I more or less live on a major shopping street, which means I’m constantly being stopped by paid charity fundraisers.
I didn’t know they were called chuggers (charity muggers) until recently. I also didn’t know that the charity can end up with as little as 10% of the donation. The main thing that annoys me (yet also interest me) is the polished psycho warfare they use. I’m sure they have some pretty interesting training sessions, and I’ve also no doubt that someone has said that, in this modern thrusting world, the charities need to deploy the heavy sales approach. But the thing is, us consumers are getting smart to that. The chuggers don’t seem to go in for supplying a guilt trip. It’s now all I’m-your-friend handshake-handshake smile-smile. Or (from a male perspective), when you tell a female chugger that, no, I don’t have time to stop right now, you get a drop of the hip, tilt of the head, finger twirling the hair, “that’s a shame” response. Gee… either I am irresistible or — and I think we have to consider this as a realistic option — it’s just another nasty sales technique.
So apologies to any chuggers that approach me: you’ll get a polite but firm “no” just as a matter of principle regardless of your charity. I considered making a t-shirt to that effect, but realized it’d only attract them.