Charity begins when you hang up the phone
December 23, 2007 by jim
I’m on every no-call list I can think of, but that does not protect me from the solicitation phone calls from charities. When I receive a begging phone call, my first rule is to hang up the phone. Once I’ve determined that I’ve never heard of the organization, I don’t even listen to their canned pitch. Why waste my time.
When I was in the telecommunications business, I thought about employing a very successful nation telemarketing company. The tour of the facilities was enlightening. A telemarketer began a conversation with a mark by announcing that he was from a certain state’s policeman’s association. Eventually he got the poor SOB on the other end of the phone to contribute. We were told that the telemarketer would pocket 50% of that contribution, while the company would take 30%.
Another important rule in this day and age is to never give out your credit card number to anyone who calls you on the phone. This can be particularly tempting when you feel you are dealing with a charitable institution that you know, your old school. If they called you, how do you know it’s really your school. And, you school may be using some