- 7,790
Hey johnrocks, I have done quite a bit of telemarketing at certain times. I worked at an outfit that used directive dialing computers to sell Accidental Death and Dismembement policies to a certain company's credit card holders. I've got to tell you that after about two months of that I felt like I was brain dead. On top of that they did not pay you the hourly rate on the number of hours you were physically at work, but on the amount of time you were actually conversing with a prospect on the phone.
So you might have been there for four hours and get paid for only 2.865 hours! So every time you went for a bathroom break or coffee break you were essentially "logged out." Any day dreaming between calls did not count as productive time. To top that off they had this old hag sitting at a desk on a pedestal that watched over all the peons at work. She could control your computer time from her desk. Talk about a sweat shop.
Another telemarketing outfit I worked at part-time had telemarketers working 50 or 60 hours or more a week. When I said to one of these guys, "Wow, with that time and half you must be doing great." His reply was, "Duh, its all straight time." Someone beat me to dropping the dime on these guys, because a few days later a U.S. Department of Labor auditing team arrived. The outfit was fined $10,000 and everyone who had worked more than 40 hours a week received their back overtime pay for the previous two years. The company was allowed to make the payout over 9 months. The only nice thing about this company is they didn't clock you by the computer----it was based on sign in and sign out. What an experience!
So you might have been there for four hours and get paid for only 2.865 hours! So every time you went for a bathroom break or coffee break you were essentially "logged out." Any day dreaming between calls did not count as productive time. To top that off they had this old hag sitting at a desk on a pedestal that watched over all the peons at work. She could control your computer time from her desk. Talk about a sweat shop.
Another telemarketing outfit I worked at part-time had telemarketers working 50 or 60 hours or more a week. When I said to one of these guys, "Wow, with that time and half you must be doing great." His reply was, "Duh, its all straight time." Someone beat me to dropping the dime on these guys, because a few days later a U.S. Department of Labor auditing team arrived. The outfit was fined $10,000 and everyone who had worked more than 40 hours a week received their back overtime pay for the previous two years. The company was allowed to make the payout over 9 months. The only nice thing about this company is they didn't clock you by the computer----it was based on sign in and sign out. What an experience!
