Do you lie to people all day to make a living? OK, perhaps you don’t “lie” to the extent that this credit card telemarketer did when he confessed to me a few years ago, or as bad as this time share salesman. But perhaps you sell things you know are bogus, or spend most of your energy tricking people into thinking they need things — expensive data plans, TV packages, excessive title insurance — that you know they don’t really need. Or maybe you work for a tutoring center or a health club selling things to people that just aren’t suitable. But you do it, like those two folks did, because you need to pay the bills somehow.
“I hate flat-out lying to someone, but that’s exactly what we do, 150 calls a day,” said the credit card telemarketer to me a few years ago. Of course, he requested anonymity out of fear of losing his job. “I have seen so many people ripped off that I had to attempt to let people know.”
One of the saddest parts of the Gotcha economy — and our general economic malaise — is the way it turns people against each other. Workers are in no position to say no when there aren’t other jobs to be had. It’s a reality we don’t talk about nearly enough. In a down economy, many jobs suck. Many of the ways people make money are pretty crappy. Lower unemployment is one thing. Finding meaningful careers — jobs that folks can be proud of — for those Americans who have borrowed $1.3 billion earning fancy college degrees is something else entirely. Nothing can make a person lose more sleep at night than being forced to lie or mislead or do meaningless work all day.
So let’s talk about it. Are you forced to do tasks at work every day that make you feel sick inside? Why do you persist? What would you tell consumers if you could, to warn them about what you or your colleagues do? Tell me anonymously, if you prefer. Just create a disposable email account and write to Bob at BobSullivan.net.
Of course, companies persist in this behavior because someone, somewhere thinks it’s profitable. And on some level, it is. But the Wall Street Journal’s Real-Time Economics feature has an excellent feature today about workplace happiness. And guess what? Firms with happy workers actually outperform those with unhappy workers. By a lot. Even when you measure stock price! Pay attention executives who think cost-cutting is the way to satisfy the angry beast that is Wall Street: If your workers are unhappy, your stock price will ultimately suffer, too.
For a bit more on the kinds of things people have to do for money in a down economy, read my story about the credit card telemarketer. Here’s a quick excerpt:
The telemarketer’s job may be unsavory, but the call center pays $8.75 per hour – an offer that’s hard to refuse in an area where minimum wage is standard for many employers. When openings occur, applicants go to great lengths to land one of the jobs, he said.
“Before the minimum wage went up, this was by far the best-paying job in the area,” he said.
The power of the debt cancellation pitch lies in the presentation, said the telemarketer. The first lie, he said, is the price. Scripts handed to phone operators there have been carefully worded to make the program sound like it’s free. Here’s what the script provided to (me) instructs telemarketers to tell customers:
“The cost is only $1.89 per $100 of the outstanding account balance shown on your statement at the end of a billing period and best of all, there is no charge when you don’t have a balance shown at the end of a monthly billing period.” That assertion is repeated later: “And remember, if you have no outstanding balance at the end of the month, there is no charge. “
That’s deceptive, the telemarketer said, because consumers who pay their balance on time every month are left with the impression that the debt-cancellation service will be free. It’s not. Re-read the cost description. The cost is computed when the billing cycle ends and a bill is generated, not after consumers pay their bills. That means consumers who initiate any charges during a month will have to pay for the service. There is no “grace period” for debt cancellation, and even if there are no finance charges, there are debt cancellation charges.
“This information is not told to the customer,” the telemarketer said. “They are only told what I quoted above. If the customer asks, ‘Well what if I pay off my balance every month?’ we are told to just read the ‘cost of program’ script again, and hope they don’t ask any more questions.”
The telemarketer said he is closely monitored while on the job, and penalties are severe for straying from the script. On second offense, a sales rep will be suspended without pay for three days. A third offense results in firing, he said.
“There are new classes all the time, there are always people lined up for our jobs,” he said. “But the turnover rate is unbelievable, too. … There’s only two people left from my original class of 12.”
The telemarketer said he is required to close four sales per 100 calls, leading many operators to resort to ever more persistent and aggressive tactics. But most consumers who fall for the pitch are either poor or elderly women, he said.
“Honestly, the little old ladies are the people who buy the most,” he said. “What if it was you mother daughter or calling, would you want them to be lied to?”
Post-script: After years of criticism, most credit card issuers have dumped debt cancellation services.
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