To detest charity muggers...

[pecanpie]

You know, the ones who accost you on the street for £2/month where over half goes into administration costs. I feel like I am running the gauntlet every time I walk from the tube station to work. There was even an attempt to accost me between the Royal Free Hospital and the tube station - it's not even in Central London! Even worse, I now get similar house calls. I can't escape these 'chuggers' and above all, think it's so intrusive that they come after me at home - literally like being mugged on your doorstep! Whatever happened to good old junk mail?

Should be illegal in my opinion...Anyone willing to help me mount a campaign?!

I think they must recruit outside crappy stage schools.
They think it's a 'gig' and perhaps if they really emote the cause, a Lloyd Webber might spot them.

Bleugh.

I'm afraid I employ the "stare ahead into the distance" or "opposite side of the street" avoidance technique. Another one I use is to catch up to a group of people and match pace with that group until you are past the danger.

If all that fails, the old "Just had a text message come through" head down technique works on some.

They are a nuisance. I hate going into any town centre now.

belledechocchipcookie - same here in Bristol - I can't even pop out for a sandwich without getting accosted by them and they are so rude! Defo not worth the £7.50 ph they're getting paid!

I can't bear walking through my high street now - buskers, big issue sellers, charity tins, questionnaires. I don't wish to be mean, but I give to charity via direct debit. I'm fed up of having to stop every 10 seconds and say "no thank you, no really I'm in a rush, no I have to go" .

SugarPasteFrog, I don't blame you! I have complained about chugger behaviour in the past, the majority aren't bastards but the visible few spoil it. I handle complaints at out charity, and I've have someone like that fired.

Tell them you are not a UK resident.

I used to be quite sanguine about it. I would happily give them the spiel - IgivebyDDalreadytoseveralcharitiesandIcant'tafford anymorethankyouverymuch. But I am getting a bit fed up with having to do it now. There were 5 NSPCC chuggers in our high street on saturday - it was like bloody space invaders! Not to mention one of them charmers actually muttered 'yeah right' at me after I had explained and I was walking away. Twat!

I was approached by one today inside bloody Tesco .

He did not get a donation just an earful

I tell them I'm under 16.

I'm actually 34 and am sure that I look at leas t30, especially when I have 10yo dd with me. But it shuts them up and they don't know what to say.

I always pretend to be on the phone when I walk past them. Although once my phone rang whilst I was having a pretend conversation. Which was embarassing so now I call my voicemail and have a conversation with that instead.

I lie about already giving a donation to the charity.

You could tell them that you already donate to X charity You shouldn't have to do this though, people should be free to walk through their city centre without drunks/people preaching about god/chuggers etc.

A mormon stopped me last week, I explained I was in a hurry to get home (which I was, I'm a very busy woman) and he offered to walk home with me

I am a bit evil as I was out with my mum a while back she is a wheelchair user , and one of these people jumped in front of me and said "good morning I am collecting for the disabled" I replied "oh good how much will you give me for her" his face was delightful and we wondered off

redexpat, I used to do that! 'Sorry I don't live over here, I'm just visiting'. One of the few times my accent is useful.

I just do the ...or I say I don't have to time..but they do piss me off

I too do the "im on the 'phone" thing, which annoys me that I feel that I have to do it but I cannot be bothered to explain to some crusty dreadlocked tabard wearing do gooding for money sweaty chugger that I can't bloody afford it AND if I could I don't give out bank details in the street AND if I did I would have to make an informed decision about which charity I felt able to support. and breathe.

When my niece was v small we did lots of charity events for her in our local supermarket, dressing up, dad sitting in a bath of beans, then custard etc. The number of people who literally told me to fuck off (I was approx 14/15 yo) as I stood there with my ickle (not jingling) bucket was overwhelming. Yet I pretend to be on the 'phone when I pass a chugger .

DP is a charity membership officer and I still hate this.

The worst was, oddly, a Buddhist monk who deliberately moved to block me when I was going for a train - I swerved - he blocked me again - I said 'Sorry not interested' and moved - he blocked me a THIRD time and said,

'Wrong! You're supposed to say, wow a real Buddhist monk, cool!'

I don't think I have ever used such language to a religious person before or since. It took me so long that I nearly missed my train...

YANBU - I really really find it annoying and it makes me feel a little angry that I can't walk down the high street unhassled by these people. I actively avoide their eyes, drop my gaze and rush past as quick as possible. It actually really puts me off signing up for the charity...I feel like, 'who the hell are you to accost me in the street hassling for money'

I find the best tactic is to meet their gaze, smile broadly and walk towards them as though they're a long-lost friend. Then at the last possible second when they think you're a prime victim prospect walk briskly past while trilling a cheery 'Not today, thanks!'.

It means they don't have time to change tactics before you're safely out of range

Waving my bigmac in their face while speedwalking and telling them I only have half hours lunch and Ive spent 15 minutes of it queuing in McDonalds usually works.
Also the "I'm on my lunchhour sorry" while breezily walking past pushing the pushchair and dragging DS along behind me confuses them long enough for me to make my getaway.

I'm always threatening to look them in the eye and say in my best Kate Winslet/Joanna Lumley plummy British accent 'I'm sorry, I don't speak English'

But I haven't developed the balls to do that yet - I normally just blank them or give them my old 'I'm a goth, fuck you' look from my teenage days.

YA So NBU. I am astounded to hear, onemorning, that charities find them worthwhile as EVERYONE I know, myself included, is now less likely to give money to a charity they represent as a result of their constant harassment. I shop in a small town in Surrey near us, not even in London or a city centre, and it is like a bloody assault course every single time just to get from the carpark across the street where they all hang out. What REALLY, REALLY, REALLY winds me up (sorry to shout but this really pisses me off) is that, when I am on my own, I get mild harassment. When I am pushing a buggy and with children, I see them clock me from all the way down the road and they literally fall over themselves in a desperate bid to reach me first - presumably because they think I will be a soft touch and will respond to their rehearsed sob stories about abandoned puppies and small children and give them all my money.

I know they are just students/jobbing actors/musician etc just trying to make some money but I just find it obscene how they fake concern and pretend they really care about the plight of children/animals/old people whoever so much when it is all just a job for them.

The other thing I find offensive is the insult to my intelligence - if I wanted to donate money to a charity, I am quite capable of googling them (or phoning them) and doing it in my own time, under no pressure, from the comfort of my own home. I am not unsympathetic to the causes of the charities they represent, at all, and do donate money to charities I feel a particular affiliation with - but I will be damned if I will ever donate to a charity that employs people to harass, intimidate, block, delay and irritate me while I am trying to go about my business - so I agree, they do themselves no favours.

Chunts indeed!

I cancelled my DD with because of their use of chuggers.

One of those little beasts in a green tabard with a matching green clipboard jumped out in front of me in the high street on Saturday and said "do you have five minutes?" so I said "not for you, I don't" and walked on. I then had to explain to DS why I'd been rude to her, so perhaps not the best thing to do, but it did stop her in her tracks.