Ring Ring

A couple months ago I was at a family gathering and it came around to the point where I had to tell people what I do for a living (or a just-getting-by-through-college-ing) and of course it starts with that I am still life guarding. "Oh and I have a second job now I do phone surveys." And that's when it happens. Every time someone has to make the comment about how they hang up on survey takers. I usually laugh at it or just smile depending on how much I want to stay in the good graces of the person I'm talking to.  But seriously people lets not kid ourselves there are few things you can say in polite conversation that will tick people off more than "I usually do what I can to make your job harder."

Now don't get me wrong I know that phone surveys are not peoples top choice for what to do with their time but lets take a moment to think about this.  I am lucky, I am not paid per survey.  Most people I know who have done this outside my work place are.  And most of them are struggling to pay rent, school, grocery bills whatever with this job.  Can you honestly say that if you did not have to take a job where you were yelled at regularly hung up on and insulted for what you do by your friends you would still take it for fun? It's not something everyone can do and as an aspiring Statistics student I appreciate any data gathering that goes on and recognize how much various strategies are needed.

But lets get to the point of this post there are some things people should know about phone interviewers and how to deal with them.

1. IMPORTANT. No interview is required. There is one survey that is required in the US and it is issued by the government every ten years. So you don't need to ask if you have to take this.
2. If you can take the survey you should. As I said most survey takers are paid by the interview. Be nice to them.
3. The person giving the interview did not write it. They can only read the questions as they are written. If they are written poorly it is not their fault and they can't do anything to change it. Be patient, ask them to repeat the question and always be willing to answer "I don't know."
4. The person giving the interview does not control who gets called. In some cases they don't even dial the phone. If they are calling at an inconvenient time. If they are dialing your cell phone. If you think they can't call you because of some do not call list. Please do not yell at them they are not in charge of it.
5. If you have a problem being called on your cell phone take it up with lawmakers. Many surveys are now calling cell phones because many people do not have landlines. In order to make sure they get a wide variety of surveys they have to make sure to reach a wide variety of people.
6. If you can't take the survey don't take it out on the survey taker. Just say "Do not call me again" and hang up. Trust me they can take a hangup, calling a survey taker the c-word or the f-word are harder to deal with.

If you can do these you will make many many Americans' jobs so much easier.