Actually, he doesn’t because he’s a dog. What I really want to say is this: the COURAGE of those who pick up incoming sales calls never fails to amuse me!
Even the most spineless, lily-livered fool with the courage of Scooby-Doo – “y-y-yikes Shaggy, there’s someone at the door – let’s get outta here/hide/pass out” (pick one) – manages to feel superior on finding that the person at the other end of the line is a salesperson from another company. Suddenly, sitting safely some distance away and hidden from view, such a person feels justified in taking leave of their basic good manners. Rude words, a nasty tone, bad manners, hanging up or leaving the caller hanging… here’s why I don’t, and would not allow an employee to, behave in this way:
- The world is a teeny, teeny-tiny place
- Jobs for life? What’s that? Most people will not just have several jobs in their lifetime, but several careers! You don’t know what the person who is currently just a salesperson at the end of the line might end up meaning to you.
- The world is a teeny, teeny-tiny place. I’m constantly surprised by this, though by now I really shouldn’t be.
StartupCafe 
I worked tele-sales for a while so I am very polite when they phone. However when you get pushy sales people who refuse to get off the phone, then I just hang-up.
Basically if I’ve had to say “Thank you I’m not interested.”, “I don’t have time to talk about this now”, “Can you email the information instead?” (or similar) twice, then I will feel no remorse about hanging up the phone instead of repeating myself again 🙂
Hi Aaron. Yeah, I realise I didn’t suggest ways of dealing with really pushy sales people that put you in a position where you have no other choice but to do something rude to escape from the situation! But I have some ideas…tbc..!
I have to admit that I make up slightly ridiculous stories for salespeople who are pushy..so when they ask if i have a mobile phone or a bank account I say no and then usually they are genuinely flummoxed. A few more questions later and they can’t wait to get rid of me!
4. Karma!
(Meant to chime in earlier, ha)