to not want to run the gauntlet every bloody morning

[mayfridaycomequickly]

I commute to my local city for work - getting off the train just before 8am. This morning I had to wade past
-4 excitable people manning a PDSA stall complete with fake dog trying to beckon me to sign up

• 3 people begging
• 4 people trying to push their religious brochures (spaced out within a 1 minute walk - both sides of the pavement)
• 2 people trying to give away free magazines. They're there every day with the same magazines and they're getting increasingly pushy - they come right up to you, wave it and yell 'but it's free' if you say 'no thanks'

I'm willing to accept that iabu but it's really irritating first thing on a morning. 2 days a week I take my son on the commute... cue pdsa people trying to beckon him over (he's 3). This morning the religious people with the brochures were stood practically on the nursery doorstep.

The answer to that kungfupanda is

Well , my children aren't starving and I don't care about anybody else's

Smile and move on leaving them open mouthed in shock and horror

Disclaimer . Not completely true

YANBU. Hate it when it happens to me. When I was a bit younger, I used to take advantage of when they asked if I was over 18 by saying no quickly stuck my hand in my pocket to hide wedding ring. I had one who kept trying, saying "oh it's only one less drink on a friday, one less cigarette" etc. I lost my temper a bit - at that point I was the only income as my DH was a student, we couldn't afford to go out drinking, I don't smoke.

I also once pretended not to speak English by saying a few words in Spanish (I had a Spanish newspaper with me...needed for college), maybe you should do that!

YANBU - it's annoying at any time let alone 8am in the morning!

I hate it when I go to the local supermarket and there are: people selling SKY, RAC, double glazing; chuggers who want to pack your bags; worst of all was the Slimming World promoter who I swear was looking at me like I was a suitable candidate for her group!

I saw a tip on here a couple of years ago, just a simple 'sorry I don't speak English' should suffice.

I perfected my nonchalant if you talk to me again I'll rip your left kidney out look. And when you get the 'do you care about ending cancer in children' ones a simple fuck off suffices.

Once I put on my best manager voice and look, and asked if there are any other areas of his life where he'd keep pestering someone, even after they've said no. That did shut him up. It's just so annoying getting aggressive and persistent chuggers, meaning you can't walk from one end of the high street to the other.

'Do you care enough about starving children to stop for 5 seconds?'

"No".

Don't engage with them. I rarely get bothered by these kind of people because I just don't give them an 'in'.

I got so incensed by a particularly aggressive Red Cross chugger who literally shouted abuse down the street after me when I failed to stop that I rang the charity up and told them that he had put me off ever supporting them again. ( I organised a work coffee morning every year for them) obviously I didn't really stop supporting them but they were v apologetic and told me that chuggers are not supposed to be 'intrusive' pah!

Rushys that wouldn't have been in Glasgow by any chance? I reported one of their chuggers for shouting 'walk on by old woman' to a pensioner who declined to engage.
There were so many chuggers on the main thoroughfare to where I worked that it made nipping out to the shops at lunch a blood pressure trebling experience.

That sounds very annoying! I particularly hate those people who harass commuters and the general public to sign up for charity donations when they are being paid to do it. I second headphones!

YANBU

I categorically can't stand chuggers, my town centre has a really long street running through it and they crawling all over it.

pretend to be from overseas? practice random phrases in different languages and walk faster?

seriously though i got this in my town i wore my earphones so they shoved there face in mine i screamed so loud i swear the entire town looked at them i was so avoided for months!

you could borrow my son he is being spectacularly sick at the moment it really flies out of the end of the pushchair should put them off? maybe?

(before anyone reports me im joking!)

YANBU this is so frustrating!

Every morning on my commute I am faced with charity muggers at the train station with their annoyingly upbeat "Hi how are you today- can I borrow you for 2 minutes?!" Which is roughly translated as "do you want to hear some facts for a minute or so and then hand over your bank details to me- person I've just met and never seen before?" I have no problem giving to charity and do so regularly but to the charitys that I choose to give to- not ones that approach me in a train station or when I'm shopping in Quality Save like when the British Heart Foundation collared me as I was leaving! Hopefully this isn't the start of a new trend as it would actually put me off going in certain shops!

The Jehovah's Witnesses have become a common sight on the streets of the city in which I work but as I understand it they're not allowed to approach people? They've certainly never spoken to me and I've never seen them speaking to passers-by (and I pass them twice a day). The charity muggers on the other hand walk out of their way to stand in my path- grrrr!

One Sat. around xmas DH and i were so pissed off at being accosted by charity workers while out and about that morning, that later in the evening i emailed Tesco customer services for a moan.

3 out of the 8 times that we had been approached that morning had been inside ONE Tesco store. Once in the foyer, once in the store and once again as we left the till. Different charities.

I got a call back for Tesco who said they'd look into it as their policy was usually to only allow one active charity collector onsite at a time. The store manager was responsible. Next time we visited there was only the one in the foyer.

Doesn't help you, OP, i know, sorry.. Just telling the tale.

Yes, my usual response to the chuggers is 'nope' but it's still irritating!

I think I am very anti-chuggers generally after an unfortunate experience in London when I was walking to my office and a particularly pushy regular local chugger came barrelling along the road, clearly late for her slot, and managed to completely flatten me - properly flat on my back on the street. And then she fell over me and bumped her knee and went on like I'd try to kill her.

ignores the fact this had nothing to do with her being a chugger and continues with irrational hatred

I find it frustrating when this happens as I was brought up to acknowledge people and be sociable, but I'm not setting up a direct debit on a street. I find the chuggers are often v.fake if not rude. Ignoring is the only viable option I've found which I hate to do. It's sad.

I was giving a 'find left' hand signal to my guide dog the other day, and some cheeky fucker shoved a leaflet for a local restaurant into my hand! They stop at nothing!

'Do you care enough about starving children to stop for 5 seconds?'

"Well if they'd eaten their vegetables instead of throwing them on the floor and moaning for pudding they wouldn't be starving would they?"

Lol marbles! That's incredible!

You know that bit at the start of the Muppet Christmas Carol:

'There goes Mr Humbug
There goes Mr Mean'

And Michael Caine sweeps past, causing charity collectors to jump back in fear?

That's me that is.

I used to try and be polite, but it then becomes really hard to back away...I wouldn't say I'm rude now, but I say say "no thanks" and carry on walking and it seems to work...

MichaelCaine - I know! I was so startled, I think I may have said 'thank you' which is rather annoying!

Many years ago, back when I was young and quick-of-thought, we were chugged as we came out of Heal's on Tottenham Court Road. It was for some overseas aid type charity and the chugger had a large leaflet with a picture of an elderly lady.

He spotted our 'posh' shopping bags and pounced on us saying, "Don't you want to support poor grannies in the Third World?"

I replied, "I am supporting a poor granny in the Third World - mine!"

As the chugged approaches I shake my head and say NO and that does the trick.

• chugger DAMN auto-correct

I pretend I'm famous, or the glamorous accessory to a particularly juicy scandal. Doesn't make them go away but it does put a spring in the step

Why are they called chuggers? Never heard this before.