(no subject)
Dec. 24th, 2007 02:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71Fay brought in some home-made fudge for the nibbles table - very tasty, although Marilyn and Christine #3 doubted very much whether she'd made it. There was also a nearly-full box of luxury chocolate biscuits and some leftover Mars and Milky Way Celebrations.
One of my calls was to an elderly lady who was very hard of hearing and, however loudly and slowly I spoke in the opening minute, asked me to go louder and slower. I ended up doing the whole interview practically shouting with a pause after almost every word. At the end Marilyn came up to me with a smile, said "Well done" and offered me a biscuit from the box. Later, after one old man refused on me - he said he'd already done it, and when I explained that he had to do four follow-up interviews, he nonsensically said "Yes. Thank you. Goodbye" and hung up - Marilyn and Heather #2 said "We've been greatly entertained by your oldies."
One oldie was no laughing matter. As I asked her whether this was a convenient time, she cut in with "No convenient time. I'm not interested" and hung up on me mid-sentence while I was starting to explain to her that it was the same survey she'd done before. Then on my last call of the day a bloke interrupted my intro with "Oh, forget it" and gave me the silent treatment.
Peace and goodwill to all mankind.
On a brighter note, I may have made a convert to the Hawk Faith. A guy in my row spotted me reading Non-League Today and started a conversation about football. He was a Southampton supporter but has become disillusioned with the way professional football has gone in the last 15 years. I urged him to come down to Westleigh Park and see a real game of football, promising to stand him a pint if he came to see me in the bar before a game, and he said he might. While he lives in Swanwick, he actually said he'd rather watch Havant & Waterlooville than his local team E*******h because our admission fee is £10 to their £14 (and we're in the same division). Here's hoping I've done enough to win him over.
One of my calls was to an elderly lady who was very hard of hearing and, however loudly and slowly I spoke in the opening minute, asked me to go louder and slower. I ended up doing the whole interview practically shouting with a pause after almost every word. At the end Marilyn came up to me with a smile, said "Well done" and offered me a biscuit from the box. Later, after one old man refused on me - he said he'd already done it, and when I explained that he had to do four follow-up interviews, he nonsensically said "Yes. Thank you. Goodbye" and hung up - Marilyn and Heather #2 said "We've been greatly entertained by your oldies."
One oldie was no laughing matter. As I asked her whether this was a convenient time, she cut in with "No convenient time. I'm not interested" and hung up on me mid-sentence while I was starting to explain to her that it was the same survey she'd done before. Then on my last call of the day a bloke interrupted my intro with "Oh, forget it" and gave me the silent treatment.
Peace and goodwill to all mankind.
On a brighter note, I may have made a convert to the Hawk Faith. A guy in my row spotted me reading Non-League Today and started a conversation about football. He was a Southampton supporter but has become disillusioned with the way professional football has gone in the last 15 years. I urged him to come down to Westleigh Park and see a real game of football, promising to stand him a pint if he came to see me in the bar before a game, and he said he might. While he lives in Swanwick, he actually said he'd rather watch Havant & Waterlooville than his local team E*******h because our admission fee is £10 to their £14 (and we're in the same division). Here's hoping I've done enough to win him over.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-24 03:23 pm (UTC)hope you manage to have a merry christmas anyway x
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-24 03:40 pm (UTC)market research
Date: 2007-12-25 03:02 am (UTC)If you deliver a Christmas card people shout at you to close the gate. :)
If you deliver a Christmas card some people say they don't even want one.
If you deliver a handwritten addressed envelope they'll ask where you got their address.
A lot of people mistake you for a postman, person from the water company, someone they're expecting etc. Canvassing/asking people either door to door or over the phone how they vote is even worse as they'll deliberately lie to wind you up (eg saying they're a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain).
On the whole though, most are polite. It seems to be generational/class thing though as you're either brought up to be polite or brought up in a situation where being ageist, impolite or beligerent is the norm. Some people just aren't taught these messages by their mothers (who were either addicted to alcohol, drugs, dead or not around).