What annoys you? (2 Viewers)

[TJPC]

Are there any real sales people? In our area, people go door to door pretending they come from the gas company and are sent to inspect the furnace or hot water tank. They gain access to the house look in the basement and then of course inform the owner that they need a whole new system. They have them sign an iron clad contract at 4X the price.
This scam has been all over the papers, tv, and radio, and still gullable old fools fall for it.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Are there any real sales people? In our area, people go door to door pretending they come from the gas company and are sent to inspect the furnace or hot water tank. The gain access to the house look in the basement and then of course inform the owner that they need a whole new system. They have them sign an iron clad contract at 4X the price.
This scam has been all over the papers, tv, and radio, and still gullable old fools fall for it.

Those are the types who I have zero tolerance for! I almost got conned by one of them back in '03, and would have been, except I couldn't find our hydro bill, which he insisted was required that we give him! Not long after, another one put his foot in our door when the Mrs. tried to close it after telling him she wasn't interested. I would have been tempted to slam the door on his foot, if it had been me. Such cheekiness!

CHEERS!

 

[jcroy]

Not long after, another one put his foot in our door when the Mrs. tried to close it after telling him she wasn't interested. I would have been tempted to slam the door on his foot, if it had been me. Such cheekiness!

I immediately called the cops when a salesperson tried pulling something like that. I immediately pulled out my phone and started dialing.

I don't know what happened afterward.

 

[jcroy]

Are there any real sales people?

Nowadays it seems like it is largely naive young adults who don't know any better, and are taken for a ride by their employer.

Even when I was in that line of work when I was really young, the turnover rate was very high. It was rare to find anybody over age 30.

I wouldn't be surprised if the revolving door is still the same today.


(Over the years I got the impression it was not much different than telemarketing, in terms of turnover and high burnout).

 

[jcroy]

They have them sign an iron clad contract at 4X the price.
This scam has been all over the papers, tv, and radio, and still gullable old fools fall for it.

It's unfortunate that business is highly dependent on tricking naive and/or old people. Unfortunately it is not illegal (yet).

 

[TJPC]

I have always thought the salesmen who do this should be castrated with a wooden spoon.

 

[jcroy]

Most of my "education" about scams/hustling is largely from when I was young. In the end I wasn't very good at it, other than being a panhandler at video arcades and a door-to-door salesman.

Since then, I've always been fascinated and thinking up of all kinds of scams adapted to whatever new technology comes down the pike.

A lot of the non-fiction books I read, is largely about con artists and financial fraud. One thing I've noticed as I got older, is that con artist types are functionally not much different than FBI profilers (such as portrayed on the CBS show Criminal Minds). Easiest way to get into someone's mind as a "mark" (ie. potential sales/pitch) is if you can figure out what motivates them psychologically.

 

[jcroy]

I have always thought the salesmen who do this should be castrated with a wooden spoon.

Not likely to happen until such a law passes the supreme court intact.

In practice, a "law" is only real and the law of the land if it survives intact through the supreme court.

 

[jcroy]

Nowadays I don't even bother telling anybody offline that they were scammed. (Primarily in my offline social circles).

I only tell them the truth, if they explicitly ask me for the truth.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I just don’t answer the door. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Steve_Pannell]

It's unfortunate that business is highly dependent on tricking naive and/or old people. Unfortunately it is not illegal (yet).

I got home from work one day to find a vacuum cleaner salesman trying to sell my mom a new vacuum. I told him we had a perfectly good, nearly new one already and sent him packing. I got home from work the next day and there it was - a bright new Kirby vacuum cleaner. I was not happy to say the least.

 

[Edwin-S]

I seriously don't get the idea that somehow it is okay to be rude to someone because they are doing door-to-door sales or are a JW. I have, generally, found that telling someone, politely, that you are not interested is effective in getting them to leave. Seriously, people need to start thinking more about how they would feel to be publicly humiliated or abused.

 

[Steve_Pannell]

I seriously don't get the idea that somehow it is okay to be rude to someone because they are doing door-to-door sales or are a JW. I have, generally, found that telling someone, politely, that you are not interested is effective in getting them to leave. Seriously, people need to start thinking more about how they would feel to be publicly humiliated or abused.

You're absolutely right. I have never been rude to any of them but after 2 or 3 refusals you would think they'd get the hint.

 

[TravisR]

I seriously don't get the idea that somehow it is okay to be rude to someone because they are doing door-to-door sales or are a JW. I have, generally, found that telling someone, politely, that you are not interested is effective in getting them to leave. Seriously, people need to start thinking more about how they would feel to be publicly humiliated or abused.

Generally speaking, I'd agree and if someone is solicited once and starts yelling at a guy, I'd say they were probably being an asshole. However, in my particular case, I found that being polite did not work on them for years. I can assure you that neither I or my parents were ever rude (until their last visit) and, more importantly, none of us were ever less than clear that we weren't interested & were never going to be interested and they'd still come back every 3 or 4 months. After years of them ignoring me or a family member, I'm not even remotely concerned with how they feel especially since they clearly weren't concerned with my feelings.

As I was growing up, I remember guys coming around with offers to sell meat (as weird as that sounds), clean chimneys and shill for the cable & phone companies. They were met with polite refusal and they respected our wishes & didn't return. There was only one group that wouldn't take no for answer so, after years, they were finally met with rudeness (and even that was under extenuating circumstances). If they hadn't been rude enough to not take our polite refusals, there would have been no need for me to be rude. I think it's also worth noting that they only stopped coming around after that so politeness wasn't working.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I seriously don't get the idea that somehow it is okay to be rude to someone because they are doing door-to-door sales or are a JW. I have, generally, found that telling someone, politely, that you are not interested is effective in getting them to leave. Seriously, people need to start thinking more about how they would feel to be publicly humiliated or abused.

For me, I think it comes down to invasion of personal space. That said, so long as they're legitimate, I have no problem. It's when I realize they aren't that I take issue. In my opinion, it works both ways.

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

We also have an explicitly worded sign on our door that indicates our unwillingness to do business or discuss alternative religions. Therefore, anyone of those connected with the above, who knock on our door in spite of those instructions, are already not looked upon favorably by yours truly.

CHEERS!

 

[TJPC]

I have two types of personal space, my property and my phone line. It should be a “constitutional” right to privacy in both areas. Unless I have a sign out front or a recording on my phone saying “all sales people and shysters welcome”, when you are invading my space, I reserve the right to be rude as possible, and I am a Canadian!

 

[Tony Bensley]

I have two types of personal space, my property and my phone line. It should be a “constitutional” right to privacy in both areas. Unless I have a sign out front or a recording on my phone saying “all sales people and shysters welcome”, when you are invading my space, I reserve the right to be rude as possible, and I am a Canadian!

The way I see it, we already have neighbors who don't respect our space, and our housing authority has made it clear in their inaction, they intend to do nothing about it. With door to door, and phone, at least we still have some control.

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

A mild, but persisting nagging headache that seems to accompany the change in weather at this time of year.

We seem to have the one tree in our complex that refuses to shed it's leaves before November. It's not in our yard, but is in no man's land in the space in front, between us and our next door neighbor's. Despite this, I've already raked our front yard space twice!

First world problems, I know!

CHEERS!

 

[Stan]

Nowadays it seems like it is largely naive young adults who don't know any better, and are taken for a ride by their employer.

Even when I was in that line of work when I was really young, the turnover rate was very high. It was rare to find anybody over age 30.

I wouldn't be surprised if the revolving door is still the same today.


(Over the years I got the impression it was not much different than telemarketing, in terms of turnover and high burnout).

Worked for "Cingular" years ago, some low level company tied to AT&T. Two months of training, but get put on the "floor" to upsell customers. Major rip-off. I quit after a few weeks.

They're still here, might actually try and get hired again. Go through the training, take home a few paychecks and walk away. Take the money from them, not rip-off regular people. It was actually done through "West, Inc.". Horrible company. The turnover rate was amazing, I don't know how they stay in business.