You think your job sucks? Try being these folks

Ah, the telemarketer. Scourge of the telephone. Bane of man's existence as a being with world-wide communication abilities at his or her fingertips.

Telemarketers call during arguments or quiet times at home. They interrupt dinners and TV time. They seem to always intrude at the worst possible moments.

It's probably safe to say that telemarketers have pretty much ruined phone sales for the foreseeable future. Plus, it seems like a really terrible job.

But we've all had terrible jobs, right?

Unless your job description includes judging female professional volleyball players' butts, you've probably had to suck it up and take employment in less-than-fulfilling fields: Gas station clerks, janitorial "sciences" practitioners, security guard jobs.

Blech, blech, and, just so I'm clear, blech.

While those jobs, among scores of other unskilled pursuits, are spirit-sucking drains, they still have some sort of dignity, uniforms and name tags be damned!

I'm not immune to the sting of a hated job. I bartended for a few years, which was cool for a while, but it got old real quick. I hated going into work and my attitude reflected it. I guess I don't have a good poker face.

But I had a job people like. Who doesn't want to see a bartender every now and then?

That's not the case for telemarketers. When was the last time you said to yourself, "Man, I sure wish somebody would call me with an exciting offer on timeshare condominiums in Florida"?

Unfortunately for the telemarketing schlubs, no people outside of shut-ins want their phone calls. Well, that's probably not 100 percent true.

Please, excuse my liberal use of profanity while I explain.

It'd be easy to say, "Nobody ever buys that stuff over the phone," but some assholes are buying it or the asshole telemarketing companies wouldn't pay other assholes to make those calls.

And please, I'm not calling the individual telemarketers assholes, though I'm sure some are. I mean the collective asshole of the whole telemarketing thing.

I can't imagine what it must be like to be almost universally scorned for doing a job. Abortion doctors in Utah think telemarketers have it bad.

So, as a public service to all telemarketers, I've got a marketing suggestion to improve the image of the industry: "Telemarketers -- At least they're not tow-truck drivers."

Tow-truck driver -- now that's a crappy and hated job. Those guys are never popular unless their changing a flat or dragging a lemon to the auto shop.

So buck up, telemarketers. You may not have the most-hated job in America, but with hard work and plenty of phone calls, I'm sure you can get to the pinnacle of jobs we all hate.

D.W. Norris is a freelance writer and telemarketing advoacte living in Carbondale, IL.

dwnorris77@hotmail.com