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Hawkers. Charities. Sales People. The Feel in your country.

CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
As many of you know, my fiancee and I (@JessicaKrystal) live in Australia. In our country you can get a permit from the council/management to set up a stand or just walk about trying to sell stuff to passers by. In our area, this has been increasing exponentially lately.

Walking to our local shopping centre yesterday we passed people collecting for Heart Cancer, 20 feet further down the road, Oxfam blocking the top of an escalator. Some other charity group blocking the bridge another 50 feet further down the road.
In the centre itself there is a baby photo group by the door, a college trying to recruit, a group of people selling soap and another group of cancer people and a car raffle.

ALL of these people will try to stand IN FRONT of you and engage in some meaningless conversation to stop you from going anywhere. Normally I'm a patient man and have NO problem donating. However, I've been getting REALLY annoyed by this lately.

Especially since they no longer offer a simple donation, like here's a 20 dollar note, I'll be on my way. It's all about packages and 6 month contracts and credit cards. If they didn't WASTE so much money making glossy hi resolution photo packs and employing millions of people to harass customers maybe they'd get SOME money through to the starving children?

Anyway! That's the end of my rant! How do you deal with them? How does your country take them? What are your laws? :)

Cheers ladies and gents!
JuliusBorisovCorvinoDemonoid_Limewire

Comments

  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    Thanks for your always insightful rants, Calo. I too am australian, and yeah, i find it's getting a bit old...i work at a railway station, and thus the entryway is crowded with a minimum of 6 different charity/fundraising/political/protest/rally groups every single day all handing out flyers and cornering people. I actually did find your point about no longer taking cash donations too, as having actually heard one guy out as he was at least polite, entertaining, knowledgeable about what he was working for and entertaining, i offered him a cash donation which he had to refuse as they legally couldn't accept it. Highly annoying and kind of pointless i thought, especially around our area which is far more likely to have people willing to spare some change or notes rather than be able to afford to commit to a long term deduction from their bank accounts!
    CaloNord
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    edited July 2014
    @rufus_hobart‌ oh my rants are becoming more frequent, I think I'm getting cynical in my old age. :P

    Trains stations suffer from this plague now to do they?! God damn!

    We got to about 11 different groups in less then say 600 meters. What's worse is when you go back, they do it AGAIN. >:/ I have no problems with charity and I would happily give them my spare change but I don't like having someone stand between me and what I set out to do. . . I find this highly irritating.

    Exactly right, I don't want to fill out paperwork and have them take money from my bank on their own accord. Enough people have there fingers firmly entrenched in my bank account as it is. I'd love to know exactly how much money people donate goes out on "Administration Expenses" these days.

    I'm not sure if this is even legal in other countries, it borders on harassment. Especially when they block public access so you can't get passed them in a hurry because there's a crowd of people trying to get passed.

    /Rant continues/
    Post edited by CaloNord on
    Demonoid_Limewire
  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    @CaloNord ha! exactly, we actually at one stage found the congestion getting so bad that we brought it up to the local MP as a potential safety hazard as they were in effect blocking the designated emergency areas in case of a required evacuation...of course, we now have a looming state election coming up so the politicians aides have simply joined the massing throng....
    CaloNord
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    Oh god. We all know how I feel about politics. Get off the street and get some real issues. Don't just spout crap you have no intention of following through on! But I'll save that rant for the political thread! ;)

    Seriously though, what is with the recent boom in this sort of thing? Did I miss a law change somewhere?
    CorvinoDemonoid_Limewire
  • dementeddemented Member Posts: 388
    I find it easy enough to deal with such people. I just give them a firm "Sorry, but no" and then they leave me alone.

    It's an annoyance, but only a minor one.
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    Australian ones can be . . . persistent. They aren't afraid to try corner you, stand infront of you, block the way or tag along with you for a little bit. I've thought about threatening to break ones legs. . .
    Demonoid_Limewire
  • dementeddemented Member Posts: 388
    edited July 2014
    CaloNord said:

    Australian ones can be . . . persistent. They aren't afraid to try corner you, stand infront of you, block the way or tag along with you for a little bit. I've thought about threatening to break ones legs. . .

    You need to master the "bother me further and I will end you" stare. While they prattle on, you keep your eyes locked to them and eventually they get nervous and then leave.

    Also works wonders at parties. There's always one or two people who mistake a reserved nature for loneliness.


    meaglothlolien
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    edited July 2014
    That's what we had been thinking. It sounds very odd. Used to be you could just donate, it was good. Now they need email addressed bank accounts names dates of birth and I'm like. . . No. The children in Africa don't need my DOB and address.

    In fact so many places now want SO many details. Email addresses dates of birth real names. I really dislike this.

    I'm amazed they haven't asked for a pee sample and photos to prove I exist.
    JuliusBorisovDemonoid_Limewire
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Sometimes these charities hire out to outside firms to do their collecting (firms who specialize I suppose in training people on collecting money, what methods work, that kind of thing). At least in Canada anyways. So the people who are doing this (especially if its a larger charity) could very well not be employees of these charities.
    CaloNordJuliusBorisovCorvinoDemonoid_Limewire
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    That also annoys me. What a waste of perfectly good money. Leave me a bin with a big sign on it into which I can throw my spare change. No fuss, no muss! :P This way I don't need to tell them that if they step in front of the pram again my fiancee will RUN YOUR ASS DOWN. Then I will take your wallet and donate the contents. That is all.

    So it's common in Canada to?
    JuliusBorisovDemonoid_Limewire
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited July 2014
    Only on downtown street corners (at least in downtown Toronto anyways). Even then they tend to be more "would you sign our petition" things, though there certainly are some looking to get donations. As far as I know they also don't require a permit to do this.
    CaloNordJuliusBorisovDemonoid_Limewire
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    jackjack said:

    After all, the tourists love that stuff.

    HIIIII-YA!
    jackjackDemonoid_LimewireCrevsDaakmeagloth
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    jackjack said:


    This… would not go over well in New York.

    No. . . Would that not result in being shot? Or stabbed? :P

    To me, New York sounds like a very unpleasant place to live to me. :P That said, it's a small price to pay to not have to be cornered outside Dick Smiths and guilted into donating money for 6 months so the Pandas have some bamboo to eat by a fat man who won't let you get a word in edge ways.

    Ahaha! If Yoshimo and Haer'dalis had a child. . . it would be @jackjack‌ :):)

    I kind of imagine @bengoshi‌ as Yoshimo meets Keldorn with a spice of Jan. . .

    What's mother Russia's take on hawkers? Can you Step right up? Or would that just land you in jail?
    Also on a side note. . .
    If you have short days and long nights then you must be up at fairly high latitudes. . . ? Would that not affect people being out an about a lot?
    Demonoid_Limewire
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    edited July 2014
    I've actually met a few people employed as "Chuggers" (Charity Muggers), they're often students or recent graduates and it's the best paid work available during Summer holidays. I guess they've got to pay well to get them to swallow their dignity like that. It's a pretty big thing in the UK as well.

    There is definitely a foolproof method to get them to leave you alone, pioneered by a friend of mine. A group of us went on holiday to a major European city toward the end of our University course. We were out until about 3am every night, and walking home through a tourist district got constantly approached by Drug Dealers, Prostitutes, Pickpockets, Muggers, just about anyone who might try and get money from drunk people. One of my mates is small, very loud, and utterly without a sense of shame. When they started walking toward him he kept walking, made fixed eye contact, held out his right hand (palm toward them in a "Stop" gesture), and said "NO!" very loudly.

    This method will make you look completely crazy but I guarantee no-one will bother you for anything.

    *Edit* Also, @CaloNord someone collecting for a Heart Cancer charity? Seriously? That is vanishingly rare, and most of them are benign anyway. I worked in cardiology for six months at a major hospital and didn't see one.
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    @CaloNord‌
    Well, it depends on who they bother, of course, but typically it would not result in violence. The solicitor would absolutely get yelled at in the most confrontational way possible, if the problem persisted to the point you described, and failing that, the surrounding pedestrians would gang up on them. But again, actual physical violence is almost impossibly rare, in that situation.
    Most commonly, we simply ignore it.
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    @Corvino‌ HAHA! No! Bad charity people! Back! Down! Sit. Sit. :) Never thought of that myself! ;) I'm not without shame but @JessicaKrystal‌ is. . .
    I know right? They collect for all manner of crap these days. But I suspect you guys are right, they are just after mailing information.

    @jackjack‌ so it's not as bad as people say? I hear NY can be a mean place to live.
    Corvinojackjack
  • JessicaKrystalJessicaKrystal Member Posts: 29
    Yesterday there were 5 people in red jackets with clipboards standing in the middle of our city square (it's only about 200m squared with shops around the outside so it's a pretty small area and there's few people.) when we got close to them, they spread out like a net. Every time we changed course and aimed for a gap, they closed it.
    Eventually we made a break for it, and literally RAN for a break in their hippie-hawker wall thing, the next thing we knew, three of them fell behind us and the two on either side started walking ahead diagonally.
    We were RUNNING, and they seriously pulled off a freaking pincer maneuver trying to catch us.

    I have taken to walking the streets shouting "I'M UNDERAGE. I CAN'T DONATE. LEAVE ME ALONE."
    CaloNordCorvinoTJ_Hookerjackjack
  • JessicaKrystalJessicaKrystal Member Posts: 29
    image

    My mildly worded review of the local shopping centre. I'm quite proud of this one.
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    I think now you may understand why everybody in the u.s. Carries round huge guns for no reason. Sure, you may not ever get to show off your 200 rounds/minute, but you don't ever have this problem:)
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    I had considered just replying calmly with, 'if you stop me EVER again, I WILL cripple you.'...
    TJ_Hooker
  • JessicaKrystalJessicaKrystal Member Posts: 29
    I'm armed an alarmingly high percentage of the time, there's that annoying 'escalation of force' thing, however. I might try to sell them things right back?
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    edited July 2014
    So hypothetically -

    Charity a-hole: "Have you heard about...."
    JessicaKrystal: "Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"

    This could work. No-one likes talking to Jehova's Witnesses. They're too polite. You might need to start wearing suits and travelling in pairs at all times. (Nothing against Jehova's Witnesses, mind. They seem harmless enough.)

    *Edit* I fail at typing.
    TJ_HookerjackjackJessicaKrystalCaloNord
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    Tell them you will donate some money if they first sit down on the ground and stick their big toe in their mouth. As they sit and remove their shoe, quickly leave and shout "I lied".
    jackjackJessicaKrystalCaloNordCorvino
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    @Mathsorcerer‌ OOooo I like that one!! :P I'll sign up for 15 years. If. You remove your trousers and run around the shopping center while I fill out the forms. . .
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    Corvino said:

    So hypothetically -
    This could work. No-one likes talking to Jehova's Witnesses. They're too polite. You might need to start wearing suits and travelling in pairs at all times. (Nothing against Jehova's Witnesses, mind. They seem harmless enough.)

    Oh my my I could tell a story about Joho's. . .
    Corvinojackjack
  • TheGraveDiggerTheGraveDigger Member Posts: 336
    I'm in the UK, and I've had people pester me for money alot. One guy wanted to sell me a wrapped book... he kept pestering JUST me, even though there were hundreds of other chumps around. He followed me and even waited outside the shop I'd just entered. I eventually *bought* it, and it was the "Book of Psalms"... I didn't get chance to read it because someone I knew stole it to use as tobacco paper.

    Many times I get asked for money from regular looking people, and they always use the same irritating lines... One guy said I could punch him as hard as I wanted if I payed him £10... in the middle of a crowded market.

    When I was younger and lived in Leeds I got mugged alot, which is what most these beggars would do if they had a spine.

    Also get the door knockers... always about religion or "raffle tickets."
    CaloNordjackjack
  • CaloNordCaloNord Member Posts: 1,809
    Seems to be much worse in the U.K. We've had people at a phone booth ask for change because his car broke down and the occasional got a smoke. Other then that it's entirely 'officials'.

    Years ago when I was in Perth some 13 year old emo kid attempted to threaten money out of me. It was really really hard not to laugh at him. England got a bit more of a serious problem?

    Oh yea. We get tons of those. Joho's and raffle tickets are really popular. Also had RSPCA among others.
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