So I'm getting ready to finish my day. (Suppose to be my day off but needed to practice my sermon and finish it up) So a telemarketer calls. (Oh, great)
So we do the usual chit chat. She goes over her rehearsed chat. I ask to be sent material and a website. To which she replies we don't do that. We want to give you address labels for new people moving into the area for $50+/month Don't you want to reach your community for Christ with new people?
Sure ...what makes you think we're not?
What do you do now? (I mention a few things the church has done and I'm the new preacher and been here a short time and tired because I've just moved)
She goes on ...well as a man of God don't you think you want to be reaching your community?
(I'm angry, I'm upset and well ... at this point I almost hang up but listen)
Then I replied: (I wanted to say as a man of God God gives the increase and we don't need your stupid program because I trust God and not some silly thing you want to sell me - but I didn't)
I am a man of God and hate to be questioned about it and my integrity. A part of being a man of God is being a good steward of what God has entrusted to us and trying to discern what programs we do and don't do. If you just had sent the info and the website I might look at it later. Thanks. And then she screams at me and then rambles (I couldn't tell if she was speaking in tongues or something else) so at that point I did what any good Christian would do. I hung up! Silence. Peace!
Man, my prayer is that God gives the increase. I'm just SAD that this young lady went about it all the wrong way. I have the website but don't think I'll be checking them out any time soon.
Anyone else have problems with Christian Telemarketers? Sometimes they can be worse than regular telemarketers.
2 comments:
Christian telemarketers are the worst kind!
Especially those honor-academy indentured servants for Teen Mania/BattleCry or whatever name they are using these days.
When they try to guilt me for saying now, I usually respond to that "Don't you want to reach your kids for Christ?" kind of thing with "I do, and that's EXACTLY why we avoid your events."
Most let me hang-up or get more belligerant, but I remember one time the woman on the other end just seemed to shut down.
She actually called me back after I had hung up, she was off script and actually had a general concern for me (I told her purchasing anything was off the table and any conversation from there on was human to human, she agreed)
She shared her testimony and I mine, I discussed with her about what my concerns are with a Ron Luce style faith and she discussed her concerns with my views.
She actually called back a few more times and she helped correct a lot of my misunderstandings about who they where and what they do (although she confirmed about a dozen as well)
We continued discussions until she eventually referred me to her supervisor because she said she was concerned about many of the things I brought up and wanted me to talk to someone more experienced because if they did some of the things I said they did, she'd have some concerns too.
The supervisor wouldn't go off script until I pushed, and once I got him off script he got a little uncomfortable and tried to end the conversation asap and I haven't heard from either of them since (which is a shame)
So Christian telemarketers are all frustraiting, but the real people behind those scripts can sometimes be interesting people who have a lot of great things to say, so when you're not in a rush try to disarm them and find out who they are it can lead to an interesting time!
(Sorry for the long comment, it's just how often does the issue of telemarketing christians come up?!!?)
You've been having quite a week, haven't you? :)
BTW, I tagged you on a meme.
http://atypicalgirl.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/3-questions-meme/
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