Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 375, A Call from a Telemarketer.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 375.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
You can visit our website at eslpodcom to download a learning guide for this episode and all of our current episodes.
You can also visit our ESL podcast store, which has additional courses in English you may be interested in.
This episode is called A Call from a Telemarketer.
A telemarketer is someone who calls you on the telephone to sell you something.
Let's listen.
Hello.
Hello.
May I speak to the lady of the house?
What is this regarding?
I'm calling from Cheatham Cable Company, and we have a very special offer.
This month only, you can get a bundle of services for the low, low price of $69.99.
This offer, Thank you, but I'm not interested.
But that's because you haven't heard the rest of the offer yet.
If you sign up today, you will get, at no extra charge, all of the equipment you'll need to switch to our cable company.
As I said, I'm not interested.
I'm also on the National Do Not Call Registry and I want to be taken off your call list.
If you're on my list, it means that you have a prior relationship with our company and telemarketers are allowed to call you.
Now, about that special offer...
I don't want to hear your sales pitch.
I demand to be taken off your call list.
And I don't want to get any more calls from your company.
Is that a no on the special offer?
Yes, that's a no on the special offer and a no on getting any more calls from your company.
Do I make myself clear?
Yes, very clear.
If you're not interested in our special offer, I can tell you about our other services.
No, you can't.
Doris answers the phone by saying hello.
The telemarketer says, Hello, may I speak to the lady of the house?
The lady of the house would be the female head of the house or the family, usually the wife and or mother.
That would be the lady of the house.
Sort of an old-fashioned expression now, but you will still hear it.
The opposite would be the man of the house, which would be the husband or father or head of the house, who was a man.
Not all houses have lady and man of the house present.
Doris says, what is this regarding?
This is a formal way of asking the for the person to tell them what they are calling for.
It's a polite way of asking, why are you calling?
What is this regarding?
The telemarketer says, I'm calling from Cheatham Cable Company, and we have a very special offer.
A cable company is the company that brings cable television that gives you many different hundreds of channels to watch.
This month only the telemarketer says you can get a bundle of services for a low, low price of 6999.
A bundle, B-U-N-D-L-E, here means a group service. or a package, two or more things for one price.
So a bundle of services.
Maybe you'll get sports and movies and other types of television all for one price.
That would be a package or a bundle.
The telemarketer says this offer... trying to continue to sell Doris.
Doris says This is a polite way of telling someone who calls you that you don't want to talk to them anymore, that you are not interested in buying what they are selling.
The telemarketers don't give up easily, however.
This one says If you sign up today you will get at no extra charge all of the equipment you need to switch to our cable company.
If you sign up, if you become a member, if you agree to buy this today, you will get at no extra charge, meaning for free, all of the equipment you'll need to switch to our cable company.
To switch here means to change, to stop using this company and start using a different company's services.
Both the expression to switch and bundle have additional meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those explanations.
Dora says, as I said, I'm not interested.
I'm also on the national do not call registry, and I want to be taken off your call list.
The Do Not Call Registry, or LIST, was created by the US federal government in 2003 to allow people to say to businesses I don't want you to call me.
And if a business calls someone who asks not to be called, they can be penalized.
They may have to pay a fine to the government because it is against the law for them to call you if you asked not to be called.
So you call up the government or you go on the website and you put your telephone number in and any company that uses telemarketers, uses salespeople who call by telephone, has to check that list first to make sure that your name is not on it.
Most Americans, I think, or a very high percentage of Americans, now have their telephone numbers on that list.
I know I do.
Unfortunately, now we have a new problem, which is spam.
But that's at least one thing we don't have to worry about, telemarketers.
Dora says I want to be taken off or removed.
Your call list, the list of people that you have that you call to try to sell things to.
You can use that expression take me off also to request that someone remove your email address from their list.
Please take me off of this list.
Please remove me.
Delete my email.
The telemarketer then says to Doris, One of the exceptions to the rule about the Do Not Call Registry is that if you have a business or other relationship with the company, the company can call you even if you are on the Do Not Call registry.
So, for example, your telephone company.
You have a relationship with them, you pay them for your telephone service.
They could call you and try to sell you things.
Now, usually if you tell the company I don't want any more phone calls, they will take you off even that list.
So you won't get any more calls, at least sales calls.
So a prior relationship is some contact in the past between two people.
Telemarketers, we've already mentioned, are people who are paid to call you to sell you things.
Dora says, I don't want to hear your sales pitch.
The sales pitch, P-I-T-C-H, is the way that someone tries to sell you something.
It's the speech that they use, the words that they use to try to get you to buy something.
Doris then says, I demand to be taken off your call list.
To demand means to insist, to require someone else to...
Do something.
That is to demand.
I don't want to get any more calls from your company.
The telemarketer says, is that a no on the special offer?
Meaning, so you don't want to buy the special offer?
Doris says, yes.
That's a no on the special offer and a no on getting any more calls from your company.
She's getting a little angry here, Doris.
Doris says do I make myself clear?
This is a very strong more forceful way of saying do you understand me?
Usually it's made when you are perhaps angry with someone or you are making a demand on someone or insisting that someone do what you are saying to them.
Do I make myself clear is something a parent might say to a child, for example.
Or you might say to some salesperson who was bothering you, and that's what Doris is doing here.
The telemarketer says, yes, very clear.
If you're not interested in our special offer, I can tell you about our other services.
So the telemarketer wants to continue to try to sell her things.
Dora says, no, you can't, meaning I will not let you, and she hangs up the phone.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello.
Hello.
May I speak to the lady of the house?
What is this regarding?
I'm calling from Cheatham Cable Company, and we have a very special offer.
This month only, you can get a bundle of services for the low, low price of $69.99.
This offer, Thank you, but I'm not interested.
But that's because you haven't heard the rest of the offer yet.
If you sign up today, you will get, at no extra charge, all of the equipment you'll need to switch to our cable company.
As I said, I'm not interested.
I'm also on the National Do Not Call Registry and I want to be taken off your call list.
If you're on my list, it means you have a prior relationship with our company and telemarketers are allowed to call you.
Now, about that special offer.
I don't want to hear your sales pitch.
I demand to be taken off your call list and I don't want to get any more calls from your company.
Is that a no on the special offer?
Yes, that's a no on the special offer and a no on getting any more calls from your company.
Do I make myself clear?
Yes, very clear.
If you're not interested in our special offer, I can tell you about our other services.
No, you can't.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
