Don't recruit here!

[blas]

I had a really big problem with Army recruiters at the gas station.

The Armory was only a few miles away, and recruiters would take their government vehicles around and gas them up at my station. They would use my gas station as a recruiting place to find newbies, whether it be harrassing me on an almost daily basis to join, and every other employee (except my manager, how odd!).

The same man asked me no less than 15 times to join the Army. The first, oh, 10 times, I just laughed in his face. Sorry, I have no respect for people who cannot take "no" for an answer. After that, I would flat out say "NO" harshly, and repeat that I had already said no many, many times. He also asked everyone else who worked at the gas station and any young men that would come in to buy stuff.

The recruiters would always buy stuff so that they had a purpose for being there, then proceed to stick around *loitering, cough cough* and try to give me brochures and spiels about the benefits of joining the Army. I lost my patience a few times.

Many a confused customer would ask me why recruiters were trying to use the store as a place to recruit. All I could do was roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders.

When I finally got to talk to my manager, she was angry that they'd been using her store as a recruiting area. She promised the next time she saw them, she'd make sure to let them know that this was a place of BUSINESS, and that they have certain places that they are allowed to recruit (aka, SCHOOLS), and that this place would NO longer be their recruiting area. She said she'd tell them to stop bothering her employees and customers to join the Army when they'd been told no many times.

They listened for a while...at least until I left. I'm not sure if they kept their promise. I'd hate to see someone anger my ex manager. She could literally kill someone if they pissed her off enough.

[Gurndigarn]

\The Armory was only a few miles away, and recruiters would take their government vehicles around and gas them up at my station. They would use my gas station as a recruiting place to find newbies, whether it be harrassing me on an almost daily basis to join, and every other employee (except my manager, how odd!).

Managers, ya see, have the authority to kick them out, the incentive to kick them out (sales), and financial incentives (usually) to not join the military.

Yeah, I had to ban recruiters from coming into an arcade. Got the head of the local recruitment division calling me up and hinting that it would look bad if the media got hold of news that we banned them. All I could say was "go ahead." They would look more foolish than we would.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Is that even legal? Meaning, does the Army allow them to recruit like that? They must have rules on proper conduct of their representatives. Harassing people at gas stations doesn't exactly do much for their image.

And military or not, it's still soliciting, which most places have rules against. They are on private property, after all.

[ditchdj]

Oh come on Blassie. You KNOOOOOOWWWW you wanna join so that you can help the poor recruiter reach his quota so that he can keep that nice, cushy job and won't be transferred to some shit job out in the field like digging ditches in a fox hole!

BTW My late brother was a Sargeant in the Army and he told me that's what happens to them when they dont deliver.

[blas]

Not sure if it's illegal or not. They could be exempt from no soliciting laws, because they are military men/women.....

All I know is that they get annoying. Go bother some high school kids, do whatever, just leave me alone. It's not like I was going to change my mind.

[ForestDragon]

Some places no longer allow the military to recruit from the schools (they don't get to set up tables in the hallway or whatever); others have some weird Byzantine thing going on under which the kid has to make sure to let the school know that he's opting out of being hassled by recruiters, otherwise they start mailbombing the kid, phoning him at home and all that crap.

Geez, guys, think. We're in a shootin' war here and most teenagers aren't that dumb. They know that if they sign their lives away for a hitch in the Army, they're most likely going to end up in a place with a lot of sun, sand and extremely hostile natives.



Edit: Correction - the schools were trying to keep the recruiters out but apparently they will not get certain moneys if they don't allow them access. As cash-strapped as my local schools constantly are, that's a major concern. [Mr. Rogers] Can you say "coersion," boys and girls? I knew you could. [/Mr. Rogers] So that's how the "opting out" thing fits in.




(wha' happened to the shooty smilies?)

[Geek King]

Edit: Correction - the schools were trying to keep the recruiters out but apparently they will not get certain moneys if they don't allow them access. As cash-strapped as my local schools constantly are, that's a major concern. [Mr. Rogers] Can you say "coersion," boys and girls? I knew you could. [/Mr. Rogers] So that's how the "opting out" thing fits in.
)

Hey, you take the government money, you deal with the rules that come with it. A fair number of private schools do just fine without it. I have no sympathy for school admins who gladly take their money per warm body in the school, then complain about what the government requires. I never bothered with opt-out rules during the years they attempted to recruit me. A polite no usually did the job, and hanging up the phone took care of the rest. And yes, they did call alot, I aced those ASFAB tests you have to take. I qualified for literaly any training route in the military, so I had all three services calling me every week.

There are certain rules recruiters are supposed to follow. If you feel they are going too far, contact their superior officer. Something will (usually, SCs are everywhere) be done.

[Getoutofmylobby]

In high school I took a test called the ASVAB. (Armed Services.... VAB...)

Anyways, my school never told us what it was about, it was just passed out at study hall and the study hall teacher told us that we are not required to take it. But since i never did any "studying" in study hall i took it, thinking if i got a good score it would help my chances for college.

I must have scored super army star status because recruiters from all the branches bothered me for months.

Stupid army.

[ditchdj]

A little-known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to hand over all the contact information to military recruiters unless the parents write a letter to the school requesting that not happen.

[draftermatt]

Recruiters = harrassers. A friend of mine would get daily phone calls from a Marine Corps recuriter. Signed him up for an appointment (that he didn't want) and then got pissed when my friend didn't show.

In the past year they have started calling me ON MY CELL PHONE asking me about school and work. They hang up quick when I mention good job and all that.

Next time I'm going to mention that I'm married, own a home, overweight, etc.

[ditchdj]

An interesting take on recruiters....

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joini.../recruiter.htm

[MadMike]

I had to deal with a really pushy recruiter calling me at home over and over again toward the end of my senior year in high school, but never heard of them ambushing people at places of business before. I guess they've gotten even pushier in the last 20 years.

To be clear, I have the greatest deal of respect for people who give their time to defend our country. But I have none for people who won't take "no" for an answer.

[hawkchick11]

Yeah, I had to ban recruiters from coming into an arcade. Got the head of the local recruitment division calling me up and hinting that it would look bad if the media got hold of news that we banned them. All I could say was "go ahead." They would look more foolish than we would.

A guy I know had this happen to him. He is a manager at Walmart. They would have recruiters come in all the time, and try and recruit employees. Since they have a no soliciting policy, he asked them to leave. A few days later, an article appeared in the newspaper about the recruiter getting kicked out of Walmart because he was in the Army. No mention that he had been in there recruiting against the policy. A few more articles came out, and the story changed every time. He was kicked out while buying toys for underpriveledged children, was a guy just returning home from Iraq and needed to buy essentals, etc.

Last I knew, he didn't get to respond to the accusations, corporate told him not to.

[XXDarrienX]

I discovered this when I was pressured by my parents and military recruiters...I am one of the few people that have asthma, last time the Army harassed me I plainly stated I had asthma and that was the end of it...same with the airforce...my parents forced me to go to MEPs for the airforce but since I had no intention on spending my life in the military I just merely stated to the Doctors at the facility that I have asthma and that was the end of it.

[blas]

That's the difference between Wal-Mart and little stores like the gas station I worked at.

My manager knew that the owner of store probably wanted to get rid of the soliciting recruiters as bad as me, her, and all the other employees and customers did. The owner of the gas station was the nicest man in the world, but he did not tolerate people coming in and harassing his employees and customers.

Plus, people deserve to have a nice place to do business where they will not be hassled with, "Have you given any thought to your future with the Army?" every single day.

That recruiter could have written all the letters he wanted to to the local newspaper or to the owner. The owner would have replied "Good riddance, now go recruit where you're supposed to."

I do recall one of the last days that the recruiter was able to harass us, I was chit chatting with a regular customer, and I'd been given the daily "Have you changed your mind about the Army yet?" spiel, and when I rolled my eyes and shook my head and the recruiter left, I nudged the customer and laughed and said, "Hear that Phyllis.......they want ME....hahahaha....they must be getting pretty desperate!", and Phyllis rolled her eyes and laughed along with me.