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Street Canvassers

Hipster Duck

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Everytime I see one of those SickKids or World Vision kids corner me on the sidewalk, I feel the urge to let them know that what they are doing is no better than institutionalized panhandling and that, unlike the haggard guy with the cardboard sign behind them, they aren't even working for themselves.

It looks like a very demeaning job and this city is full of $9/hour stuff for students to do over the summer that doesn't involve standing for hours in the rain and having other people make fun of you. I wonder what compels them to take these jobs, and whether "idealism" has anything to do with this.
 
I feel like I have to hate myself for thinking the same thing. I admit that I can't stand it either.

The next time one of them asks me if I support Sick Kids, I want to tell them: "yes, I support sick kids because I hate kids. The sicker the better!"

Or, better: "No! I support healthy kids. What kind of monster are you?"

But then again, it has to be a demeaning job and I wouldn't want to do that to them.
 
nothing like having some headphones on while passing.
 
Blame the medicore marketing execs that rubber stamp these campaigns... not the 19 year old making $10 an hour for a dime baggie.

My disdain will always remain with those flower peddlers who walk into patios and bars wielding $20 rose stems, only to embarrass the guy's significant other by refusing to buy one.
 
I wonder if the ones for SickKids are even paid - or whether they're from the reject bin for volunteer applications.

AoD
 
I know i'm going to hell but I just tell them that i've already contributed or spoken to them last month and they smile and say thank you.

"Thank you for going to hell for us you bastard"
 
No one irritates me more than the folks handing out Metro newspapers at subway stations and bus stops. They purposely block your route, standing right in front of you, to force a paper on you. When you're half-asleep and grumpy, on your way to work in a busy subway station on a Monday morning, having to navigate around these asses is the last thing you need.
 
chugger

As usual, the British have coined an excellent term for what we call street canvasers: "chuggers", created from the phrase "charity muggers". Darkstar is right to call them a plague. They've been around for years but this summer they have multiplied like locusts, and where I live seems to be Ground Zero for chuggers. I am willing to give them some slack because they are promoting charities but that fact does not give them unlimited right to harass, annoy, and obstruct. In my neighbourhood the number of homeless panhandlers have dropped enormously in recent years, but like weeds, the chuggers have sprung up in their place. I don't know which I preferred.

It is tiresome to walk a gauntlet of these hopeful and overly-perky people every time I go to the grocery store or the St. Lawrence Market. It is true that a polite "no thanks" gets rid of them but is it too much to ask to be able to walk down the street unaccosted occassionally? I dislike their various manipulative tactics, such as claiming both sides of the same road at once so you can't get around them, or sending the girls to approach the guys and vice-versa.

I try not to get angry at them personally (it's a job I would never want) but I have to say that the charities that use this tactic regularly (Sick Kids and Greenpeace, mainly) have slid way down in my mind in terms of reputation. It makes them seem desperate and money-hungry and somehow less reputable. Regardless of what good they might do in the world, when I see their logos I now think simply "oh, those are the people who harang me in the street every day." I am now extremely unlikely to donate to either cause.

When I donate money to charity I do it on my terms, privately, through a secure website, because I have decided to... not because some 18-year-old cornered me between a garbage can and lamp post and guilted me into it.
 
They had a WorldVision canvasser near Parliament and Queen the other day, right out front the Moss Park apartments. I felt pretty bad for her. But still made sure to have my headphones on when I walked by.
 
Don't forget that these canvassers get to keep a percentage of their take for the day. If you want to support Sick Kids (I've always thought that was a silly name for a hospital, though no worse than Halifax's children's hospital, spelled nicely, but pronounced Kill'em), then send them a cheque directly.
 
I feel like I have to hate myself for thinking the same thing. I admit that I can't stand it either.

The next time one of them asks me if I support Sick Kids, I want to tell them: "yes, I support sick kids because I hate kids. The sicker the better!"

Or, better: "No! I support healthy kids. What kind of monster are you?"

But then again, it has to be a demeaning job and I wouldn't want to do that to them.

Haha, I know I'm evil but I thought the same thing. I told my friend the next canvasser I see, I'll reply with: "No thanks, I don't really like children anyway."
 
They had a WorldVision canvasser near Parliament and Queen the other day, right out front the Moss Park apartments. I felt pretty bad for her. But still made sure to have my headphones on when I walked by.

I find it easy to say no to nonsecular charities. I won't subsidize the prosletization of people who are generally in pretty desperate circumstances. ('you can have your 10 kg bag of rice, but first you have to listen to our bible study'--it's like timeshares except you are dangling life in front of someone, not a weekend getaway).
 

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