Let's be honest: There are times that you absolutely curse yourself when you decide to take a trip to a store. Whether it be bad traffic, during a thunderstorm, etc....sometimes you just feel like someone is out to get you and make your life a living hell just by stepping out of your house. It comes in all different forms. However, there are certain ones I will not stand for.
The other day, Eric and I were doing a couple of errands. I needed to pick up my car as well as a few things from Old Navy while he wanted to swing by Lowe's to pick up something for his Halloween costume. Little did we know that it was going to result in being subjected to two forms of solicitation that pretty much made me go "What the hell?"
First off, we went to Lowe's. As we were walking up to the store, we noticed that near the exit was a man in a Boy Scouts of America uniform along with a very young child, probably no older than five or six. He was a Cub Scout, which I have no problem with. I did the Boy Scout thing for a little while during elementary school, but eventually it just wasn't for me. What I did have a problem with was how they had positioned themselves to make sure that it wasn't just seeing people walking in....they were going to have to see them walking out. Now, truth be told, I did not see what the reasoning was for them being there, but I did see a random table filled with various food items that made me remember a fundraiser that I did. A lot of it is stuff that you would find at Sam's Club: Giant boxes of cheese, meats, drinks, etc. Curiously, though, I wondered if they were violating a law with Lowe's having the gigantic "No Solicitation" sign on the entranceway. I'm going to guess that it means they couldn't say anything to Lowe's, but were allowed to be outside. This one was not the one that really got to me, though. Eric and I walked out, politely said "No thank you" before they could even get half a sentence out, and walked to the car. Generally, this is the best way to handle these situations.
At Old Navy, however....I was subjected to one that truly pissed me off.
Old Navy is a pretty solid clothing store. Low prices, good clothes, and I have never had an issue going in or out of there because no one ever thinks to set up a shop outside of there. People generally do it at grocery stores or department stores. While Old Navy technically can fall under that last category, I don't think I've ever seen an Old Navy at a mall. They are generally stand-alone shops. So, much to my dismay, the second instance happened almost immediately getting out of my car, which really caught me off guard because Eric managed to avoid this altogether.
Coming around the backside of the car, this woman who had just parked herself looks over at me and gives me the visual stop sign. You've seen this before: Arm straight out at you, fingers spread out, basically saying "Hold the fuck on!" Well, this woman did it to me...and I'm not a fan of someone who does that, especially a person that I don't know.
Within two seconds, I immediately learn that this woman is deaf. Alright, no big deal. I figured she was stopping me because she had maybe seen something wrong with the car and that was the urgency.
Nope.
Not even close.
She hands me a card. The title of this index card is "Did you know that November is Deaf Awareness Month?"
First off, it's not November. Second off, no I didn't, but it doesn't shock me. EVERYTHING has an "Awareness Month" or "Thinking of you day" or "Sorry I gave you Chlamydia day." So I quickly glance over the card, probably spending all of five seconds actually reading it, and at the bottom it says "Please spare five dollars for me."
Are you fucking kidding me?
Look, I've donated money before for certain causes, but they are to non-profits that I actually believe in. Case in point: The V Foundation. I've donated to them a couple of times because it's a good cause and one that I think needs plenty of help with research. I've also donated change to the Salvation Army every Christmas to the guys ringing the bell. That is also a good cause.
This is not a good cause. Especially considering the fact that this person was just out and about, doing her thing, obviously not having a problem getting around. She wasn't homeless. She had just gotten out of a fairly new car, which wasn't anything special, but still, a pretty nice car, dressed fairly well.
So, apparently she feels the need to hand me this card just out and about, with no proof that she's doing it for a cause thanks to the shoddiness of the card that this information was printed on. And I'm supposed to give you five dollars?
There are many reasons I don't carry cash with me anymore. This is probably fairly low on the list, but it's on there.
Look, while I'm not insensitive to causes, a situation like that just screams "Scam" at me. Yes, this woman was definitely deaf, but how in the hell is she to expect someone to react positively when she comes at them like a bat out of hell, holding up her hand, and then handing them a card?
While the first situation was not really a guilt trip, this certainly was an attempt at such a thing, though she did a pretty piss poor job of it. We've all been "victims" of guilt trips, mainly by our parents when we were younger. Parents are absolute professionals at pulling it off, and when we all get older, we will be professionals at doing it ourselves. Why? Because children don't know what a guilt trip is and, thus, it works. Pulling it off on adults though?
I wish you luck, especially to the woman handing out these index cards.
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