Annoying people who keep annoying me !

[Lisa O`Brien]

Just had yet another member of a certain Community knocking on the door,trying to sell me stuff I neither need nor want. This is despite the two large stickers I have,one on the front door,the other on the window,saying "No Salespeople,No Canvassers,No Religious or Political Groups" etc. They all ignore both stickers and knock anyway. Like an idiot,I answered the door thinking it might be something important. It wasn`t. An old woman, wafting her cigarette in my direction,selling small photos of the Blessed Virgin Mary,Miraculous Medals,etc. Being a Catholic,[although i`m a bit lapsed nowadays], I already have enough Miraculous Medals around the house somewhere,thank you very much. Besides,I am absolutely skint until Wednesday. Bills are paid,food is in, and there is nothing left. I explained this to her,that I didn`t have a penny to my name. She replied," Never mind,a Miraculous Medal would be wasted on someone who had a heart as cold as you anyway", and walked off. What a B****. 

[Jan McNulty]

The ones who get me are the ones trying to get you to sign up to regular donations to a charity.  I've had a couple of callers recently who just will not take a polite "no".

 

There was quite a bit of publicity recently about charities being way too persistent with people.

 

I have a "no cold callers" sticker on my porch too.

 

BTW I do make small monthly payments to charities of my choice that I make of my own volition!

[Tulip]

Whilst I was out my two lovely sons thought that it would be a great idea to get into a huge discussion with some people selling the watch tower magazine. Both of them enjoyed a religious debate, the callers eventually said I don't think we are going to convince you, and left. They have never called since, I think we have been blacklisted. My sons are disappointed as they enjoyed the debate ☺️

[sarahw]

Agree Janet. I refuse on principle to give to any who come to the door or chug you in the street - shopping is tedious enough without having to dodge them.

 

But it must be financially worthwhile for charities to employ them I presume.....

[aileen]

I'm afraid that the more you give to charity the more you will be approached to give, either to the same charity/ies or to different charities (some charities clearly pass on or sell the details of their donors). I wonder whether there are actually too many charities, all competing for a slice of what I assume is a diminishing pie, and whether some charities which operate in the same area (eg breast cancer care) should amalgamate as this would surely save on administrative costs. As Sarah has said, the charities would not employ the chuggers/ street fund raisers unless it was financially worth their while but I feel that this practice is becoming so discredited that it might be discontinued in the future under the law of diminishing returns ie the reputational cost to the charity outweighs the financial benefit of collecting money in this way. Having said this, the charities would then have to find another way of getting people to sign up to direct debits, which ensure a steady stream of money from the donors for years, if not decades; in practice, people don't cancel these direct debits just as they don't change their banks.

[alison]

Whilst I was out my two lovely sons thought that it would be a great idea to get into a huge discussion with some people selling the watch tower magazine. Both of them enjoyed a religious debate, the callers eventually said I don't think we are going to convince you, and left. They have never called since, I think we have been blacklisted. My sons are disappointed as they enjoyed the debate ☺️

 

I'm told the best thing to do is ask if they'd like to come inside and pray about it with you .  Never dared try it, myself.

 

The Jehovah's Witnesses are clearly having some sort of campaign at the moment: you see their stands everywhere these days, trying to hand out copies of a book which claims to tell you what the Bible really says.  I'm not sure what Bible version it's based on, but I suspect it's not one of the more mainstream ones.

[taxi4ballet]

Several fundraising firms working on behalf of charities have gone to the wall, I believe, over the last few weeks. 

[Melody]

We never had that problem when we had a German shepherd. Apparently faith will only get you so far when you're cold-calling and there's a large dog on the premises.

[Jan McNulty]

I'm told the best thing to do is ask if they'd like to come inside and pray about it with you .  Never dared try it, myself.

 

The Jehovah's Witnesses are clearly having some sort of campaign at the moment: you see their stands everywhere these days, trying to hand out copies of a book which claims to tell you what the Bible really says.  I'm not sure what Bible version it's based on, but I suspect it's not one of the more mainstream ones.

 

A friend of mine did just that and 2 1/2 hours later, after a really good discussion, the JWs left and never came back.

[Jan McNulty]

Oh yes ... and cild callers persistently calling and telling me I am eligible for free loft insulation.  I looked up the T&Cs on the internet and I wasn't ... but could I get rid of them.

 

Fortunately for me my little Chunkydog loves barking (in a friendly way) at visitors and most (but not all) of them take the hint these days.

[MAB]

A former co worker who was a pillar of her local church had a very unique way of dealing with the JW's.  She would smile nicely and say, 'No thank you, we're Satanists here.  You don't happen to know where we could get our hands on a virgin would you?  They're in very short supply around here.' 

 

Apparently it always left them dumbstruck.

[Fiz]

I am afraid that if people are harassing us on the doorstep, I politely tell them that we are not interested in their products or brand of religion and that I have already once asked them to leave. If they persist, I then shut the door. Life is too short for such near bullying.

[Jacqueline]

I also have the 'no sales people etc' sign in my window and clearly visible. Often though, such people knock and when I mention the sign, they affect not to have noticed it. I then point it out to them and say something along the lines of  " Well, you have seen it now, good day to you".  I then firmly shut the door.

A friend of mine, who is a great mimic and plagued by these people, now has a bit of fun at their expense, by answering the door in whichever 'character' he feels appropriate. His best one is Brad Pitt in the film 'Snatch' but sometimes, he just stands and stares at the caller while saying nothing.  The caller usually finds this sufficiently unnerving to clear off pretty quick.

[Guest]

And every now and then you get a real nasty.. we had a smartly dressed couple on our doorstep who claimed to have been 'brought in to the area - to advise people on household security'. They were very keen to come inside and assess how secure our door and window locks were. When we asked to see a sales brochure they didn't have one. And when we asked to see some ID they cleared off pretty sharpish. We called the police about them - and they were very interested in meeting them.