That's an Indiana Badge, don't carry much weight around here...

As a freelance writer who also teaches evening classes, I am always on the lookout for a reasonably sane day job...

The other day I picked up the paper and saw an ad for a local job...decent hourly rate, some management and trainer positions available...so I called and left my number.

They eventually got back to me, but would only leave the initials "ITA" as their name...and the phone number backwards searches to a personal line...usually a flag that you are dealing with either a start up or a fly by night. Usually.

Well, I get to the interview and find myself in front of a huge storefront suite of outbound telephone callers for the "Indiana Troopers Association"...but, er, this is West Virginia.

I did a little research and noticed that the ITA was pretty active last year in trying to defeat their state's "no call" anti-telemarketing bill. Obviously they saw the handwriting on the wall, pulled out and invested in a loophole that allows them to just keep doing it from outside the state. If that's how the law reads, then they have every right to circumvent the laws of the State they are sworn to uphold the laws of in this manner. I guess West Virginia, if this pans out, might end up being the haven for telemarketers who seek to evade the will of their state governments and peoples.

They seem to randomly make up the hourly rates (I saw three different ads with three different pay ranges) and number of open positions but I was reassured that 100% of the money raised goes to the troopers. I wonder then where the money to pay the poor coldcallers, managers and phone company comes from.

I used to run a bank of phones for a lobbying group (in Washington DC) aeons ago...I know how these things work...and I hate cold calling, both making and receiving.

I do understand the need and desire of this organization to circumvent the law. But I do not like the attitude it gives kids (hey if you can break the spirit of the law, go for it) or the fact that I just wasted a few hours of my time and the gas money to go to the building just to find out what is what.