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ImaginaryRoads t1_izcxjmu wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Fyi, WHYY is out there canvassing. by WI_LFRED

I was a very reliable subscriber from my very first high school job through to my senior year in college. I think I was doing like $50 a year, which wasn't a huge amount but it also wasn't nothing for a broke-ass college kid who was also working a full-time job to pay for college on their own.

Anyway, the company I worked for decided to lay off a whole bunch of people in December, a couple weeks before Christmas. So I'm sitting there, very definitely not desperately crying (lie), and trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for rent, food, and the next semester of college - not to mention the trip home for Christmas, and all the other random shit you need to pay for. And WHYY called doing their annual sweep.

The conversation went something like:

Them: Hi, this is WHYY calling. We're doing our annual pledge drive and were hoping we could count on your support!

Me: Uhh ... [mentally: fuck fuck fuck. I dunno, maybe I find twenty for them? Maybe? ...]

Them: We're really making an effort for this year's pledge drive; could we put you down for $500?

Me, in utter shock: Uh, no, I just got laid off, I'm going to have to find another job. [mentally: and I've only ever given you $50 a year, what's with the ten-fold increase all of a sudden?!?]

Them: Oh, I'll so sorry to hear that! Maybe we could put you down for a hundred instead!

Me: No, I don't think so. [mentally: so I've just told you I have no income at all and you still want me to donate twice as much as ever before? WTF?!]

The canvasser said something else but I wasn't really listening anymore and we hung up shortly after.

I like WHYY and I get that the callers have targets to meet, but I haven't given them any money since then; I support NJN instead. And it's all down to that one phone call where they were just suddenly, spontaneously greedy af.

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stonewallsyd t1_izebst1 wrote

Having worked for call centers before, I can guarantee you that person was sticking to the script. As much as it sucks and feels greedy and impersonal, that person was trying to preserve their own job there. I ended up quitting a call center job during the pandemic because our script had us asking for $2,000 right off the bat. Those jobs are horrendous and soul sucking.

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justanawkwardguy t1_izekmm1 wrote

I got written up when I worked for a call center because they had different asks for different groups, but I found that going with the lower ones across the board netted more donations.

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AhabMustDie t1_izg7qi6 wrote

That's exactly right — when I did canvassing, they drilled it into our heads that we were to STICK TO THE SCRIPT NO MATTER WHAT.

I cringed when someone agreed to give, and then I was supposed to say, "That's great — but we're asking people to give as generously as they can. Could you do [double that]?"

Having interacted with canvassers on the street since then, I think that approach is really misguided. I used to stop for them and be like, "Hey, I know how hard your job is! You're doing a great job!" But most of the time, they just keep barreling ahead, without seeming to notice what I just said. So yeah, I don't stop anymore.

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AlVic40117560_ t1_izg8dcb wrote

Well that sounds dramatic. I did a very similar call center job in college. The job definitely sucked, but I wouldn’t quite call it horrendous and soul sucking haha. I think you may have been taking a minimum wage job a little too seriously.

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stonewallsyd t1_izggs5o wrote

There’s lots of different call center jobs, I’ve worked at a few that sucked and a few that were fine.

Maybe it’s dramatic but I couldn’t bring myself to call people and ask them for thousands of dollars during a pandemic after hearing them tell me about their parents, husbands, and children dying from covid. The job wasn’t serious, the world was.

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