Here is an excert from an interview i did with the Hartford Courant in 2005

John Paul Schaffer used to be on the other end of calls like those. Schaffer, of Parkersburg, W.Va., began working for a telemarketing company called Civic Development Group as a 17-year-old high school student who was thrilled to be making $7 an hour.

Schaffer’s pitch would typically start at $75, and then drop to $50, and then $35. “If the answer was still no, you’d say, ‘The vets really need your help. Why don’t I just put you down for a ‘booster’ amount of $25?”‘

And then he’d try $15.

For common resistance lines — “I’m on a fixed income” or “I have to check with my spouse” — Schaffer kept a sheet on one wall of his cubicle, with time-tested comebacks to keep the call going.

“You pitch them until they hang up on you, basically,” Schaffer said. “It’s really rude.”

But he said he understands the economics for charities. “They’re usually guaranteed 15 percent. And all they have to do for that is give the professional fundraiser permission to use their names,” he said. “The shame is that that much has to be wasted so that little bit gets through.”