sucky magazine salesman

[KellyHabersham]

*not in a workplace setting, but since it did involve dealing with a sucky salesman......*

Despite the fact that my apartment complex has several "No Solicitors" signs posted near apartment doors, we still occasionally get people knocking on doors and trying to make sales pitches. The other night I got one of those college students who've entered magazine-selling contests, I've had such people get realy pissy at me before for not wanting to buy anything, and "Kevin" was no exception. He was polite and friendly at first - making jokes/flirting....etc., but when I nicely told him that I couldn't afford magazines right now, he started getting pushy/had a rebuttal for everything I said, and snipped at me "I just don't see why you can't help me out." (Apparently I was the first person that day who didn't want to buy magazines from him, and he couldn't take the rejection)
Anyhow, this is NOT the first time I've had a college guy get bent out of shape because I didn't want to buy magazines from him, but it makes me wonder what sort of sales tactics these people are told to use when they sign up for the contests.

[blas]

That happened to me last summer. Two stupid looking college guys banging on my door while I was sleeping (ok so 2 pm isnt odd for most people but it is for me) and I stupidly answered the door and they would NOT take no for an answer. They wanted to raise money to go to fricken Mexico. They were competing against the girls. They hassled me for my credit card when I said I was too poor, they hassled me for payment plans.......they just wouldn't get it. And to think, after me, they were going to hassle a bunch of senior citizens. Those worthless, shameless little shits.

[Stormraven]

I never have any problem with those people. I crack open the door and as soon as they start their spiel, I say 'No, thank you.' If they continue, I shut the door, lock it, and they tend to get the message.

[Skoobeedu]

We always got these guys selling "stuff" (toys, household goods, anything and everything) at our office. Despite having a "no soliciting" sign on our door. I would always tell them "Sorry, I'm not allowed to do this during business hours" and they would never take no for an answer. One day, my boss said "Sir, there's a no soliciting sign on our door. You need to leave." The guy proceeded to say "I'm not soliciting, I'm promoting". Whatever. As soon as we got rid of him, I made a sign and put it on the door that said:

Absolutely, positively, no soliciting, promoting, selling, hawking, offering, pushing, marketing, merchandising, distributing, trading or trafficking of any products or goods of any kind at any time on these premises.

Oddly, we haven't had any of these guys back since.

[donruss]

We always got these guys selling "stuff" (toys, household goods, anything and everything) at our office. Despite having a "no soliciting" sign on our door. I would always tell them "Sorry, I'm not allowed to do this during business hours" and they would never take no for an answer. One day, my boss said "Sir, there's a no soliciting sign on our door. You need to leave." The guy proceeded to say "I'm not soliciting, I'm promoting". Whatever. As soon as we got rid of him, I made a sign and put it on the door that said:

Absolutely, positively, no soliciting, promoting, selling, hawking, offering, pushing, marketing, merchandising, distributing, trading or trafficking of any products or goods of any kind at any time on these premises.

Oddly, we haven't had any of these guys back since.

The only thing you forgot at the end of your sign is:

YES, THIS MEANS YOU!!!

[powerboy]

I wish that they would take no for an answer.

[draftermatt]

At my old house I'd get highschool students who were hawking the Newspaper in order to earn money for college.

The first one was the day we moved in, boxes everywhere. I told him "I just moved in and I'm not taking anything right now" and he didn't get it. Then I would get the guys who would curse when I would turn them away.

Finally I just stopped answering the door or telling them I had the paper. (And yes I had the "no soliciting" sign on the door).

My wife would tell them that she's a college student and she needs all of her money to pay for her college so they were barking up the wrong tree.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"I just don't see why you can't help me out."

"That's okay. You don't need to understand, that's my business. You do, however, have to get off my porch now."

I dont' exchange a lot of words with pushy people. I dont' care much about their feelings. And they will learn a lesson from it....mainly, that they will actually take "no" for an answer.

I grew up in a pine thicket out in a remote rural area between towns. It took a little doing to get back there, and nobody was back there without legit business. It wasn't a place people "passed through." And everyone who lived there was a tight network of relatives. If a stranger was spotted, there wasn't a person living there within a two mile radius that didn't know you were wandering around our place.

There was a big sign on the main entrance that my cousins had made. It said "No horses, people, cars, motorcycles, no NOTHING. Survivors will be prosecuted." And there was a picture of a shotgun on it.

It was pretty easy to believe that Leatherface would come out of the woods and kill your ass, and make you disappear in the miles of thick woods surrounding the area. Very few people had the berries to come down to our houses.

[Saydrah]

As a former canvasser, I can assure you that the only lesson anyone in any profession learns from someone being rude to them is, "People suck." Same lesson a cashier learns when someone is a jerk.

That said, anyone who doesn't respect, "I'm not interested," is a tool and wasting their time. As a canvasser I got donations from people who said they couldn't afford it, people who said that they were busy, people who said their wife did all the donations, and people who already gave at the office, but I didn't get any donations from people who weren't interested.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, true, but if I could have marked my door with a symbol that said, "this person turns into a jerk and a tool if you act pushy with her, so don't." I would have.

[dendawg]

I don't mind salespeople and telemarketers. The ones that really get me are the ones that won't take no for an answer.

[Pagan]

I haven't gotten any for quite a while now. (Now I've done it, I will be besieged.) I honestly don't think that they're actually college students either. We generally have better things to do, say, like studying?

When I do get them, they tend to wait until after 6pm, when the complex office closes. This means that they don't have permission to be on the complexes property. I have answered the door a few times. My front door and kitchen window are perpendicular to each other and close enough that you can knock on the door and the window at the same time. For some reason, if I'm standing at the kitchen sink, have the blinds open, and someone knocks on the door, I just cannot ignore them. Even so, when they start their spiel, I say "no thank you, I'm not interested" and close the door.

Generally, though, if it's dark and someone knocks on my door and I don't recognize them through the peep hole (even with a lead pipe and sword next to the door), the door stays closed. There have been a couple that have done this around 10pm. Those are the ones that get the security patrol called on their asses.

[marasbaras]

I don't care if I'm teaching them that people are jerks. After I've declined politely a couple of times, canvassers have now earned the privelege of receiving my wrath.

It's like the Barnes and Noble cashier who wanted to ask me a fifth time if I was SURE that I didn't want one of their cards. They earned the "fuck off and ring up my sale".

[RammsteinGirl]

I don't care if I'm teaching them that people are jerks. After I've declined politely a couple of times, canvassers have now earned the privelege of receiving my wrath.

It's like the Barnes and Noble cashier who wanted to ask me a fifth time if I was SURE that I didn't want one of their cards. They earned the "fuck off and ring up my sale".

Eh, I know it's irritating to hear the credit card spiels over and over.. but if B&N is anything like Sears/Kmart.. they probably force their employees to ask 5 times. i wouldn't complain on the cashier, I might drop a line to management saying that the credit card pushing is really irritating for you to hear as a customer and could they please pass the complaint to corporate. Better than telling a cashier to fuck off when they're probably just trying to keep their job.

I only ask customers if they'd like to apply for a Sears card if management is lurking within earshot. When our HR manager comes up to open up a register when we're shorthanded and the checkouts are backed up.. she is so friggin' annoying. She does it exactly the way you're supposed to, though. I absolutely REFUSE to say anything other than "Would you like to apply for a Sears card?" Here is how she does it:

Her - "Will you be putting this on your Sears card today"
Customer - "No"
Her - "Well, do you HAAVVVEE a Sears card"
Customer - "No"
Her - "Did you know that if you apply for one you can get a free 12-pack of pop?"
Customer - "No"
Her - "So are you SUURREE you don't want to apply for a Sears card"
Customer - "NO!"

Hahaha. And add to that her annoying, whiny voice. Gah. I'm just waiting for the day when someone goes, "NO, BITCH! I SAID NOOO!!!!!! STOP ASKING!!"

[powerboy]

I respect smart people. IF they can not take no for an answer, then they have lost all my respect. I honestly do not care.