O Rly?

[EvilEmpryss]

Plaidman: I hear you. When I was a kid, my parents were the working poor. Because they had jobs, they didn't qualify for assistance, regardless of the fact that they made less with their jobs than they would have gotten from public assitance. When I asked why we couldn't get food stamps like the kids next door had (yeah, the kids had candy, and I didn't, and I wanted to know why not), my father told me that the difference between us and them was that they were poor, but we were broke. Poor is a state of mind, a lasting condition. Broke is only temporary economic hardship.

A few years later my father finished his nursing degree and steak was on the menu at our house once a week.

Busbus, soliciting generally refers to sales pitches, not charities. It's a minor caveat, but one that is brutally claimed by said charitable institutions or they wouldn't be able to set up their collections anywhere.

The sickening thing is that a new style of scam has started around here in NC: a group of three-five people will dress up in nice suits and dresses, slap some labels on some big old mayo tubs, and then set up at a major intersection, working the cars that have to stop for the light for a donation to a non-existant (but familiar-sounding) charity. It is amazing how many people I see putting cash in these guys tubs! If you want to donate to a good cause, make sure your money is getting where you think it's going, not in some random scammer's pocket!

[Morningchaser]

Something about this thread is bugging me... not sure what exactly...
Vague replies to the thoughts that drifted through my head as I read it:
"I really don't like coffee, and, unless it's: 1) Shade-grown, and 2) unground... the only person in my family who DOES drink coffee won't drink it. I couldn't give it away in that case."
"I'm living very frugally (for my usual standards) right now. I did NOT plan on donating anything. I might not have the money on me. I might have plans for that money."
"... I could translate that 'I donated yesterday' for you into a flat out 'NO!'... would you prefer that? As they say, 'No means No'!"

*shrugs* Sorry... I guess what's bothering me about the thread is: It's okay to push harder if it's a charitable cause... whereas most of us seem to feel it's not okay to press so hard if it's, say, a store rewards card? Double-standard much?

In response to these:

We weren't donating money, we were donating the coffee itself. For some reason alot of people get confused about what we mean by "donate coffee" when we do drives like this. The way that it works is people buy the pound of coffee, they don't actually get it, instead we send the pound of coffee itself to the troops. We will let you write a message on it if you so choose, but you're not actually taking the coffee home with you. It's like buying a toy and then sending that toy into needy children.

Like I said, I totally understand money issues. I have $4 in the bank right now, and if I were rich enough to get coffee where I work yet still didn't have the money to buy a pound, I wouldn't. It was the matter of people lying instead of simply declining politely. Sure, there's saving face, but lying is still lying and you could just as easily save face with, "Maybe next time." We had a woman who "Maybe next time'd" us the entire time, and it didn't bother us at all.

And "No thank you", "Maybe next time", "Not this time, thanks" or any other polite response is preferrable, really. Honestly, that's my biggest complaint about the drive-thru and this job in general is 90% of the people treating me like I'm an annoyance or sub-human. I ask 1 time at the beggining of the order if they'd like to donate, or if they'd like to buy a specific drink, and then I drop it. That's the way we all get trained, ask once at the beggining and maybe, maybe ask if they want food or something at the tail end in the same way that you'd say "will that be all?" (i.e: And would you like some pumpkin bread or anything else? No. Okay, that will be $X.XX at the window"). But it's like no matter how few times I say it I still get treated like I've been pestering this person for hours. 50 people per half hour for 3 years, and yeah, it drains on you a little. That's why I explicitly make sure to do it just the one time at the beggining and get yelled at by my managers and shifts for not trying to sell anything, because I can talk back to them (3 years seniority will let you get away with a bit), but if a customer yells at me for being an "aggressive salesman" and I say anything back, then I'm the jerk both ways and get in trouble.

[Automan Empire]

Charitable giving is a very personal matter. One man's worthy cause is another's aggressive panhandling. When companies ask, it needs to be done with special care to avoid offending customers. 'Nuff said.

Being an employee who is required to solicit customers for charity? Now, that is a sucky position to be in.

[Imogene]

I ask 1 time at the beggining of the order if they'd like to donate, or if they'd like to buy a specific drink, and then I drop it.

...

Me: *internal snap, but make sure to keep voice happy and upbeat* Huh..that's odd, we just started it today....Oh well, what can we get for you?

SC: *awkward silence followed by a sheepish order*

So, you ask once... but you still have to prove he's lying?
Devil's Advocate/staunch overthinker, but, that might just feel like you're trying to force them to admit they lied, and hope that the guilt there makes them want to donate after all.
Again, no matter my reason, I say 'No', drop it.

I should point out, I'm speaking from experience on this. I was in your position one time, and, having caught the customer in a lie, pointed it out, and he went berserk! "Feel better, now that you're right?"
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound pissed off about the whole situation...