A cold telemarketer hangs up on me...

Earlier this afternoon I received a phone call from a major credit card company. They are offering a credit card that gives 5% rebates on purchases of regular office supplies.

I shared with the lady on the phone that we have a credit card that gives 3% rebates on office supplies (although we hardly ever buy items that qualify!) and are currently happy with the current card. I did say that we would keep them in mind if we ever did want the higher rebate amounts.

She went on to share about the online control panel for the credit card and the controllable spending limits. I shared why that wouldn’t make a difference for us, and said we were happy with our current card.

She went on into some other advantage, and I politely shared why we were happy with our current card, but that we would keep them in mind.

I then confirmed her name (I had heard it at the first, but wasn’t exactly sure I had heard it correctly), and said I had a question for her – she was open. But then I said it didn’t have to do with the credit card – she hesitantly said “OK”.

I asked if she had ever taken the good person test, and she emphatically said that she had. I asked if she had passed it, and she said she did. I said I had taken a good person test, but had failed it. I mentioned that my test had to do with the ten commandments and had an important moral at the end (obviously, the gospel message is WAY beyond a mere “moral” teaching, but, to an unbeliever, it helps them understand that the process is “leading somewhere”).

She was becoming a bit more hesitant to take the test and I encouraged her that it wasn’t a hard one at all. I asked if she considered herself a good person, and she said she did – but she wasn’t wanting to go on!

Since I could sense that she didn’t really want to go on, I even apologized for being “off script” (I could tell that the beginning of the conversation was being read from a script, due to her tone of voice).

She was even a bit defensive about the test, wondering if I was the one that made the judgments and set the rules!

At one point she said this was a business call (meaning she wanted to keep talking about the credit card). I shared that we had talked about business, but I had expressed to her that we were not interested in the credit card, and thought she might be interested in then taking the test.

She was then being quiet, and I actually encouraged her to not hang up on me as she probably doesn’t like it when customers hang up on her (I have had other telemarketers hang up on me before). She then rattled off a goodbye “Thank you for talking with me today and if you have any other questions about our credit card offers please call us at 888-nnn-nnnn, goodbye” and hung up.

I genuinely had an interest in sharing the gospel with her, and was surprised that she didn’t go through the test. I did not bring up the good person test in order to get her off the phone – I could have politely said goodbye and hung up at any time.

I believe telemarketers are harder to share the gospel with because of the types of people they speak with all day. Some people even have a hobby of recording telemarketing calls and “pranking” them with odd questions and conversations.

I was praying that the Holy Spirit would work in her heart while we shared, but she apparently wasn’t open. And, who knows, she could have even had her supervisor listening in on the call at that point (I suspect a lot of those call centers either record their operators phone calls or have supervisors that listen in at different times to make sure the person is “selling” properly).

I did have an opportunity to share on the phone with a customer service rep at an insurance company earlier in the day. It was a short time of sharing, but the Lord Jesus Christ seemed to bless it and I was able to share the gospel and encourage the reading of His Word (especially the book of John).

Today was a blessed reminder that the Lord doesn’t hold me responsible for the way people respond, but He does expect me to be sharing and planting the seed - in gentleness, with concern, and always founded on the truth of His Word.

Ezekiel 3:18-19: When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.