homepage
  roll on christmas  
click here to find out more about ship of fools click here to sign up for the ship of fools newsletter click here to support ship of fools
community the mystery worshipper gadgets for god caption competition foolishness features ship stuff
discussion boards live chat cafe avatars frequently-asked questions the ten commandments gallery private boards register for the boards
 
Ship of Fools


Post new thread  Post a reply
My profile login | | Directory | Search | FAQs | Board home
   - Printer-friendly view Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
» Ship of Fools   »   » Oblivion   » Everybody Wants My Money (Hell Edition)

 - Email this page to a friend or enemy.    
Source: (consider it) Thread: Everybody Wants My Money (Hell Edition)
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I love Christmas time for the most. But I do hate the extra appeals for charity. I rarely discuss my charitable giving and will not here beyond saying I do give and I do so throughout the year.
I hate guilt being associated with this time of year, I hate that it is apparently necessary and I hate that it is deemed sufficient.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
Anglo Catholic Relict
Shipmate
# 17213

 - Posted      Profile for Anglo Catholic Relict   Author's homepage   Email Anglo Catholic Relict   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:

I hate guilt being associated with this time of year, I hate that it is apparently necessary and I hate that it is deemed sufficient.

Can I add a shade of dislike for the way hundreds of very rich actors, comedians and singers come on our screens for Children in Need, 'donate their time' and tell us over and over and over again to give our money to them.

The BBC then smugly congratulates itself on how much it has raised for those no doubt very deserving children. It is all far too smug and self satisfied.

I do not like people with a thousand times as much money as I have, thinking they have the right to harangue me over and over to donate to charity. Or is it only me?

(I watched about one minute of this humbug, then switched over.)

Posts: 585 | Registered: Jul 2012  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I dislike, not the famous faces, but that they are necessary to loosen purse strings.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
Lyda*Rose

Ship's broken porthole
# 4544

 - Posted      Profile for Lyda*Rose   Email Lyda*Rose   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Ditto.

--------------------
"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano

Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
If, instead of all the poncing around, the Great and the Good simply coughed up their earnings for Friday, wouldn't more money be raised?

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Personally, I don't like telethons either and never watch them. There's just something about lots of celebs getting together for an intense focus on one charity, then the next day we've all moved on and the other 364 days of the year nobody seems to be really bothered.

I think it was for Comic Relief in its first year where I was stopped on the street and asked to sponsor someone lying in a bath of cold baked beans, to raise money for the starving in Ethiopia. Honestly.

Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
churchgeek

Have candles, will pray
# 5557

 - Posted      Profile for churchgeek   Author's homepage   Email churchgeek   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I hate that when you do give, you receive a lifetime of mailings that eat up your whole donation and then some.

Recently I had to cut off my monthly donation to Feeding America, and explained my financial hardship to them, but they keep sending me appeals. Maybe it's just to complicated to take people off the mailing list.

Those mailings aren't cheap!

And then there are the guilt-inducing gifts they send. Address labels are one thing - by using them, you kinda support the charity by raising awareness for them (as long as the logo is on them or something). But some charities just send you all kinds of crap meant to make you feel like you want to send them some money to defray the cost of both the crap and mailing it to you. I'm not falling for it.

But it's just more in the recycling bin. More dead trees, more petroleum used to carry all that mail... [brick wall]

--------------------
I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
Beeswax Altar
Shipmate
# 11644

 - Posted      Profile for Beeswax Altar   Email Beeswax Altar   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Just give to the person ringing the bell for The Salvation Army.

--------------------
Losing sleep is something you want to avoid, if possible.
-Og: King of Bashan

Posts: 8411 | From: By a large lake | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged
orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

 - Posted      Profile for orfeo   Author's homepage   Email orfeo   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I have a bunch of charities I give to regularly. One of the criteria for getting on that list is that they asked nicely and didn't call my phone every second day. Or use mentions of children to try and tug at the heart strings.

In fact a couple of them ARE children's charities, but they're ones that spent more time telling me the concrete things they achieve for children rather than going "look! look! it's a child! see the big sad eyes! how can you say no to the big sad eyes!"

--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged
Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

 - Posted      Profile for Twilight     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
The latest form of pushiness that bothers me is telling me how to make my donation. Most recently, my pubic radio station had finally talked me into getting my checkbook out and just as I started to write down fifty dollars, I heard them say that "a gift of one hundred or two hundred would be so welcome," then they started talking about how, while a one time gift was nice a regular monthly donation by direct debit was what really meant so very much. I just stopped.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002  |  IP: Logged
LeRoc

Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216

 - Posted      Profile for LeRoc     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
In my electricity bill, each month a donation of around € 5 is included for a cause I don't particularly agree with. I heard that it's possible to get it off my bill, but it takes a couple of hours on the telephone.

--------------------
I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)

Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Uncle Pete

Loyaute me lie
# 10422

 - Posted      Profile for Uncle Pete     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Beeswax Altar:
Just give to the person ringing the bell for The Salvation Army.

That would truly be a waste of money, locally at any rate.

--------------------
Even more so than I was before

Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Spike

Mostly Harmless
# 36

 - Posted      Profile for Spike   Email Spike   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Personally, I don't like telethons either and never watch them. There's just something about lots of celebs getting together for an intense focus on one charity, then the next day we've all moved on and the other 364 days of the year nobody seems to be really bothered.

last weekend there was a documentary about Status Quo. Rick Parfitt wa very proud of all he did raising money for Live Aid. Of course, at the time of Live Aid he was living in the Channel Islands to avoid paying tax. Hypocritical? Surely not!

--------------------
"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing

Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
The latest form of pushiness that bothers me is telling me how to make my donation. Most recently, my pubic radio station had finally talked me into getting my checkbook out and just as I started to write down fifty dollars, I heard them say that "a gift of one hundred or two hundred would be so welcome," then they started talking about how, while a one time gift was nice a regular monthly donation by direct debit was what really meant so very much. I just stopped.

That's the kind of post that makes careful reading of every post worthwhile. Thanks [Big Grin]

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

 - Posted      Profile for Twilight     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
My main charity is Brain and Behavior Research. I've been giving to them for years and they've never sent me a single piece of begging mail, address labels, or picture of a sad eyed child.* They don't have telethons or concerts and I've never had the supermarket cashier ask me for money for them.

*Those people have my son's number, big time. He gets a pile of mail every day. He gets pictures of sad eyed chickens!

Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002  |  IP: Logged
Pigwidgeon

Ship's Owl
# 10192

 - Posted      Profile for Pigwidgeon   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
The latest form of pushiness that bothers me is telling me how to make my donation. Most recently, my pubic radio station had finally talked me into getting my checkbook out and just as I started to write down fifty dollars, I heard them say that "a gift of one hundred or two hundred would be so welcome," then they started talking about how, while a one time gift was nice a regular monthly donation by direct debit was what really meant so very much. I just stopped.

Amen! I recently pledged a certain amount per month to be charged to my credit card and received a very nice thank you. Then I received a letter asking if I could change it so it was debited from my checking account instead. No. Then a few weeks later I received a letter thanking me for my "generous donation" -- and in the next paragraph they asked for an increase. I haven't cut them off yet. but it's getting close to that point.

--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf

Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
Patdys
Iron Wannabe
RooK-Annoyer
# 9397

 - Posted      Profile for Patdys     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
My main charity is Brain and Behavior Research. I've been giving to them for years and they've never sent me a single piece of begging mail, address labels, or picture of a sad eyed child.* They don't have telethons or concerts and I've never had the supermarket cashier ask me for money for them.

*Those people have my son's number, big time. He gets a pile of mail every day. He gets pictures of sad eyed chickens!

You would kind of expect them to be good at getting funding from you- wouldn't you. Unless they are really shit at their job.

--------------------
Marathon run. Next Dream. Australian this time.

Posts: 3511 | Registered: Apr 2005  |  IP: Logged
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772

 - Posted      Profile for Palimpsest   Email Palimpsest   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I make my donations in December each year by check for a number of charities. I thoroughly resent the endless solicitation. I especially hate NPR "give before the pledge drive" "Give during the Pledge Drive so that we can prove that Pledge Drives are good and this is the only time we ask" and "Give if you missed the Pledge drive" plus "we're doing a special request because.. well, we're special.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011  |  IP: Logged
Boogie

Boogie on down!
# 13538

 - Posted      Profile for Boogie     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
... then they started talking about how, while a one time gift was nice a regular monthly donation by direct debit was what really meant so very much. I just stopped.

This is absolutely true 'tho. If a charity knows its monthly income it can support long term projects. If they rely on one-offs it's much harder to plan ahead.

<eta typo>

[ 17. November 2013, 07:19: Message edited by: Boogie ]

--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk

Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008  |  IP: Logged
Rosa Winkel

Saint Anger round my neck
# 11424

 - Posted      Profile for Rosa Winkel   Author's homepage   Email Rosa Winkel   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
Can I add a shade of dislike for the way hundreds of very rich actors, comedians and singers come on our screens for Children in Need, 'donate their time' and tell us over and over and over again to give our money to them.

I gather Gary Barlow avoids tax. If he paid his tax the state would have more money to pay for the kind of things that Children in Need pay for.

Our society is based on the values of "hard work" and "self-sufficiency" and therefore it is those who are deemed to have done well who receive more respect in society, as opposed to, say, people with disability who can't work, or homeless people. As long as those ambivalent values dominate we'll always have this situation.

Those who face various helps to achieve in life due to their status in society therefore show their goodness by such acts of charity. (Charity is another ambivalent issue)

--------------------
The Disability and Jesus "Locked out for Lent" project

Posts: 3271 | From: Wrocław | Registered: May 2006  |  IP: Logged
Vulpior

Foxier than Thou
# 12744

 - Posted      Profile for Vulpior   Author's homepage   Email Vulpior   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I make the vast majority of charitable donations by regular direct debit, or automatic regular payment for the odd charity that doesn't do direct debit. I also respond to people participating in drives such as Movember or Dry July. I rarely respond to one-off disaster appeals. I get pangs of guilt when I ignore the bushfire, hurricane or tuphoon appeals, but I offset that with the knowledge that I have regular targeted giving.

I manage my mailing preferences with all the cause I support to minimise the additional physical or electronic mail. I don't mind occasional information about what they're doing, but I don't want stuff about extra appeals.

So I think I've generally managed to cut out being on the receiving end of all that behaviour that gets up people's noses. It sounds like I'm quite lucky in that regard.

I have decided that, should I ever be pestered by a chugger (charity mugger) for a cause I already support, I will get my phone out and cancel my regular payment on the spot, and tell them why.

--------------------
I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad

Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
It took me no less than 11, that's eleven attempts to get one particular major charity to stop sending me begging letters and unsolicited freebies (personalized address labels, stickers, etc) after making an online donation. I wrote, emailed, phoned, they seemed completely unwilling to take no for an answer.

After the last phone call where I asked them please just to delete my record, there was peace and quiet for two years, after which I then got another letter asking for a donation. They never do actually delete your details once they're on the system. I phoned them again and despite asking explicitly for my record to be deleted received no such assurance, only that there would be a stop put on it and a note saying "do not contact at all". So far they've kept their word, but really it should never have had to get to this point.

It taught me one thing: don't ever donate to them in a way that's traceable, they won't leave you alone.

This sort of thing really tarnishes a charity's reputation. I also don't want any unsolicited personalized charity gifts like labels, or free ballpoint pens and stationery. I'd rather they directed the money towards the causes they're supposed to be helping.

Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

 - Posted      Profile for Twilight     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
...and then they put your name on their list of soft hearted people and sell it to other charities. It never ends. They will hound you beyond the grave. After my father died, I kept getting begging letters and those awful sweepstakes things sent to his address, in his name. Finally I called them and said, "Stop it! Harold Jones is dead, over, deceased." Then I got a sweepstakes letter addressed to Mr. Harold J. Deceased. "You may have already won!"
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002  |  IP: Logged
iamchristianhearmeroar
Shipmate
# 15483

 - Posted      Profile for iamchristianhearmeroar   Author's homepage   Email iamchristianhearmeroar   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Vulpior:
I have decided that, should I ever be pestered by a chugger (charity mugger) for a cause I already support, I will get my phone out and cancel my regular payment on the spot, and tell them why.

A bit of an over-reaction isn't it?! Why not just tell the chugger you already support the charity and walk away?

--------------------
My blog: http://alastairnewman.wordpress.com/

Posts: 642 | From: London, UK | Registered: Feb 2010  |  IP: Logged
QLib

Bad Example
# 43

 - Posted      Profile for QLib   Email QLib   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
If, instead of all the poncing around, the Great and the Good simply coughed up their earnings for Friday, wouldn't more money be raised?

I think some of them give considerably more than a day's earnings, and they aren't all tax exiles.
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
I do not like people with a thousand times as much money as I have, thinking they have the right to harangue me over and over to donate to charity. Or is it only me?

I suppose if they donate £10,000's worth of their time, they're entitled to suggest you donate a fiver.

When I was a child, a typical fund-raising gambit for children's charities was a plaster model of a pretty, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, with one leg in a leg-iron, holding a begging box? Is that better?

--------------------
Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.

Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Vulpior

Foxier than Thou
# 12744

 - Posted      Profile for Vulpior   Author's homepage   Email Vulpior   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by iamchristianhearmeroar:
quote:
Originally posted by Vulpior:
I have decided that, should I ever be pestered by a chugger (charity mugger) for a cause I already support, I will get my phone out and cancel my regular payment on the spot, and tell them why.

A bit of an over-reaction isn't it?! Why not just tell the chugger you already support the charity and walk away?
If only it were that easy! I find chuggers to be persistent, and to not always begin by saying which charity they are trying to sign you up for. Yes, they wear bibs, but when you are already trying to avoid catching their eye while going about your daily business, you don't always see who.

And it's a tactic I detest, so if I get pissed off, I'll send a message.

--------------------
I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad

Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007  |  IP: Logged
orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

 - Posted      Profile for orfeo   Author's homepage   Email orfeo   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I think we do find it a bit easier to get people to cease and desist in Australia, on the whole. Or maybe it's just because I'm pretty forthright with them. On the second or third go I usually manage to indicate that they're guaranteeing I will never say 'yes' to them ever again and might spread the bad word to my friends. Reputation does matter to people.

It's not just charities of course. I bought something from one online store in the UK in 2007. They gave me 2 pounds credit towards my next purchase. They still send me an e-mail (no doubt automated) a few times a year (thank God it isn't monthly) reminding me that I have 2 pounds credit to spend. Last time I finally snapped and wrote a reply back, saying it's been over 6 years since I made a purchase, when are you going to figure out that I'm not coming back to your store again?

I haven't heard back. It will be interesting to see if I get another e-mail. If I do, my next step will involve hunting out a different e-mail address to write to rather than just hitting 'reply'. If that fails there will be a phone call.

--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

 - Posted      Profile for Marvin the Martian     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by iamchristianhearmeroar:
quote:
Originally posted by Vulpior:
I have decided that, should I ever be pestered by a chugger (charity mugger) for a cause I already support, I will get my phone out and cancel my regular payment on the spot, and tell them why.

A bit of an over-reaction isn't it?! Why not just tell the chugger you already support the charity and walk away?
That course of action won't so anything to get the chuggers off the streets.

--------------------
Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:

I haven't heard back. It will be interesting to see if I get another e-mail. If I do, my next step will involve hunting out a different e-mail address to write to rather than just hitting 'reply'. If that fails there will be a phone call.

It is highly likely this process is automated. It would be interesting to know if the process is capable of handling your reply. Good luck finding an e-mail address or phone number which reaches a person who can actually affect change.
Easier would be to add the address to your spam filter or create one which bins it on arrival.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
MarsmanTJ
Shipmate
# 8689

 - Posted      Profile for MarsmanTJ   Email MarsmanTJ   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I enjoy engaging with chuggers. Firstly because it stops them engaging with anything else. Secondly, I like quizzing them on how much of their income they give to charity (at the moment I give somewhere around 10%, when my income increases I hope to increase that) since the answer is generally 'the odd quid here or there'. Thirdly, I enjoy finding out if I know more about their charity than they do. Odds are, I give substantially more to charity than they do, and know more about their charity than they do. And they are getting paid £7-8 an hour to try and get money out of me. Hmmm...
Posts: 238 | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
But all this accomplishes is harassing a person just trying to get by. Akin to yelling at a clerk for shop policies, you feel better at the expense of someone who cannot change anything and will be instantly replaced if they stop.
Honestly, if one hates being bothered, ring up the charity itself and try to find a person with responsibility. Don't harangue the poor bastard who just wants to stay employed.
Not much better than kicking a puppy because you don't like the RSPCA asking for donations.
If you are going to be a cranky bugger, do it effectively.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Years ago when I went into Newport more often I got to know some of the chuggers and recognise the rest. It was a semi-regular job; this week MS, last week UNICEF, next week Cancer Research. Not a bad earner, but it's usually damp and cold and although Newportonians give generously, they had a hard task getting money in the High Street.

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

 - Posted      Profile for Golden Key   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Good grief, why not just walk on by? Have you never had a difficult, low-paying job?

Charities often outsource their fundraising, these days. There can be problems with the companies they use, but that's no fault of the workers.

If you need to feel superior, go play a video game or take an online IQ test. Or do some good by volunteering for a charity.

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Charity callers that (invariably) phone during either dinner time or a child's bed time are my pet hate, and have brought me very close to rigging up a push button by the phone that will play a standard "don't ever call me again" message and hang up.

The message would also tell them that because they have phoned me at home, I am explicitly removing them from consideration for my support.

I don't expect it to do any good - if they didn't raise money on average with telephone solicitations, they wouldn't do it - but I'm not going to encourage their behaviour.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
mdijon
Shipmate
# 8520

 - Posted      Profile for mdijon     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Honestly, if one hates being bothered, ring up the charity itself and try to find a person with responsibility. Don't harangue the poor bastard who just wants to stay employed.

I once did this because I found some cold-callers on the door stop particularly pushy. I got a call back from someone who agreed that what I experienced sounded bad, and was honest enough to say that in all probability it wasn't an isolated experience and then admitted that they wouldn't be changing their policy because the majority of their donations came through the particular company I was complaining about. I think that's what the call "refreshingly honest" but I'm not sure what's so refreshing about it.

--------------------
mdijon nojidm uoɿıqɯ ɯqıɿou
ɯqıɿou uoɿıqɯ nojidm mdijon

Posts: 12277 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Good grief, why not just walk on by? Have you never had a difficult, low-paying job?

I suppose labouring on a building site counts. No intellectual content, physically demanding and at times downright unpleasant.
quote:

Charities often outsource their fundraising, these days. There can be problems with the companies they use, but that's no fault of the workers.

Did I suggest it was? Try reading what's written down for once.
quote:

If you need to feel superior, go play a video game or take an online IQ test. Or do some good by volunteering for a charity.

I talked to the 'chuggers' as people. How that makes me superior to them is a figment of your imagination.

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Spiffy
Ship's WonderSheep
# 5267

 - Posted      Profile for Spiffy   Author's homepage   Email Spiffy   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Good grief, why not just walk on by? Have you never had a difficult, low-paying job?

Charities often outsource their fundraising, these days. There can be problems with the companies they use, but that's no fault of the workers.

If you need to feel superior, go play a video game or take an online IQ test. Or do some good by volunteering for a charity.

On the one hand I do understand where GK is coming from and I do try very hard not to be a jerk to people with crappy jobs.

On the other hand last week I had some chugger (I like this word!) follow me down the entire block talking despite the fact I did not make eye contact. Then he grabbed my arm as I was about to step into the street.

Fucker is lucky he didn't pull back a stump. I instead expounded at length and volume as to why touching someone without their permission is not a good idea.

--------------------
Looking for a simple solution to all life's problems? We are proud to present obstinate denial. Accept no substitute. Accept nothing.
--Night Vale Radio Twitter Account

Posts: 10281 | From: Beervana | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

 - Posted      Profile for Kelly Alves   Email Kelly Alves   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
There's one in every crowd, but that doesn't make that particular crowd the problem. I'm with GK, unless the roadside manner is actively horrendous (as you describe), why hate on some schlub for doing their crappy, thankless job?

--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Because it is easier than either addressing the actual source or being reasonable and ignoring it.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
mdijon
Shipmate
# 8520

 - Posted      Profile for mdijon     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
That course of action won't so anything to get the chuggers off the streets.

It would if the action was universal.

--------------------
mdijon nojidm uoɿıqɯ ɯqıɿou
ɯqıɿou uoɿıqɯ nojidm mdijon

Posts: 12277 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2004  |  IP: Logged
Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468

 - Posted      Profile for Golden Key   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Sioni--

Apologies. [Hot and Hormonal]

That was meant for the people who posted above you, about how they'd hassled the workers.

I have no problem with you.

--------------------
Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713

 - Posted      Profile for Sioni Sais   Email Sioni Sais   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Sioni--

Apologies. [Hot and Hormonal]

That was meant for the people who posted above you, about how they'd hassled the workers.

I have no problem with you.

GK,

I'm sorry too. My misunderstanding.

Sioni

--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"

(Paul Sinha, BBC)

Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Sarkycow
La belle Dame sans merci
# 1012

 - Posted      Profile for Sarkycow   Email Sarkycow   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I give to two charities by monthly direct debit. When I set it up with them, I asked them to make a note on my file saying that if they ever contacted me by post/phone/email etc. to tell me what they were doing, or ask me for more money then I would cancel my direct debit. I explained that if my circumstances changed, or I felt so inclined I would change my donation, but this wouldn't be dictated by them [Big Grin]

One charity sent me a letter two months later, so I phoned up to explain why I was cancelling my DD, and then started again with a new charity.

The two charities that I support currently I have done so for 12 years now, and neither has contacted me in that time!

The note on my record probably reads "Mardy cow. Don't contact unless you want a mouthful of abuse" or some such, but I don't care [Big Grin]

--------------------
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”

Posts: 10787 | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
rufiki

Ship's 'shroom
# 11165

 - Posted      Profile for rufiki   Email rufiki   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
If the ones who stop you in the street are chuggers, what do you call the ones who come to your house? Churglers?
Posts: 1562 | Registered: Mar 2006  |  IP: Logged
sabine
Shipmate
# 3861

 - Posted      Profile for sabine   Email sabine   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
[tangent]

I dislike the opposite. People who want to donate money to or volunteer at the soup kitchen/food pantry/homeless shelter only around Thanksgiving or Christmas. . .as if there isn't a need in August. [/tangent]

sabine

--------------------
"Hunger looks like the man that hunger is killing." Eduardo Galeano

Posts: 5887 | From: the US Heartland | Registered: Dec 2002  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
That is not really a tangent, nor opposite of my intention in starting this thread.
Do they Know Its Christmas? Perhaps not, but they do know they are hungry year-round.

ETA: code fix. Yeah, I know; preview post. Bugger off.

[ 21. November 2013, 20:09: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
Marvin the Martian

Interplanetary
# 4360

 - Posted      Profile for Marvin the Martian     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by mdijon:
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
That course of action won't so anything to get the chuggers off the streets.

It would if the action was universal.
If i give enough of a shit about their cause I'll already be donating to it, and if I don't then some fuckhead accosting me in the street won't change my mind. So they're wasting their time either way and should just stop getting in my way.

--------------------
Hail Gallaxhar

Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by mdijon:
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
That course of action won't so anything to get the chuggers off the streets.

It would if the action was universal.
If i give enough of a shit about their cause I'll already be donating to it, and if I don't then some fuckhead accosting me in the street won't change my mind. So they're wasting their time either way and should just stop getting in my way.
Whilst I do not enjoy the phenomenon, it does work. For every one of us who either give regularly and/or specifically, there are dozens who give because they are prompted. And this time of year, the prompts work best.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
mdijon
Shipmate
# 8520

 - Posted      Profile for mdijon     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Exactly. And my point was that if it didn't work (i.e. if everyone stopped giving) then they'd stop doing it.

--------------------
mdijon nojidm uoɿıqɯ ɯqıɿou
ɯqıɿou uoɿıqɯ nojidm mdijon

Posts: 12277 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2004  |  IP: Logged


 
Post new thread  Post a reply Close thread   Feature thread   Move thread   Delete thread Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
 - Printer-friendly view
Go to:

Contact us | Ship of Fools | Privacy statement

© Ship of Fools 2016

Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.5.0

 
follow ship of fools on twitter
buy your ship of fools postcards
sip of fools mugs from your favourite nautical website
 
 
  ship of fools