So yesterday a telemarketer called my cell phone -again-. I really wish I could figure out a way to get that to stop... Anyhoo... I answered it with "Hello", and they asked if they could speak to my male name as though there was no way on earth he was already speaking to them. I said speaking. And they were seriously shocked. They asked, in a disbelieving tone: Are you really Andrew? As though there was absolutely no way on earth I could possibly be Andrew. When I insisted that I was, in fact, the only person who I am presently legally known to be, he finally launched into his sales spiel, which, when I realized what was going on, I hung up on the tard bottom.
This has been becoming a regular event lately. It's like no one who hears me on the phone anymore can believe I'm really this guy named Andrew. Which is great by me, and funny too. I don't really think my voice has changed all that much yet and no one used to have any problems connecting my telephone voice with a male mental image before.
I wasn't even pitching my voice at all this last time, it was exactly like normal. At least to me... The first time I -really- caught someone taking me for female on the phone was when an insurance agent was talking to me, and they were ma'am'ing me even though I'd told them I was Andrew at the start of the conversation... They seemed to have completely forgotten that when I reminded them of it when they started talking numbers and the numbers they were talking sounded like they had the female premiums attached. They were all like, oh. *giggles*
I wasn't doing anything weird with my voice that time either, just speaking normally. There was one time though that I was practicing trying to pitch my voice differently when a telemarketer called that I recognized as having been trying to sell me male enhancement stuff. This same telemarketer had been calling me for weeks, and I'd kept hanging up on them, yelling at them to stop, and finally trying to just ignore them. So I was seriously pissed, and I answered it, accidentally pitching my voice a little higher because I was so pissed, and they hung up immediately and haven't ever tried back again. :D I imagine they don't think they'll be able to sell male enhancement to a girl very easily... I can't imagine why... *giggles*
Comments
:)
Ok guessing you don't live in the us. FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent.
Can you put your number on this list even if you don't live in the us?
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
when that
No call list started the people we lived with put their phones on it, but the calls seemed to increase. I keep getting calls from Washington state, but I only pick up on numbers I know.
Personally I love it when they call my number and ask for someone who I don't know. I love the question are you sure they don't live at that number. To which I have replied when I have answered
I'm sure no one is living. In my. Coat pocket, then. I hang up. Just once I wanna see a Tele marketers face when I do that
Autodiallers
Tell me about 'em... I've been plagued for the past three years by a company (I assume it's the same one) that autodials then plays a pre-recorded message (usually either ambulance chasing: "Have you had an accident or injury in the last three years that was not your fault?", Payment Protection Insurance refunds or Debt Relief Orders). However, tracking them down in order to make a complaint to the Information Ombudsman is almost impossible as (a) they change their number every couple of days, (b) those that have chased up the numbers have found they're registered to a company that rents out the numbers and doesn't keep track of who they rent them out to, and (c) apparently those that have pressed 9 to speak to the company have found that they're very unwilling to reveal what they're called and start getting abusive when asked to remove a number from their list.
Of course, because their calls are picked up by my answerphone, they know my line's active - not that it may matter as there's suspicion these companies get their computers to dial numbers at random rather than from the phonebook (it would certainly explain how I started receiving calls within a couple of days of being connected - and why they even plague people who are ex-directory).
One day, I might fork out £100 for the gadget you can plug into your phone line, intercepting calls before the phone itself rings and either blocking calls from non-geographic numbers entirely or requiring the caller to press a button to connect the call...
-oOo-
But anyway Abigail, congrats on being 'mistaken' for female by these idiots - they may be annoying but at least you can take a small crumb of comfort in that fact!
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Phone gadgets
My parents have one of those, and I don't think it cost anywhere near £100. Keep looking.
We often get calls on our answerphone on our ex-directory line. Most are instant hangups when they realize it's not a human.. :)
If anyone does call when I'm here I'll drop the phone on them instantly I recognise that it's a sales or marketing call. If they won't do me the courtesy of respecting my ex-directory status then they won't get any courtesy from me. We're also registered with the TPS, but that seems to make little difference these days.
Penny
No, actually, I AM in the US...
Which is what really gets me about it, I thought telemarketers weren't supposed to be calling cell phones either... My cell phone is my only phone, though...
What I figure is that someone somewhere somewhen decided to "sell" my information to other marketing firms, and when they did, since I didn't have a home phone associated with my identity, they gave my cell phone and failed to acknowledge it as being such. Ah well, thanks for that link! I'd heard about it, but didn't think it applied to cell phones! I'm registered now, so, in 31 days... bye bye telemarketers!
Abigail Drew.
Voice
Hi
I had two variations of this
1. I was purchasing something (before the internet became popular) and the person on the other end of the phone referred to me as "miss".
2. I was dealing with a customer on the phone who thought they were speaking with a female. I had to give them my name, and they were so embarrassed - they had met me. They felt really bad. My transition was announced the following week and the customer was so relieved that they hadn't upset me. It seems they had been worrying about it all weekend.
Phones can be a strange beast - some find it harder getting the voice right, especially over lines were there is a lot of voice compression such a mobile(cell) phones.
Karen
I enjoy it when the marketing
I enjoy it when the marketing people use a computer to call so when it picks up it's talking so when you listen to the voice mail it is only half there.
A boy named Gwen
Well, I had the same thing happen to me all the time before I came out. THEN, my name was Gwinn, but people make a lot of assumptions and they thought it was Gwen. I used to try to speak in a deep voice but then people would say things like, "I hope your cold gets better mam". At the time, I was trying so hard to be the man that my family thought I was.
When I did transition, my voice took minimal inflection changing and I was off and running. Lucky me.
Gwendolyn
that seems...
Likely to be what is happening with me. Just changing a few inflections, many of which seem to be happening entirely on their own naturally, and everyone thinks I'm a girl by my voice. I realize I've never really had a very terribly deep voice, definitely in tenor territory if I could sing (which I can't), but it's never been high enough to be taken for female either, at least, I don't think so... It certainly doesn't seem to come out as high as my mental voice seems to.
Now, I realize that there ARE women basses, so a woman tenor certainly isn't out of the realm of imagination either, but... well... I guess it just surprises me that anyone would think that I COULDN'T be male, just based on inflections and pattern of speech.
Abigail Drew.
Tele-Marketeers
Sorry as of Jan 1st 2012 - Telemarketers can call Cell phones and can use auto caller units too Richard
Richard
its kinda nice to be called miss even on the phone
doesnt happen often to me, unless the person doesnt really understand English and says it by mistake.
I was not so lucky
... It took a lot of work to change my voice over. It just goes to prove it is unpredictable as to how well one can re-voice themselves. The major issue has always been what you hear from inside versus what actually comes out of your mouth.
I am very good these days though.
Kim
trueCall
In the UK, we are plagued from call centres in India.
I've bought a device called trueCall which I would recommend. It is connected between the phone line and the phone - in my case a cordless base unit. It uses the Calling Line Identity to decide upon the action to take. I have it configured so that Number Withheld or International numbers are intercepted and given a polite message that I don't accept telesales calls, but personal callers should press 5 to proceed. At that stage, my telephone has not yet rung. Calls identified as being from UK numbers pass through with only a slight delay before the phone rings.
Most telesales callers, upon hearing what they assume is an answering machine immediately ring off. Autodiallers are not able to enter the necessary 5 to proceed, so after trueCall repeats the request, it terminates the call, without me even knowing anything about it. Those telesales callers who decide to press 5 will cause my phone to ring. When I answer and realise it's a telesales call, I press ## and the caller gets a message saying I don't accept telesales calls and the call is terminated. If the call is from an identified number, that number is placed on a barred list and future calls from it will be terminated after playing a message.
It also acts as an Answering Machine if I'm out.
Very rarely do I now get any irregular calls. I'd thoroughly recommend it to UK users.