OT: 2 HBO documentaries: Telemarketers and Bishop Sycamore

[Sean Miller Fan]

The Bishop Sycamore documentary is really good. BS was everything you thought it was and the coach/founder is an extremely charismatic sociopath. He holds nothing back. Saying things like he is an "honest liar" and "con-mannish." I cant see any way in which he doesnt land a mini-series on Netflix or HBO. The story is so similar to "Inventing Anna," which was a smash hit on Netflix. The way he was able to get this fake school to play while feeding and housing the team.....with no money is fascinating.

The Telemarketers documentary was focused on 2 guys who worked for a telemarketing company who raised funds for police organizations. We all get these calls. I always thought it was a straight up scam. Well, its not officially a scam and its legal but definitely has some scammish qualities. Essentially, these telemarketing companies offer these police organizations money up front to call for them but then keep 90% of the money they raise. The documentarians try to put some pressure on the police orgs and lawmakers but the consensus is you can't really do anything about this. But in the telemarketing world, calling for these police orgs is a gold mine.

 

[JD1976]

The HQ Trivia doc was good too.

 

[Jeffburgh]

It was a trip watching what the call center was like for those fop solicitations, they literally recruited ex cons out of halfway houses.

But, it was worth $35 to get the decal, like a DARE license plate, if you were heavy footed.

 

[Pitt79]

I assume you can see this on MAX right now?

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

i laugh when i used to get the calls and ask me if i want to donate $5, $10, or $20 to the local fire dept. not giving me an option of "no donation." Like they got me, i have to pick one..

how bout no donation at all and dont ever call this number again

 

[Pitt79]

as far as these telemarketer calls, I've just reached a breaking point and just say, "I've had enough of this sh!t, I'm busy and going to hang up now." and hang up as they keep talking, then eventually they call back the same guy keeps calling, and I just hang up on him as he talks every time.

 

[Pitt79]

They say stuff like ''don't you want to support the police?" and I've just said "F the police" and hung up

 

[happjack]

Can co-sign that BS High was really good, for all Max's faults I'm glad that the doc was on it, Netflix would have stretched it out to 3 or 4 episodes with the first 1/4th of each episode being a re-hash of the previous ones.

 

[ratking17]

My favorite telemarketing ones are the people that want to buy your house. The ones that call me are usually local. So I string them along for a few days and then agree to sell my house for something astronomical like 7.5 million. They get mad and usually hang up but then i call them back to counter offer. I wait until they block me then I use my wife and kids phones to call them back.

My philosophy is if you are going to waste my time I am going to waste yours.

 

[ratking17]

They say stuff like ''don't you want to support the police?" and I've just said "F the police" and hung up

I get the police one all the time but it's a bot speaking to me. I can't get a real person. The one time I did, i just felt like being a dick so I asked if they support citizen review boards for all police shootings. He did not, but I informed him he could have my money if the pa state police agreed to my terms.

 

[Jeffburgh]

as far as these telemarketer calls, I've just reached a breaking point and just say, "I've had enough of this sh!t, I'm busy and going to hang up now." and hang up as they keep talking, then eventually they call back the same guy keeps calling, and I just hang up on him as he talks every time.

When the girls were young I would give them the phone and walk away.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

got rid of my land line like 7-8 years ago and dont miss it one bit. very rare telemarketing call now about my car warranty expiring but not too bad..

my mom used to get calls from microsoft IT support, indian dudes wanting to help her fix her computer. i told her, if they have an indian accent, it's a scam and hang up.

 

[Jeffburgh]

I assume you can see this on MAX right now?

Yeah. I rotated out of Paramount Plus to Max, some good stuff.

The Last of Us met expectations.

I actually decided to roll through the Wire again.

Haven't watched it for about a decade.

Just watched S1E2 when I woke up early.

 

[Pitt79]

I get the police one all the time but it's a bot speaking to me. I can't get a real person. The one time I did, i just felt like being a dick so I asked if they support citizen review boards for all police shootings. He did not, but I informed him he could have my money if the pa state police agreed to my terms.

If I answer a call and it's a recorded message, I hang up before I even know what it's about. It's like when you call somewhere and they make you hold and keep saying, "your call is very important to us" when a person finally answers I call them out and tell them about that and say "your service sucks! If my call was important to you a person would answer right away"

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

I once gave to the Fraternal Order of Police and put my sticker on the rear window of the driver's side. I wonder if that was why I was let off with a warning when the cop pulled me over for taking too long to go thru a yellow light so it was red when I went through it. That, and being white helped...

my buddy in his late teens, very early twenties, donated to get a Dare plate r for his car. his theory was that cops would see it and never think he'd be drinking and driving thus saving him from DUIs.

this is the same guy who would have parties in high school and put up "Lordy Lordy Look whos 40" posters outside so when cops came, they'd think it was all adults and not bust the party..

he had a plan for everything..

 

[BurghGuy68]

Yeah. I rotated out of Paramount Plus to Max, some good stuff.

The Last of Us met expectations.

I actually decided to roll through the Wire again.

Haven't watched it for about a decade.

Just watched S1E2 when I woke up early.

Did you watch Silicon Valley series on MAX yet? One of the best comedy series of all time.

Great scene

 

[Jeffburgh]

I once gave to the Fraternal Order of Police and put my sticker on the rear window of the driver's side. I wonder if that was why I was let off with a warning when the cop pulled me over for taking too long to go thru a yellow light so it was red when I went through it. That, and being white helped...

I am an expedient driver. Probably been pulled over a couple dozen times over the course of my life.

Had a DARE liscense plate for he longest time because I supported that, but it saved me a ton of $ and points.

I don't mind getting the ticket if I was speeding, cause I was. Just don't want to deal with the points. I got a warning every now and again, and every now and again they gave me full freight, but the vast majority of the time they gave me the disobey a posting and that got them a hearty THANK YOU!

Keeping in mind the demographic element ...

 

[Jeffburgh]

Did you watch Silicon Valley series on MAX yet? One of the best comedy series of all time.

Great scene

View embedded media

Oh, yeah.
First time and cycled through it again about four years ago.
Definitely quality.

 

[BurghGuy68]

Oh, yeah.
First time and cycled through it again about four years ago.
Definitely quality.

If you like Ricky Gervais he has a few series on there that are good. His latest one is depressingly sad but really good.

And the Matt LeBlanc one called Episodes was surprisingly good. As was the stand up comedian series called Crashing.

I've forgotten so many shows I've watched over the years on HBO. Those come to mind as good ones.

 

[Pitt79]

my buddy in his late teens, very early twenties, donated to get a Dare plate r for his car. his theory was that cops would see it and never think he'd be drinking and driving thus saving him from DUIs.

this is the same guy who would have parties in high school and put up "Lordy Lordy Look whos 40" posters outside so when cops came, they'd think it was all adults and not bust the party..

he had a plan for everything..

Psychological Warfare

 

[h2p_5150]

The BS doc was wild. That coach is not fit for society. Just a complete, shameless fraud.

Those cop telemarketing calls really annoy me. I "donate" to the police by paying county taxes- stop calling me.

 

[h2p_5150]

my buddy in his late teens, very early twenties, donated to get a Dare plate r for his car. his theory was that cops would see it and never think he'd be drinking and driving thus saving him from DUIs.

this is the same guy who would have parties in high school and put up "Lordy Lordy Look whos 40" posters outside so when cops came, they'd think it was all adults and not bust the party..

he had a plan for everything..

The DARE shirts became an ironic thing for stoners to wear about 10-15 years ago. Your buddy was just ahead of the times.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

The DARE shirts became an ironic thing for stoners to wear about 10-15 years ago. Your buddy was just ahead of the times.

he was an idiot. The "lordy lordy look who's 40" high school party trick was pretty good though.

 

[OH Pete]

i always get robocalls that are very poor attempts at trying to sound like they aren't roboballs. Usually the voice identifies themselves as Lee or Roy and they are raising money to "help out our troopers". It is really a PAC raising money to support political candidate. Last time I got one I listened and agreed to a donation. It took me to a live person, obviously in another country. I gave her my name as Ferris Bueller and the address of Wrigley Field to send my invoice to so that I could send a check in. She tried her best to get a credit card number out of me.

 

[ratking17]

i always get robocalls that are very poor attempts at trying to sound like they aren't roboballs. Usually the voice identifies themselves as Lee or Roy and they are raising money to "help out our troopers". It is really a PAC raising money to support political candidate. Last time I got one I listened and agreed to a donation. It took me to a live person, obviously in another country. I gave her my name as Ferris Bueller and the address of Wrigley Field to send my invoice to so that I could send a check in. She tried her best to get a credit card number out of me.

That's the one I get allllll the time. The sad thing is I am on the do not call list but it still comes through.

 

[ratking17]

The other thing that annoys me (and man I am going to sound like old man yells at clouds on this one) is we have a local penny saver newspaper. I don't want it. It's junk mail. It is never left in my mailbox. It's always in a plastic bag thrown on my driveway. I have to call like 2-3 times per year to be removed from their circulation. I probably wouldn't mind as much if it was just junk mail in the mailbox...but it's on my driveway or in the yard or worse, when it rains and it gets all soggy. And then I have a neighbor that just leaves theirs outside and it always blows in my yard. So I have to pick up 2 of them. I have legitimately thought about going to the district magistrate and suing for dumping trash and littering in my yard. I know this is a "first world" problem but it drives me absolutely nuts dealing with this.

 

[OH Pete]

That's the one I get allllll the time. The sad thing is I am on the do not call list but it still comes through.

The politicians were pretty slick when they put the do not call legislation through. They exempted political action committees.

 

[OH Pete]

The other thing that annoys me (and man I am going to sound like old man yells at clouds on this one) is we have a local penny saver newspaper. I don't want it. It's junk mail. It is never left in my mailbox. It's always in a plastic bag thrown on my driveway. I have to call like 2-3 times per year to be removed from their circulation. I probably wouldn't mind as much if it was just junk mail in the mailbox...but it's on my driveway or in the yard or worse, when it rains and it gets all soggy. And then I have a neighbor that just leaves theirs outside and it always blows in my yard. So I have to pick up 2 of them. I have legitimately thought about going to the district magistrate and suing for dumping trash and littering in my yard. I know this is a "first world" problem but it drives me absolutely nuts dealing with this.

I still get phone books thrown in my driveway. Who uses a phone book these days??? I honestly don't know how or why this is even legal. It is littering and should be treated as such.

 

[pittdan77]

The other thing that annoys me (and man I am going to sound like old man yells at clouds on this one) is we have a local penny saver newspaper. I don't want it. It's junk mail. It is never left in my mailbox. It's always in a plastic bag thrown on my driveway. I have to call like 2-3 times per year to be removed from their circulation. I probably wouldn't mind as much if it was just junk mail in the mailbox...but it's on my driveway or in the yard or worse, when it rains and it gets all soggy. And then I have a neighbor that just leaves theirs outside and it always blows in my yard. So I have to pick up 2 of them. I have legitimately thought about going to the district magistrate and suing for dumping trash and littering in my yard. I know this is a "first world" problem but it drives me absolutely nuts dealing with this.

We have something like that around here. Pretty similar feelings about it. I once collected them for several months and then took them down and left them in front of the front door of the place they came from. Ironically, there was a blurb in the police blotter about it a couple of weeks later.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

I still get phone books thrown in my driveway. Who uses a phone book these days??? I honestly don't know how or why this is even legal. It is littering and should be treated as such.

wow, really? I havent seen a phone book in decades.

 

[Pitt79]

I know this is a "first world" problem but it drives me absolutely nuts dealing with this.

Just hang up on them when you realize what it is, that's what I do. F'em.

 

[Pitt79]

wow, really? I havent seen a phone book in decades.

I get one every year too, it goes straight to recycling

 

[OH Pete]

wow, really? I havent seen a phone book in decades.

I'll give you the next one they throw in my driveway.

 

[OH Pete]

I get one every year too, it goes straight to recycling

LOL

One of the times they threw one in my driveway was the night before garbage day. I wheeled my recycle container down to the road, picked up the phone book and put it right in. Saved me from having to carry it to my garage.

 

[NTOP]

as far as these telemarketer calls, I've just reached a breaking point and just say, "I've had enough of this sh!t, I'm busy and going to hang up now." and hang up as they keep talking, then eventually they call back the same guy keeps calling, and I just hang up on him as he talks every time.

I just tell them the call is being recorded.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

I'll give you the next one they throw in my driveway.

sweet, and i'll bet you 10 bucks that i can rip it down in 1/2 with just my hands. a great trick.

 

[jtownknowitall]

Just hang up on them when you realize what it is, that's what I do. F'em.

People actually answer their personal phones? If it’s important the caller can leave a message

 

[OH Pete]

People actually answer their personal phones? If it’s important the caller can leave a message

I sometimes do it because I keep hoping it is a live person scam artist trying to get me to give the my direct tv password or allow them to hack into my computer. I like to F with them. Sometimes they get so angry when they realize what I'm doing that they curse me out.

 

[Pitt79]

People actually answer their personal phones? If it’s important the caller can leave a message

F that Gen Z BS, do you do your grocery shopping online? you probably don't do anything where you associate with actual people in person.

 

[Pitt79]

I sometimes do it because I keep hoping it is a live person scam artist trying to get me to give the my direct tv password or allow them to hack into my computer. I like to F with them. Sometimes they get so angry when they realize what I'm doing that they curse me out.

I've done that before, actually led them on to the point I say I have turned over access to my computer and they think I'm actually doing it, and try to help me troubleshoot because they can't get in, and I just say at some point, "F you! I'm just messing with you"