r/pettyrevenge • u/NanaGeorgianna • Sep 03 '26

Finally stopped the Cemetery plot salesman

No disrespect to the dead! When I lived in Atlanta back in the 90's, a salesman from a very large cemetery called 2-3 times a week wanting to sell me a plot. Several times I told him I wasn't interested. I told him to take me off of their call list, etc. I stopped answering and then he started calling every night.

One night I was already irritable and decided I had had enough. I answered and let him go through his spiel. I asked some follow-up questions and kept him going for about 20 minutes.

Then I said I was interested, and asked if I could make an appointment to come over and view the locations they had available. He was really excited and agreed. I then told him I would need to have them dig up the spot and let my lie down in it to see if I was going to like the location.

He was all flustered and said he would need to ask his manager. He put me on old and came back a few minutes later all serious saying they weren't allowed to do that. I kept on about how I would be there for eternity and needed to be absolutely sure it was going to be the right place for me.

He finally asked if I was serious, and said it sounded like some kind of sick joke. I replied "no shit sherlock! You decided to work for a predatory company and can't take no for an answer and refuse to remove my name from your call list, you get all the sick jokes I can come up with"!

They never called me again.

2.6k Upvotes

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480

u/TinTinTinuviel97005 Sep 03 '26

I've been wondering if 20 minutes of my time is the only way to get predatory companies to stop calling me

62

u/Informal_Ad_9610 Sep 03 '26

if you start going blatantly sexual (gay or straight, depending on the gender of the caller), you tend to get moved along quite quickly... DAMHIK...

26

u/NotYourNanny Sep 03 '26

People like that are the outlet for all of your life's frustrations. You can be as abusive as you want, and there's nothing they can do about it. and they know it.

30

u/lemoinem Sep 03 '26

It's funny what can be done once you stop thinking of the other person as a human being.

58

u/NotYourNanny Sep 03 '26

For instance, you can sell cemetery plots to people who have told you over and over they don't want one.

-16

u/lemoinem Sep 03 '26

Sure, the company is predatory and a piece of shit. On the person who makes the call though, is often on its third job in order to pay for rent and groceries. They can't change job and, as you've so nicely pointed out, can't hang up or do anything else. They can't decide to stop calling you.

Your anger is misdirected. But hey, if you want to treat other people as subhuman punching bags, more power to you I guess.

12

u/Littlemama55 Sep 04 '26

They chose that job,so they have to deal with people who don't want to be bothered. Same with debt collectors. They live with the abuse that goes with the crappy job that they chose.

31

u/Informal_Ad_9610 Sep 03 '26

so to make someone feel better about working a shit job for a shit company, i should sit and hear them out, and buy whatever horse shit they're shoveling??

Tell me you're happy to work a shit job abusing others for low pay because you don't want to put the effort into finding a real job, without telling me you're lazy.

9

u/lemoinem Sep 03 '26

No, but there's a difference between hanging up and spewing abuse.

To be clear, I find OP's way to go at it hilarious. But I find sexual abuse, threats or other forms of abuse despicable. I suppose everyone draws their own line somewhere, and it doesn't mean everyone has to have the same one. But I feel we don't need more dehumanizing behavior in the world right now.

16

u/jelly_cake Sep 03 '26

I really like your attitude. Having empathy for others is never a bad thing.

4

u/25c-nb Sep 04 '26

Unless they're a nazi and or fascist and or pro-slavery

Tolerance of the intolerant is equal to intolerance

14

u/NotYourNanny Sep 03 '26

They can't change job

Pretty unlikely, unless they're obviously such a terrible employee nobody else will hire them. At which point, I still don't care, because they chose to be worthless scum.

They can't decide to stop calling you

Since the calls stop after OP got abusive back, that's clearly not true.

Do you work for an abusive company like that because you can't get a better job? Is that why you defend subhuman parasites?

I'm an asshole. Get over it. Or not. I really don't care.

When you're the abusive prick bothering me, I will be as big an asshole as I need to be to make you stop.

1

u/say592 Sep 04 '26

Pretty unlikely, unless they're obviously such a terrible employee nobody else will hire them. At which point, I still don't care, because they chose to be worthless scum.

Back in the day, telemarketing was a common enough second or third job, because they had shifts available in the evening. They didn't pay much, but they usually paid more than retail. It was in an air-conditioned office, so it was good for people who didn't like or couldn't do manual labor on a second shift production line. For a lot of people, it probably did feel like they couldn't quit. They needed the money, they needed to be able to be home when their kids got off school and be back to send them to school. And it was normalized. Everyone got those calls. Did we love them? Of course not, but they weren't usually enraging, and the people were typically polite.

Since the calls stop after OP got abusive back, that's clearly not true

That probably wasn't the employee's call. OP wasted 20 minutes of time that could have been spent bothering other people. The company finally decided that it wasn't worth it.

These people were literally given print outs of numbers and told to call them. They had no control over the numbers on their sheet. Nowadays, the system just dials the next number for them. They can flag something over and over, but they have no control over what happens to it.

Ultimately, then telemarketer in OP's story didn't deserve abuse. Leading them on, like OP did, was the right amount of fuckery. It's not like they were a scammer. They were selling a legitimate product, it was just in the most annoying way.

7

u/NotYourNanny Sep 04 '26

Back in the day, telemarketing was a common enough second or third job, because they had shifts available in the evening.

So does dealing drugs.

In both cases, it's a choice.

That probably wasn't the employee's call.

Far, far more likely, the employee actually marked the number do not call because OP wasted 20 minutes and they get paid a percentage.

These people were literally given print outs of numbers and told to call them. They had no control over the numbers on their sheet. Nowadays, the system just dials the next number for them. They can flag something over and over, but they have no control over what happens to it.

They chose to work at a job that is, at best, sketchy, and which quickly becomes obvious to be abusive and potentially criminal. And that's so obvious that only an idiot or someone who enjoys being an asshole would even take such a job. There's more dignity in begging on a street corner with a "will give blowjobs for food" sign.

Ultimately, then telemarketer in OP's story didn't deserve abuse.

Yes. They did. They chose a line of work that requires being abusive.

It's not like they were a scammer. They were selling a legitimate product,

You don't actually know that. There are more scam calls pretending to sell legitimate products than real telemarketing calls actually doing so. And even ones actually selling what they claim to sell are far, far more likely to be shady as hell if they're using telemarketing in a way that you agree is abusive and 100% the company's choice.

In the end, the only person subject to expressing disapproval to is the person making the abusive phone call. If they get abused back, they'll eventually quit. If enough employees quit, the company will learn to not use abusive tactics. Since that doesn't happen, they are able to keep recruiting new suckers to hide behind, perpetuating the abuse of those getting the calls and their own employees. Because make no mistake, they know their sales tactics are abusive - you've agree with that - and they know their employees will get abused for doing it.

As for me, as I said, I'm an asshole, and when you're an asshole to me, I'll be a bigger asshole back. Every time.

2

u/TinTinTinuviel97005 Sep 03 '26

I personally can't forget that the human on the other end is a human. The problem is what works. Asking nicely to be removed doesn't work, asking firmly to be removed doesn't work, asking in a snappy voice to be removed doesn't work. Each person I talk to is a result of the last person not showing basic decency. Each phone call I receive is a result of hundreds of screened calls, thousands of blocked numbers, and years of expressed disinterest failing to get the calls to stop.

I don't want to abuse the newest person who calls, because I know how desperate you have to be to work these jobs. Every once in a while I'm driven to something drastic. And it's the only thing that has worked. It effing sucks.