The Working Mother's Top 3 Insider Tips for Getting Rid of Telemarketers

It never fails. Something major is happening: a diaper change, the sibling blowout for the day, or dinner, and the phone rings. Is it Mom with news of your cousin's big promotion? Your best friend with a crisis over her teen daughter's boyfriend who is the quintessential all-American? You only wish it were this mildly aggravating - it's a telemarketer, invariably massacring the pronunciation of your last name. You're tired, you're harried, you just want off the phone, now. What do you do?

I've seen articles and tidbits in many places with many suggestions. Some were practical and helpful, while others just made my jaw drop: "Give me your home number and I'll call you back during your dinner," letting the 3 year old answer the phone, and slamming down the phone after yelling "Get a life!" Here is a last attempt at sorting through the suggestions to find positive steps to cut down on telemarketing calls without cutting down ourselves with actions that cut down others.

My husband was in the telemarketing industry for almost five years, starting on the phones and working his way up to a call center manager. Along the way, he heard some doozies from people that answered the phone. He also garnered the most helpful, effective, and legal steps to reducing phone calls. These are the most effective industry recommendations and will dramatically reduce the amount of phone calls you receive.

Before the Call

Before you ever get to dealing with the calls themselves, register with the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov or by phone at 1-888-382-1222. If you are a resident of Pennsylvania, Maine, or Wyoming, you can register for the Direct Marketing Association's Telephone Preference Service (TPS) at www.dmaconsumers.org, which allows you to "opt out" of national telemarketing lists.

Rather than taking the time to change the outgoing message on your answering machine before dinner (see first quote above) and changing it back afterward, simply move the answering machine out of earshot of the dinner table and take a couple of seconds to turn off the ringer - it promotes communication with your family instead of anyone from the "outside."

When the Phone Rings

When you receive a call, you only need a one-liner: "Please remove this number from every list you have." The company is required by law to remove your information. Note, however, that if you only say "your list," they are only required to remove you from the list they are currently calling, so be sure to tell them you want to be removed from all the lists they have.

Mom's Mantra

As a mother, I have had an epiphany of my own regarding this dilemma: our first duty after ensuring the safety and well being of our children is to give them a good example of living life and dealing with others. As a working mother inside the home, I have a great deal of respect for those mothers that take on the extra load of working outside the home - especially for those that have to deal with things like sarcasm, rudeness, deception and downright nastiness from other parents. A vast majority of telemarketers are parents, many of them mothers - working mothers - who have children of their own at home (who are without them during dinner because they're calling you during dinner to put that dinner on their tables.

So when the phone rings and the voice on the other end announces its identity by shredding your last name, remember that little eyes are watching and little ears are listening, and that the voice most likely belongs to another working parent like you. And most of all, that no matter where, how, or how many hours we work, we cannot teach human civility on a part-time basis.