sucky magazine salesman

[Andara Bledin]

We don't get a whole lot of people peddling crap around here. We do get the ocaisional kid selling candy for some school or after-school program, but rarely.

But I have had pushy phone solicitors. With them, if they don't take no for an answer, the third time gets them a "look, I don't know how I'm going to be paying my rent, I sure as hell don't have the money for you." and a hang up.

My old boss used to say that when he was younger the sales technique was "The customer saying 'no' is the first step to a sale," bullshit. Some of the older sales pushers still pass that on.

I used to sell crap for my school and the marching band. I sold a lot of stuff and usually got prizes for high sales. I did it the hard way by hitting every single house in my neighborhood and sometimes nearby neighborhoods peddling whatever it was I was selling that time around. If someone said no, I thanked them and moved on to the next house. I wasn't about to waste my time arguing with someone who didn't want my stuff when I could hit the next three houses and have a good chance at a sale in the same time.

On another note, what the heck is up with these kids who wander up and just say, 'you wanna buy some stuff' instead of any sort of real sales pitch? When I was doing it, I would give a short, to-the-point pitch about why I was peddling, and then tell them what I was peddling, and then ask if they were interested in supporting me. None of this, "you want some candy?" stuff outside of grocery stores laziness.

^-.-^

[MCSledgehammer]

The only exception to the "No, now get off my lawn" response at my house is Girl Scout cookies or Boy Scout popcorn, at which point I turn into a jonesing junkie and end up giving them my life savings. At the grocery store ones, I have used the phrase, "How much will $30 get me?" My husband laughs at me for it....

[Kogarashi]

I don't mind it when it's the Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the store, because here at least they just grin at you and shout "Girl Scout cookies!" as you're heading into the store. They don't get pushy about it. And I figure those three words are all they really need. If it's not obvious, though, why you're peddling, you'd better have a pitch ready.

And just earlier today I had a decent experience, actually. Someone raising money for a dance troupe rang our doorbell, and when I answered he quickly and succinctly explained what he was doing and why, and when I said, "No, sorry," he thanked me and moved on. No pushing. Points for him.

Of course, when he rang the doorbell, it scared the crap out of my baby (literally, oi), and she made a beeline to hide under my desk. It was more amusing than anything, really, and she clung to me like a barnacle for the next five minutes, but then was happily distracted by her toy piano. And frightened into hiding under the desk again not ten minutes later when my cell phone rang.

[Pagan]

But I have had pushy phone solicitors. With them, if they don't take no for an answer, the third time gets them a "look, I don't know how I'm going to be paying my rent, I sure as hell don't have the money for you." and a hang up.

I don't have a problem with that anymore. I let my machine pick-up. If it's someone I know, they go ahead and start to leave a message, knowing that if I'm there, I'll pick-up. Otherwise....

Before I started doing that, they still didn't have a chance to get pushy. When they started into their spiel, I said a quick, firm, polite, "No thank you, I'm not interested." and hung up.

[Seshat]

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.

I did one of those for my home: not the last place I lived, but the place before. Mine specifically included religious proselytising, too. Had a few tradesmen or deliveries we'd actually requested look at the sign and ask if they should leave! But it did cut down on (not eliminate) unwanted door-to-doors.

[SugarBeef]

I was a Kirby slave for almost a month, and the magazine people tried to recruit me too shortly after. Be careful which job ad you respond to, you might end up at one of these places by the way. It's a full time deal, they're not going to school. They're told to say that to get sympathy. They're also told to ask for a hot/cold drink (depending on the season) for the same reason, even though their boss has a supply of water in a cooler or a few thermoses of hot coffee or cocoa in the van. They won't learn that people are jerks though, once they've been doing it for a few days they've seen a lot of rejection and start to take it personally (or the smart ones already know it's the job people hate and not them), their boss gives them the speech about how people just hate the job "but you're just trying to make an honest living, so don't let it get to you" so they'll be able to smile and try to rip off the next person to answer the door.

Pretty much treat them as you wish, they're not doing honest work anyway and won't take it personally. You can get them in big trouble if they're rude to you, get their sales office number and their name and report them (include a description since they may give you a fake name to avoid trouble at the office). If they refuse to give you that information, tell them you'll call the police and the cops can get that information off their solicitor's license. "You DO have a license, don't you?"

You'll probably see vapor trails when they realize they can get arrested and/or fined and decide to take off rather than bug you more.

[Kyree]

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.

I want that sign

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!!"

If your store is anywhere near me, I'll do it! Those types tick me off so much, but I try to bite my tongue because I know a lot of places tell you if you don't sell x amount of cards or something, you lose your job. Friend of mine lost his job at Gamestop because he couldn't get enough people to reserve games >.>

[KellyHabersham]

Supposedly Macy's now has a similiar policy with getting new credit applications - new hires have to get a certain amount of credits within a three month period, otherwise they're out of a job.

[Andara Bledin]

I was a Kirby slave for almost a month, and the magazine people tried to recruit me too shortly after. Be careful which job ad you respond to, you might end up at one of these places by the way. It's a full time deal, they're not going to school. They're told to say that to get sympathy.

I don't now what "Kirby" is, but I actually did sell magazine subscriptions for my high school band. Sometimes, people selling odd things are really who they say they are.

Heck, one year we sold custom frozen pizzas. I sold the most, but still thought it was a lame fund raiser.

^-.-^

[Ironclad Alibi]

I don't now what "Kirby" is, but I actually did sell magazine subscriptions for my high school band. Sometimes, people selling odd things are really who they say they are.

Heck, one year we sold custom frozen pizzas. I sold the most, but still thought it was a lame fund raiser.

^-.-^

Kirby is a vacuum cleaner that is sold by door-to-door salesmen. That's how I bought mine. Sales tactics aside, it's a good product.

[marasbaras]

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!"

I'm VERY tempted to reply with the following the next time a female cashier does that to me:

Me: If I sign up, do I get to have sex with you?

I mean, if you're going to annoy me with the questions, why can't I annoy and creep you out back?

Honestly, I wish we could just grind the managers up into sausage who believe that pushing these things so heavily at the register is such a good idea.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Honestly, I wish we could just grind the managers up into sausage who believe that pushing these things so heavily at the register is such a good idea.

You mean corporate types, right? Because that's where all these things come from.

[draftermatt]

Normally I get the "Would this be on your ----- charge" then "would you like to sign up" Now there are times when they'll tell me what I get if I sign up right then and there, but I've never been pushed at the register. Had a woman stop me walking in "You, come over here right now and sign up for this"

"Ma'am I'm only 17"

If that ever happened again, or they keep asking I'm going to ask for a manager to complain to.

[protege]

I'm surprised nobody's used the Joey Tribbiani approach...

"I'm at home in the middle of the day, and have patio furniture indoors. What makes you think I can afford a set of encyclopedias?"

But, where I live, we don't get many door-to-door people...mainly because too many people will either call the cops on them, or not come to the door. One of my neighbors, an older lady, is like that. She'd had a few kids from the housing project over the hill try to talk their way into her house to "get warm." Keep in mind that we lived several blocks from the project, and also from the shopping center. If they were coming from the shopping center, uh, wouldn't it make sense to *go home* if they were cold? Even though those kids were later arrested (trying to force their way into *another* house), she still doesn't trust people at the door.

[bigjimaz]

I'm one of the lucky ones. The town in which I reside has an ordinance forbidding door-to-door canvassing unless they have a permit issued by the borough. All solicitors must wear a badge that the borough hands out. No badge and the cops get called, usually at one of the first residences they visit. The fine is $250.00 so the bottom line for me is that in the 5½ years I have lived here, I have never seen a solicitor.

The bad thing is that the abundance of entitlement whores we have more than make up for it.