AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Put on the headphones, walk briskly, either look at your phone or smile but ignore. They'd go for easier targets in a hurry.
AoD
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Street Canvassers
- Thread starter Hipster Duck
- Start date
Put on the headphones, walk briskly, either look at your phone or smile but ignore. They'd go for easier targets in a hurry.
AoD
ehlow
Senior Member
So many canvassers at or around Yonge & Eg today. They can get pretty aggressive, following you for a bit while you're walking away. Sometimes they position themselves to block you. They're pretty creative with what they try to say to get you to engage. Sometimes they don't seem to want to give up after you've said "no thanks".
You get approached quite a lot just during a normal day.
You get approached quite a lot just during a normal day.
nfitz
Superstar
I've seen them in my neighbourhood ... and I've seen them downtown near my office. But I just haven't had this experience of having to even open my mouth, let alone blocking me. The one or two I've chosen to spoke to were polite, well spoken, and low key.
On the my own personal and prejudiced list of things that annoy me walking down the street, this doesn't even register, compared to smokers that leave smoke I have to breathe in; small dogs being walked that I can't even see at my feet, and I'm afraid I'm going to step on or trip over; or a crowd of drunks outside a seedy bar, who sometimes have bizarre reactions when you walk past them.
I'm not sure if this a perception thing, or if there's some newer, hard sellers or something. Though I expect the latter can be quickly dealt with, with a photo and e-mail of complaint to the organization they are representing.
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gabe
Senior Member
The worst are those aggressive black history scammers that try to push you to buy their racist propaganda.
Street canvassers don't bother me, as long as they don't come to my front door! Same goes for the religious wacko's like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. Preach all you want on the street just stay off my property.
I really hate those shady door-to-door sales people asking to see your utility bills. They are extremely aggressive and they pressure you with fear tactics to sign their contract. I had one guy in my face demanding to come inside to see my water heater. When he stepped back, i slammed the door and he went on his way.
Street canvassers don't bother me, as long as they don't come to my front door! Same goes for the religious wacko's like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons. Preach all you want on the street just stay off my property.
I really hate those shady door-to-door sales people asking to see your utility bills. They are extremely aggressive and they pressure you with fear tactics to sign their contract. I had one guy in my face demanding to come inside to see my water heater. When he stepped back, i slammed the door and he went on his way.
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nfitz
Superstar
Never seen those ... is this common, or is it one or two people in a very limited area.
ehlow
Senior Member
99% of the time they're OK and leave you alone after you say "no thanks". You get approached by them multiple times a day if you spend your day at a place with lots of them, which really numbs you to it.
gabe
Senior Member
Pretty common in the Dundas Square area. I was approached by a black history guy a few weeks ago at Yonge & Bloor.
nfitz
Superstar
It only takes a minute though.
jaborandi
Active Member
It's so simple to smile cheefully, say "Sorry, not today" and wish them luck. Good manners cost nothing.
lister
Active Member
I think what some of you don't understand is that some of us deal with this every day, sometimes twice a day or more depending on where you're going. It gets irritating after a while. Particularly when they blurt out some stupid nonsense to try to get you to stop. Enough already!
I wish people would stop talking to them so that this sort of thing isn't effective anymore and the practice ends.
nfitz
Superstar
How is this more irritating than a homeless person begging for money? You just ignore completely, don't acknowledge them and keep going. It's street life ...
Though if you think they are being too aggressive, why not just contact whoever they are working for?
ehlow
Senior Member
I can sympathize. It can definitely happen >5 times a day in a regular day if say you spend your day in some areas, and sometimes the strategy they use is to say provocative or outrageous things to try to provoke you to get you to react.
Having said that it's not a serious problem, and yes you can usually ignore.
sarnya
Active Member
This is precisely what annoys me so much about these street canvassers. The stepping out in front of people to block them off is uncalled for.
There is also a glut of people selling stuff on the street. I can't even leave walk 0.1 km from my office for a coffee without coming across Zip Car, Car2Go, street canvassers, product promotions people, and homeless people asking for change. In the time it takes me to walk from Spadina and Richmond to Spadina Adelaide, it's not uncommon to get approached 8 times while grabbing a coffee (4 times on the way there, 4 times on the way back).
ehlow
Senior Member
Yeah they concentrate in areas that are heavy in pedestrian traffic, so it's not unusual that if you say, get a coffee, go for lunch etc. throughout the regular work day, each time you could go through 3-5 attempts to get your attention, get you to stop, provoke you to respond in some way (even though it's clear you're not interested).
You go through several to get your coffee, then going back it's the same ones trying again a second time. I go through this every day. I'm used to it of course by now.
jaborandi
Active Member
I live near Yonge & Carlton and get plenty of practice every day on handling canvassers. Being polite absolves me of any guilt I might feel if I were rude to them and rudeness accomplishes nothing other than a ripple of negativity that just keeps expanding. Of course, the first rule is to avoid making eye contact and to never slacken the walking pace. I always walk defensively, constantly looking for potential traps ahead and when possible, making sure that there is another pedestrian between myself and the canvasser. It's a game to be enjoyed and all part of urban living. No reason at all to get bent out of shape because of it.