"On Charity"
"On Charity"
Let me start out by clarifying that on the whole, I rather like charities, and that most of the time, when asked to donate time/money/whatever, I cheerfully do so. That, in fact, it is only a small number of bully-minded charities that piss the crap out of me.
There's a funny thing about fundraisers of all kinds. Sometimes, it's a little kid out hawking chocolate bars for little league. Sometimes it's the state police asking for money to buy teddy bears. Kid you not. But almost always, I'm struck not by the plea for funds or by the cause to which the funds will go. Instead, I'm stuck by the unethical badgering of these so-called mercy-missionaries. Now I understand that not all, or even most, of those folks asking for funds are like this. Most people call and say 'hey, can you spare us 20 bucks?' and they take 'gosh, I'm kind of broke' for an answer.
Most of the girl scout/little leaguer/etc. folks are like this. Those ladies at work who display tubs of cookie dough from their daughters' little clubs, they're like this. In fact, almost every non-state funded fundraiser group is like this. There's maybe a little guilt involved in saying 'gosh I'm broke, see me next week', but it's wrapped up in the grubby little face offering you candy.
What I cannot abide, however, are the untraceable calls from state-sponsored groups. They start off asking you whether you feel X is a dangerous profession. They go from there with a little script of guilt-mongering harassment. 'I'm an impoverished student' doesn't work. They only offer to take you for 20 bucks instead of 50. 'No, I mean I actually don't get paid for another three months' doesn't work, either. They offer you 12 bucks. I'm not sure what part they don't understand of 'Look, my rent is due, my electricity due, my water is due, I've very little money now and no appreciable income for another few months, and gosh darn it, that 12 bucks will buy me an ocean of bread to eat, pay for most of my utilities for the month of August, buy food and litter for my cat until September, or even, dare I say it, even purchase enough gas to get me to my part-time job. I can't give you any money.' That, to most people is a sign of 'we'll call back next year,' not 'well how about I put you down for 5 dollars.' Hello? How about you stop calling me?
I'm also not sure what gives the state the right to sell my phone number to these people. Or why they insist on calling at inconvenient times like 8:34am and 10:11pm. Do they hope to catch people late to work without the time to say more than 'yes, officer, now if you'll excuse me...'? Or falling into bed and too groggy to realize they've been telephonically pick-pocketed by the fire department? You know, when talking on the phone to authority figures, probably there's a scare/guilt tactic involved that most folks don't even notice. 'If I'm rude to this telephone cop, will they come get me?' 'I sure admire firemen, so maybe I had better do as he says?'
I realize I sound bad here. But you know what? The last two times (only once in a year) I've been called by the police department, I actually had money in my account to spare. I was sitting pretty and had no fear of bouncing things. And I forked over about 20 bucks each time, just as asked. I take serious offense to attempts to fast-talk me into anything. I take serious offense to attempts to guilt me into anything. Talk to me reasonably, at an understandable tone and tempo. Use yourself some logic, and for goodness sake let it drop when I tell you I can't afford it. Call me passive aggressive, but if you badger me when I can't comply, I'm sure as hell not going to comply when I can.
In an age when so very many people live by cell phone and not land line, I'm often sorely tempted to cancel my land line. I only ever get calls from solicitors, state solicitors, wrong numbers, and collection agencies after the wrong people. No one I'd actually care to talk to ever calls me on that phone unless I've asked them to call me back on it. Every answering machine I've hooked up to it has died within a month. I won't pay for voice mail on it. I give out my cell number whenever someone needs my telephone number, because it's about the only reliable way they can reach me, even if only by message. I only use the land line to call inside Dirt Town. And there aren't very many places I even call here anyway. That's an extra 50 or so bucks a month. And aside from that, why is it that everyone needs a land line/phone in their house? I've never quite cottoned on to that one.
Well there you have the story of the day, turned into a rant on account of what I see to be improper intimidation tactics by the state government. And the phone company, who would love to sell me all sorts of wonderful long distance that I don't use, for only under 100 dollars a month!*
End
*for the first six months only, after which full prices will apply, sucker!
Let me start out by clarifying that on the whole, I rather like charities, and that most of the time, when asked to donate time/money/whatever, I cheerfully do so. That, in fact, it is only a small number of bully-minded charities that piss the crap out of me.
There's a funny thing about fundraisers of all kinds. Sometimes, it's a little kid out hawking chocolate bars for little league. Sometimes it's the state police asking for money to buy teddy bears. Kid you not. But almost always, I'm struck not by the plea for funds or by the cause to which the funds will go. Instead, I'm stuck by the unethical badgering of these so-called mercy-missionaries. Now I understand that not all, or even most, of those folks asking for funds are like this. Most people call and say 'hey, can you spare us 20 bucks?' and they take 'gosh, I'm kind of broke' for an answer.
Most of the girl scout/little leaguer/etc. folks are like this. Those ladies at work who display tubs of cookie dough from their daughters' little clubs, they're like this. In fact, almost every non-state funded fundraiser group is like this. There's maybe a little guilt involved in saying 'gosh I'm broke, see me next week', but it's wrapped up in the grubby little face offering you candy.
What I cannot abide, however, are the untraceable calls from state-sponsored groups. They start off asking you whether you feel X is a dangerous profession. They go from there with a little script of guilt-mongering harassment. 'I'm an impoverished student' doesn't work. They only offer to take you for 20 bucks instead of 50. 'No, I mean I actually don't get paid for another three months' doesn't work, either. They offer you 12 bucks. I'm not sure what part they don't understand of 'Look, my rent is due, my electricity due, my water is due, I've very little money now and no appreciable income for another few months, and gosh darn it, that 12 bucks will buy me an ocean of bread to eat, pay for most of my utilities for the month of August, buy food and litter for my cat until September, or even, dare I say it, even purchase enough gas to get me to my part-time job. I can't give you any money.' That, to most people is a sign of 'we'll call back next year,' not 'well how about I put you down for 5 dollars.' Hello? How about you stop calling me?
I'm also not sure what gives the state the right to sell my phone number to these people. Or why they insist on calling at inconvenient times like 8:34am and 10:11pm. Do they hope to catch people late to work without the time to say more than 'yes, officer, now if you'll excuse me...'? Or falling into bed and too groggy to realize they've been telephonically pick-pocketed by the fire department? You know, when talking on the phone to authority figures, probably there's a scare/guilt tactic involved that most folks don't even notice. 'If I'm rude to this telephone cop, will they come get me?' 'I sure admire firemen, so maybe I had better do as he says?'
I realize I sound bad here. But you know what? The last two times (only once in a year) I've been called by the police department, I actually had money in my account to spare. I was sitting pretty and had no fear of bouncing things. And I forked over about 20 bucks each time, just as asked. I take serious offense to attempts to fast-talk me into anything. I take serious offense to attempts to guilt me into anything. Talk to me reasonably, at an understandable tone and tempo. Use yourself some logic, and for goodness sake let it drop when I tell you I can't afford it. Call me passive aggressive, but if you badger me when I can't comply, I'm sure as hell not going to comply when I can.
In an age when so very many people live by cell phone and not land line, I'm often sorely tempted to cancel my land line. I only ever get calls from solicitors, state solicitors, wrong numbers, and collection agencies after the wrong people. No one I'd actually care to talk to ever calls me on that phone unless I've asked them to call me back on it. Every answering machine I've hooked up to it has died within a month. I won't pay for voice mail on it. I give out my cell number whenever someone needs my telephone number, because it's about the only reliable way they can reach me, even if only by message. I only use the land line to call inside Dirt Town. And there aren't very many places I even call here anyway. That's an extra 50 or so bucks a month. And aside from that, why is it that everyone needs a land line/phone in their house? I've never quite cottoned on to that one.
Well there you have the story of the day, turned into a rant on account of what I see to be improper intimidation tactics by the state government. And the phone company, who would love to sell me all sorts of wonderful long distance that I don't use, for only under 100 dollars a month!*
End
*for the first six months only, after which full prices will apply, sucker!
posted by Rehkmira @ 14:48
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