the charities and survey-givers.  At least those are usually populated by Real People.

[Trieste]

Yep. Drives me frickin' insane... though at least the political party calls have an end in sight. Now, the Fraternal Order of Police? If I ever find out where their call center is, I may end up firebombing. Not subject to DNC, my foot! Hmph.

[Oniya]

But at least the FOP only calls once a day, usually not even twice in the same month.  I got so many calls purportedly from McCain that it would have been harassment were it not for the fact that political parties 'don't count'.

*Considers the ramifications of someone getting a restraining order against a sitting President...*

[RubySlippers]

I hate the Republicans they assume becasue I'm a Libertarian Party registered voter I would vote for their people, I told one convasser team on this that if I WANTED to vote Republican I would be registered Republican.

The recording piss me off I got thirty yesterday they again guess I'm an Independent since I'm a Third Party registered voter. This sickens me.

Whats more is the on billion dollars they spent on the process this time, why can't they limit the election campaigning to one month.

Arghhhhh!!!!  >:(

And I worked as a Telemarketer but where people called us and knew they were calling about insurance so that was fine, and I called for Nielson doing ratings surveys and diary placements for households since we weren't selling anything and offered them a voice in their programming choices. I found that far easier. So I would say there is good telemarketing and bad.

[Oniya]

And I worked as a Telemarketer but where people called us and knew they were calling about insurance so that was fine, and I called for Nielson doing ratings surveys and diary placements for households since we weren't selling anything and offered them a voice in their programming choices. I found that far easier. So I would say there is good telemarketing and bad.

You're a person, though, not a recording.  I can tell a person 'I'm sorry, I'm not interested, please put me on your do-not-call list'.  I can't tell a recording that unless I sit through the entire spiel, and even then there sometimes isn't an option to tell it to go away.

(And the Nielsen boxes are pretty cool these days - although my mother-in-law's gets a sudden shift for about three weeks every summer - from soap operas to Toon Disney.  ;D)

[RubySlippers]

Wel I placed diaries one per tv they noted what they watched and comments were placed in back and they were mailed back to the company that is where they get the use rating for advertising and what TV shows cut nixed, if the ratings are not dismal on the boxes. But it was fun and most people did it once they knew it was not a sales call and Nielson we had customer recognition of the name going for us.

But the recordings suck!

[Oniya]

Nowadays they have these little electric boxes, and when the lights flash, you push a button on your remote which sends the channel data - somewhere.  (Probably prevents people from lying by simply ticking the boxes for their favorite shows, whether or not they actually turned them on.)  I don't know if it's collected realtime or if it gets downloaded en masse at regular intervals. 

[RubySlippers]

I know Nielson uses the boxes with a small number of households for day to day  and hour by hour ratings. The diary survey done every week especially during Fall is the bread and butter ratings we place hundred of thousands of those. The little boxes in the home is 25,000 households. I should know I know people that work there now.

[Trieste]

... erk. I have had a couple people complain (on my survey calls) to me about Nielson diaries. I have been told over and over that Nielson requires a whole lot of effort and only gives like $1 per diary ... which most people who have mentioned it see as an insult.

[RubySlippers]

They can't PAY people the survey has to be done in a neutral and unbiased manner, if they paid people then they would violate rules that they are firm on. They can offer a "token of appreciation" which is not specified. Plus they tried awhile back I was told giving $20 and it made no different on the diaries being returned compared to giving a few dollars. Plus many people do toss them out without checking or they get sent back and can't be opened so the company loses money then to. I frankly felt they should offer nothing after all at least it would be honest that is the case.

Note we did send diaries with $5 each in them to people that hung up on us and did not day put them on the Do Not Call list hoping they would do them.

[Trieste]

Yes. Pay. To give money to. It is not a wage; it is a monetary incentive. But it's still paid.