phone banking for no-on-prop-8
As I mentioned earlier, I had signed up to do phone banking for the no-on-prop-8 campaign (proposition 8 eliminates the rights for same-sex couples to marry in California). I finally got trained on Wednesday night, but only today managed to sit down and do some calls.
Gah. I'm not sure this is actually helping, and even less sure that it isn't a waste of my time. I have to sit around while the system calls numbers on a list it has, one at a time, while listening to a very short (10 seconds) annoying tune, repeated over and over again. Invariably, an answering machine picks up. Occasionally, a live human picks up, who is often not the right person, or who hangs up immediately upon hearing that I'm not their best friend. Of the remaining folks (not a statistically significant sample), many have already voted, or at least made up their minds.
At any rate, I'm done for the day (for some reason the campaign thinks that the best time for calls on Saturday is 11a-3pm, whereas on Sunday it is 2pm-8pm or something like that), and possibly done for the rest of the campaign. Additionally, I have a very annoying snippet of "music", although I hesitate to call it that given its idiotic composition, playing through my head over and over again.
I'm almost starting to feel sympathy for telemarketers.
Gah. I'm not sure this is actually helping, and even less sure that it isn't a waste of my time. I have to sit around while the system calls numbers on a list it has, one at a time, while listening to a very short (10 seconds) annoying tune, repeated over and over again. Invariably, an answering machine picks up. Occasionally, a live human picks up, who is often not the right person, or who hangs up immediately upon hearing that I'm not their best friend. Of the remaining folks (not a statistically significant sample), many have already voted, or at least made up their minds.
At any rate, I'm done for the day (for some reason the campaign thinks that the best time for calls on Saturday is 11a-3pm, whereas on Sunday it is 2pm-8pm or something like that), and possibly done for the rest of the campaign. Additionally, I have a very annoying snippet of "music", although I hesitate to call it that given its idiotic composition, playing through my head over and over again.
I'm almost starting to feel sympathy for telemarketers.