On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:
Had a terrific phone call today -

I very, very rarely get unsolicited phone calls due to being
ex-directory, TPS-registered, and through use of a free VOIP voicmail
number which gets given out to pretty well anybody other than personal
contacts who 'needs' a number to contact me on.

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day. These are not the ones
rattling a collection tin for the Sally Army, but ones who are highly
professional sales types who want nothing less than a direct debit from you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline. Yesterday's
had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a magazine cover with
a small, mournful-looking black face on at me before I just said 'sorry,
not interested' and shut the door on him, and I was rewarded with a
practised look of utter disgust and contempt as he turned away. Really
****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my desk fizzing for about an hour
afterwards regretting that I hadn't gone after him and given him a piece
of my mind. (But he had a much better gift of the gab than me, so I
doubt I'd have felt any better for doing so). I either need to develop
a thicker skin, or buy a CCTV so I can see who's knocking at the door...

David

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:
Had a terrific phone call today -

I very, very rarely get unsolicited phone calls due to being
ex-directory, TPS-registered, and through use of a free VOIP voicmail
number which gets given out to pretty well anybody other than personal
contacts who 'needs' a number to contact me on.

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day. These are not the ones
rattling a collection tin for the Sally Army, but ones who are highly
professional sales types who want nothing less than a direct debit from
you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline. Yesterday's
had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a magazine cover with
a small, mournful-looking black face on at me before I just said 'sorry,
not interested' and shut the door on him, and I was rewarded with a
practised look of utter disgust and contempt as he turned away. Really
****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my desk fizzing for about an hour
afterwards regretting that I hadn't gone after him and given him a piece
of my mind. (But he had a much better gift of the gab than me, so I
doubt I'd have felt any better for doing so). I either need to develop
a thicker skin, or buy a CCTV so I can see who's knocking at the door...

David

Round here, it's like a commando raid. Car pulls up, 5 get out, and they
hit the doors in unison - I've watched them actually wait till they are
all up the paths, so they ring together. Macmillan that was. Personally I
find it despicable that charities are allowed to lend their name to these
fund raising *companies*. I bet that the companies contract gives them
the first x% of a sign-up, so if someone cancels the DD after a month,
the company gets paid, not the charity.

Great line, from Steve Hughes :

Friend: Don't give that beggar any money - he'll only spend it on drink
and drugs.
SH: Hell, what do you think I was going to spend it on.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

I believe the word "chunt" is an acceptable alternative.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:16:32 GMT
Jethro wrote:

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:
Had a terrific phone call today -

I very, very rarely get unsolicited phone calls due to being
ex-directory, TPS-registered, and through use of a free VOIP
voicmail number which gets given out to pretty well anybody other
than personal contacts who 'needs' a number to contact me on.

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few
weeks, the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity
muggers, for the uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.
These are not the ones rattling a collection tin for the Sally
Army, but ones who are highly professional sales types who want
nothing less than a direct debit from you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline.
Yesterday's had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a
magazine cover with a small, mournful-looking black face on at me
before I just said 'sorry, not interested' and shut the door on
him, and I was rewarded with a practised look of utter disgust and
contempt as he turned away. Really ****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my
desk fizzing for about an hour afterwards regretting that I hadn't
gone after him and given him a piece of my mind. (But he had a
much better gift of the gab than me, so I doubt I'd have felt any
better for doing so). I either need to develop a thicker skin, or
buy a CCTV so I can see who's knocking at the door...

David

Round here, it's like a commando raid. Car pulls up, 5 get out, and
they hit the doors in unison - I've watched them actually wait till
they are all up the paths, so they ring together. Macmillan that was.
Personally I find it despicable that charities are allowed to lend
their name to these fund raising *companies*. I bet that the
companies contract gives them the first x% of a sign-up, so if
someone cancels the DD after a month, the company gets paid, not the
charity.

Great line, from Steve Hughes :

Friend: Don't give that beggar any money - he'll only spend it on
drink and drugs.
SH: Hell, what do you think I was going to spend it on.

That sounds like George Best's apocryphal comment on his lost millions:

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just
squandered.
George Best

I used to go missing a lot... Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss
World.
George Best

I've stopped drinking, but only while I'm asleep.
George Best

In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my
life.
George Best

I once said Gazza's IQ was less than his shirt number and he asked me:
"What's an IQ?"
George Best, Best on Paul Gascoigne.

I was in for 10 hours and had 40 pints - beating my previous record by
20 minutes.
George Best, regarding a blood transfusion for his liver transplant

--
Davey.

On 2012-02-24, Jethro wrote:

Great line, from Steve Hughes :

Friend: Don't give that beggar any money - he'll only spend it on drink
and drugs.
SH: Hell, what do you think I was going to spend it on.

The version I've heard was supposed to be a true story about JRR
Tolkien and CS Lewis walking through Oxford. Lewis gave a beggar all
his change, and then Tolkien said, "He'll just spend it on drink."

Lewis said, "That's what I was going to spend it on."

On 24/02/2012 12:16, Jethro wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:
Had a terrific phone call today -

I very, very rarely get unsolicited phone calls due to being
ex-directory, TPS-registered, and through use of a free VOIP voicmail
number which gets given out to pretty well anybody other than personal
contacts who 'needs' a number to contact me on.

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day. These are not the ones
rattling a collection tin for the Sally Army, but ones who are highly
professional sales types who want nothing less than a direct debit from
you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline. Yesterday's
had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a magazine cover with
a small, mournful-looking black face on at me before I just said 'sorry,
not interested' and shut the door on him, and I was rewarded with a
practised look of utter disgust and contempt as he turned away. Really
****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my desk fizzing for about an hour
afterwards regretting that I hadn't gone after him and given him a piece
of my mind. (But he had a much better gift of the gab than me, so I
doubt I'd have felt any better for doing so). I either need to develop
a thicker skin, or buy a CCTV so I can see who's knocking at the door...

David

Round here, it's like a commando raid. Car pulls up, 5 get out, and they
hit the doors in unison - I've watched them actually wait till they are
all up the paths, so they ring together. Macmillan that was. Personally I
find it despicable that charities are allowed to lend their name to these
fund raising *companies*. I bet that the companies contract gives them
the first x% of a sign-up, so if someone cancels the DD after a month,
the company gets paid, not the charity.

It can be instructive to try and find out what percentage of the money
actually goes to the charity in question. It can be shockingly low...


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:18:33 +0000, Huge wrote:

On 2012-02-24, Jethro wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

I believe the word "chunt" is an acceptable alternative.

LOL. I *like* that. Consider it adopted.

I have to be fair, I first heard Sean Lock use it, on "Lockipedia"

In article , Huge
writes
On 2012-02-24, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

Ahh, another disadvantage of living in a town/urban area/city. The
most we get are a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses's about every three
years.

In 18 years we've had one religious based unsolicited caller. The conversation
went "Him: Do you want to let Jesus Christ into your life? Me: No. [slam]"

It was really worth schlepping down half a mile of potholes for that, wasn't
it?



Several years ago I was stopped in the street by the mormons or
witnesses and asked if I knew anyone who wanted to talk about jesus, so
I pointed to the church just around the corner, and suggested they might
find someone there. I don't think it was the answer they were looking
for.


Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "news" with "adrian" and "nospam" with "ffoil"
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:23:09 +0000, Huge wrote:

On 2012-02-24, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

Ahh, another disadvantage of living in a town/urban area/city. The most
we get are a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses's about every three years.

In 18 years we've had one religious based unsolicited caller. The
conversation went "Him: Do you want to let Jesus Christ into your life?
Me: No. [slam]"

It was really worth schlepping down half a mile of potholes for that,
wasn't it?

On the topic of good responses (I usually fail in that regards but ...)

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

PYT: We'd like to talk to you about peace!

Me: Oh Good can you leave me in it!

PYT: ...

Me: closes door and realise I actually won that one :-)

Avpx

(1) Pretty Young Thing

On Feb 24, 3:15*pm, The Nomad wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:23:09 +0000, Huge wrote:
On 2012-02-24, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

Ahh, another disadvantage of living in a town/urban area/city. The most
we get are a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses's about every three years.

In 18 years we've had one religious based unsolicited caller. The
conversation went "Him: Do you want to let Jesus Christ into your life?
Me: No. [slam]"

It was really worth schlepping down half a mile of potholes for that,
wasn't it?

On the topic of good responses (I usually fail in that regards but ...)

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

PYT: We'd like to talk to you about peace!

Me: Oh Good can you leave me in it!

PYT: ...

Me: closes door and realise I actually won that one :-)


You mean you haven't heard of the Jehovah's Nymphomaniacs? You idiot!

--
Halmyre

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:15:09 -0600, The Nomad
wrote:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

PYT: We'd like to talk to you about peace!

They were from the Peas Marketing Board.

The Nomad wrote:

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

PYT: We'd like to talk to you about peace!

Me: Oh Good can you leave me in it!

(1) Pretty Young Thing

My response to a similar opener was "Yes, isn't it interesting
that most of the world's conflicts seem to be down to organised
religion?"

They wriggled a bit, but didn't really take the discussion
anywhere.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

Adam Funk wrote:
On 2012-02-24, Jethro wrote:

Great line, from Steve Hughes :

Friend: Don't give that beggar any money - he'll only spend it on drink
and drugs.
SH: Hell, what do you think I was going to spend it on.

The version I've heard was supposed to be a true story about JRR
Tolkien and CS Lewis walking through Oxford. Lewis gave a beggar all
his change, and then Tolkien said, "He'll just spend it on drink."

Lewis said, "That's what I was going to spend it on."

Version I saw was a TV sketch (Rikki Fulton's Scotch and Wry) many
years ago - a couple in an off-licence, loading up with beer, wine,
port, brandy, whisky, gin, the lot. As they're leaving the shop a down-
and-out approaches (possibly Gregor Fisher as a Rab Nesbitt prototype)
and asks for spare change for a cup of tea.

Woman says "Oh, don't give it to him, he'll only spend it on drink!"

--
Halmyre

On 24/02/2012 15:15, The Nomad wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:23:09 +0000, Huge wrote:

On 2012-02-24, Dave wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:38:41 +0000, Lobster wrote:

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day.

Ahh, another disadvantage of living in a town/urban area/city. The most
we get are a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses's about every three years.

In 18 years we've had one religious based unsolicited caller. The
conversation went "Him: Do you want to let Jesus Christ into your life?
Me: No. [slam]"

It was really worth schlepping down half a mile of potholes for that,
wasn't it?

On the topic of good responses (I usually fail in that regards but ...)

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

They might have scarpered more quickly if you hadn't, though...

On Feb 24, 11:38*am, Lobster wrote:
On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:


However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day. *These are not the ones
rattling a collection tin for the Sally Army, but ones who are highly
professional sales types who want nothing less than a direct debit from you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline.

I used to feel guilty as well until I realised they are being paid to
do this. They aren't volunteers working for their favourite charity.

*Yesterday's
had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a magazine cover with
a small, mournful-looking black face on at me before I just said 'sorry,
not interested' and shut the door on him, and I was rewarded with a
practised look of utter disgust and contempt as he turned away.

That's exactly what I do now, and I always get the same pained
expression in reponse. Maybe they go on training courses on how to
make people feel guilty and change their minds.

Robert

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:04:05 +0000, Lobster wrote:

On 24/02/2012 15:15, The Nomad wrote:


snippage


On the topic of good responses (I usually fail in that regards but ...)

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

They might have scarpered more quickly if you hadn't, though...

Oi! Who's been peeking??

8-)

Avpx

On Feb 24, 1:14*pm, John Rumm wrote:
On 24/02/2012 12:16, Jethro wrote:

It can be instructive to try and find out what percentage of the
money
actually goes to the charity in question. It can be shockingly low...


£40-60 is paid to the collector-company for each sign up, says the
Guardian.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007...oluntarysector


Robert

On 24/02/2012 17:19, RobertL wrote:
On Feb 24, 1:14 pm, John wrote:
On 24/02/2012 12:16, Jethro wrote:

It can be instructive to try and find out what percentage of the
money
actually goes to the charity in question. It can be shockingly low...


£40-60 is paid to the collector-company for each sign up, says the
Guardian.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007...oluntarysector

They often get an ongoing percentage as well - or it would be more fair
to say the charity get an ongoing percentage!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Feb 24, 11:38*am, Lobster wrote:


They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline. *Yesterday's
had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a magazine cover with
a small, mournful-looking black face on at me before I just said 'sorry,
not interested' and shut the door on him, and I was rewarded with a
practised look of utter disgust and contempt as he turned away. *Really
****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my desk fizzing for about an hour
afterwards regretting that I hadn't gone after him and given him a piece
of my mind. *(But he had a much better gift of the gab than me, so I
doubt I'd have felt any better for doing so). *I either need to develop
a thicker skin, or buy a CCTV so I can see who's knocking at the door...


I answered the door one day and the chap said "I've come to test drive
the Alfa" (pointing at my car). Dopey me looks puzzled and starts to
explain that it's not for sale, at which point he holds up his hands
and says "OK, I'm joking, what I'm really here for is to collect
for"...fx:MASSIVE ****-OFF DOOR SLAM...

--
Halmyre

In message
,
Halmyre writes
On Feb 24, 3:15*pm, The Nomad wrote:

Me: closes door and realise I actually won that one :-)

You mean you haven't heard of the Jehovah's Nymphomaniacs? You idiot!

I thought that was the Mormons?

Whatever became of Joyce McKinney? :-)
--
Graeme

In message , Lobster
writes
On 23/02/2012 23:26, brass monkey wrote:
Had a terrific phone call today -

I very, very rarely get unsolicited phone calls due to being
ex-directory, TPS-registered, and through use of a free VOIP voicmail
number which gets given out to pretty well anybody other than personal
contacts who 'needs' a number to contact me on.

However - having had a spate of home-working over the last few weeks,
the new bane of my life seems to be chuggers (charity muggers, for the
uninitiated) coming to the door during the day. These are not the ones
rattling a collection tin for the Sally Army, but ones who are highly
professional sales types who want nothing less than a direct debit from you.

They have all the tricks to get you talking/interested/heartstrings
tugged, and to make you feel guilty as hell if you decline.
Yesterday's had just opened his mouth and thrust the photo of a
magazine cover with a small, mournful-looking black face on at me
before I just said 'sorry, not interested' and shut the door on him,
and I was rewarded with a practised look of utter disgust and contempt
as he turned away. Really ****ed me off, TBH; I sat at my desk fizzing
for about an hour afterwards regretting that I hadn't gone after him
and given him a piece of my mind. (But he had a much better gift of
the gab than me, so I doubt I'd have felt any better for doing so). I
either need to develop a thicker skin, or buy a CCTV so I can see who's
knocking at the door...

David

I had a pair of them recently, young male and a female, trying to get me
to sign up for donations to a local group that looked after local
disadvantaged and handicapped children. They had a very good patter and
went on for ages. Trouble was that they seemed very short of local
knowledge and eventually admitted they had no direct knowledge of the
subject. It didn't help them that my wife and I offer respite care and
fostering for the local SS and definitely knew more than these 2 kids
did. They left empty handed.

Interestingly they gave the line that my neighbours had all signed up,
none of those I spoke to had, so if they are going to lie about one
thing, what else do they lie about?





--
Bill

Halmyre wrote:

I answered the door one day and the chap said "I've come to test drive
the Alfa" (pointing at my car). Dopey me looks puzzled and starts to
explain that it's not for sale, at which point he holds up his hands
and says "OK, I'm joking, what I'm really here for is to collect
for"...fx:MASSIVE ****-OFF DOOR SLAM...

A few days after I'd taken delivery of a new car, I'm outside in the
garage tidying-up when Seamus appears, announces he's in the area having
finished a driveway for Mrs mumble down the road then proceeds to slap
the grittiest scratchiest plastic folder of photos in the world onto my
gleaming bonnet ... boy did he leave quickly?

In article ,
Chris J Dixon writes:
The Nomad wrote:

Many years ago, on a Sunday am (early-ish) I was just coming downstairs
to make a brew of coffee and the door bell rang:

On the doorstep were two PYTs(1) (good job I'd bothered to put some
clothes on)

PYT: We'd like to talk to you about peace!

Me: Oh Good can you leave me in it!

(1) Pretty Young Thing

My response to a similar opener was "Yes, isn't it interesting
that most of the world's conflicts seem to be down to organised
religion?"

I've used a similar one, that most of the world's conflicts are
due to people trying to force their religion onto others.

They wriggled a bit, but didn't really take the discussion
anywhere.

First time, I was there for half an hour arguing on the doorstep.
It was an excellent intellectual experience and a superb argument,
but not one worth wasting any more time on.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]