Charity worker told my mother to "get f*****"...

[Special Patrol Group]

In Australia a lot of charities have started paying people to convince people to sign up for monthly donations direct debited out of their accounts. Some are nice and don't push it if you FIRMLY say no, but others are just plain jerks.

I was caught by a nice, but horribly persistent one the other day and ending up signing up, even though I don't want to give out my credit card number to someone on the street, and was about to sign up through workplace giving instead (direct debited by my employer out of my pay - has the advantage of immediately lowering the tax I pay and I don't have to pay any transaction fees). I tried to explain that yes I did think his charity was a good cause and did want to sign up, just not with him on the street. I eventually caved because I just wanted to go to lunch and was actually going to sign up anyway. That was really annoying, but I COULD have said no and he wasn't being rude or anything, his persistence just was really irritating.

My mother on the other hand keeps getting harassed by some total jerks in the shopping centre she frequents. It happens every day after work when she goes in; she's tired, hungry and often upset because of her sucky job. She already has signed up for monthly donations to 3 different charities and gives about $1000 AUD every year, which is incredible seeing as she only earns about $30,000 AUD.

Anyway, she's had two really bad experiences with them in the last month. 1st, one day when she went to the shopping centre after work, she was approached by a guy and she just faintly smiled, and shook her head at him to indicate she wasn't interested (they are really hard to stop once you let them start their spiel!). As she passed him he did the sarcastic "I fine, thanks for asking. How are you today?" Which was totally rude and uncalled for. I mean sure she was trying to ignore him, but she's just trying to freakin get home! She has no obligation to say hello to every random charity employee on the street, and besides that, they KNOW that once they have you for a second, they just won't let you go. If you don't want to sign up you have no choice but to say "no" firmly and as soon as possible!

2nd time the same thing happened except this time the guy told her to "get f*****"

Employees like that give charities a bad name.

I really hate this new tactic of hiring people to get people to join. It sucks because they aren't just nice volunteers, they are people doing it for money, who are very willing to try and guilt you into some you can't afford/aren't interested in.

I want to be polite to them because they are just doing a job, but I'm so tired of trying to explain to them, when they just don't seem to care or listen to you.

This topic is probably controversial and I do respect charities, their good volunteers and employees and the important work they go in the community. I just hate this new method, and I think they really need better quality control on their employees before they cheese off people so much they won't give anymore.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've had that problem... cept if a charity person won't take no for an answer, I then have no qualms about telling them to bugger off. I guess that's rude, but I go to town for a reason; ie to shop, and not to spend ages talking to people soliciting for charity. Look, I give money to charities, however I don't want to have charities on my card. I'll drop some spare change into a collecting box, but I refuse to put anything on my debit. What I try before getting rude, is telling them "Sorry I already have a charity on my card". If that doesn't work, then I get rude.

[Barefootgirl]

2nd time the same thing happened except this time the guy told her to "get f*****" .

If that ever happens again, find out which charity they are soliciting for, and write to their head office and complain. Also, write to the manager of the shopping centre (assuming its in a shopping centre, rather than out on the street) and complain. No way is that acceptable.

[Linda]

I hate the guys that stop you in the street, mainly because the people who stop you don't work for that particular charity but rather work for an agency who represent several unrelated charities. I see the same guys day in day out in town, and each day they have a different bib on for a different charity so I really don't buy their commitment to a particular charity. And they get very aggressive when you say no to them.

I give to The Salvation Army, Diabetes UK and Dogs Trust already. Not stopping in the street to commit to a regular donation to a random stranger who is yelling at me does not make me a bad person.

[scruff]

So far I've found saying "Sorry, I'm late for work" and not stopping works.

[protege]

Ugh. That sucks. My grandmother no longer gives to any charities. Why? Well, for years, she gave out a bit of cash to a few. Now, many similarly-named charities are constantly bugging her for cash. Keep in mind that these same charities usually send out a *huge* amount of address labels (not cheap!) multiple times per year, and then whine about how they're not meeting their budgets. That's not the main reason though--the last time she gave to one, they got pissy because she refused to give more. She got upset, and I took the phone from her. I went *apeshit* on the person, and hung up. I don't take kindly to those who give her a hard time

[blas]

Now I feel bad. Every time I go to the mall and someone with a clipboard comes up to me and asks for a moment of my time, I either bark at them or tell them to "get bent". Maybe I need an attitude adjustment.

The whole charity workers cussing doesn't surprise me though. I'm not sure if it was here or another site where I told the story about the young teenagers working the Salvation Army bucket and bell ringers outside of a Wal-Mart last Christmas, and they were chanting and begging people for money, and if they didn't give any, it was "Fuck you!" and "Greedy fuck!" and the like. I didn't stick around, but I'm sure they were fired/kicked out pretty quickly.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

If she is being constantly harrassed inside a place she frequents, she needs to complain to the manager.

[kzc]

(they are really hard to stop once you let them start their spiel!).

they KNOW that once they have you for a second, they just won't let you go. If you don't want to sign up you have no choice but to say "no" firmly and as soon as possible!

I don't understand this at all. What's hard about walking away from someone who's getting too persistent? Surely you don't feel any kind of obligation to be polite to someone who ignores you when you say "no", do you?

My policy on people soliciting me for donations in public places is very simple: the first time you get a polite "no thanks". If you are rude enough to ignore that, you've abdicated the right to any politeness from me; I'll simply walk away, with an optional salty valediction over my shoulder. No means no, motherhumper.

If you reward something, you just get more of it.

[Barefootgirl]

The charity solicitors aren't employed by the charities (or aren't volunteers for them) but are normally employed by a third-party specialist firm. I stand by my suggestion to find out which charity they are soliciting for and then complain to that charity - believe me, the charity does NOT want its name to be associated with people who behave like that.

[CrazedClerk]

I have a simple answer to these people: "I only give to three charities and yours isn't one of them. sorry."

[RecoveringKinkoid]

KZC is dead, 100 percent right.

People like this know they can do what they do because 90% of everyone else is too polite to call them on it. They know that most of us are uncomfortable being rude. It's why pushy salesmen and pandhandlers know they can ignore your polite "no." It's why people are victimized by unwanted romantic or sexual interest. It's why jerks talk on cell phones in movie theaters.

It's not that rudeness is rampant. It's that most people dont' know where they can and should STOP being polite!

[MystyGlyttyr]

I've never had this problem before, heh. Usually by the time I'm in a store, I'm doing my best impression of River Tam and even the pushiest charity workers veer clear of me.

Once, I growled at Boy Scouts, although in my defense, the adults were telling the kids to "swarm" people...I overheard them say it and watched them do it...the adults would say something, and then all five of the kids would stampede over and form a circle around a person and start chattering until the person coughed up some money. So when I started to go in and the little suckers came at me, I bared my teeth and gave them a snarl that a rottweiler would be proud of. They ran screaming and their parents didn't even bother to yell at me like they normally do.

Must try this again someday with some Alka-Seltzer in my mouth. THAT should run them clear off.

Yeah, I am that mean, but I'll at least wait till they attack me again before I do it.

[DesignFox]

That's awesome Mysty! I hate when people are rude. I hate it even more when parents encourage their children to be rude.

[Pagan]

I had one once that wasn't so much sucky as funny. I was walking through one of the malls and there were some University of New Mexcio students doing some fund-raising for the Lobos. Well, this one guy (tries) to stop me and keeps hammering, "Don't you want to support your UNM Lobos?" I finally stopped looked at him, looked down at the t-shirt I was wearing, looked back up at him and said, "Do you really think I would want to?" I was wearing a New Mexico State University shirt. (It's an in-state blood rivalry, we hate each other!) The look on his face was hilarious, "No....I guess you wouldn't."