To Dislike chuggers!

[geekone]

I know they are just doing their job but seriously! 1. No you cannot borrow 5 mins of my time unless you can somehow give me it back. 2. I am working not on mumsnet 3. I give to charity, no not yours. 4. Bloody leave me alone.

I know IABU probably

I find they wont shut up and without being rude, you just cannot get a word in. I think this is a tactic to gain a foothold, people are sometimes reluctant to be "rude" by butting in. I shut the door on them now, mid speech.

I agree, I've always assumed this was a deliberate tactic, and I don't like to shut the door on someone mid-sentence as it does feel a bit rude. They talk for ages without stopping though then all the heat and the cat goes out the front door. DP has no such qualms though and just gives them a firm no thank you then shuts it!

They were a plague in our town centre, a small stretch of high street and you were pestered by around 12 people, there were hundreds of complaints to the council and there are now considerably less of them.

They spoil everyone's fun - I am so used to being chugged I very nearly ignored a poor woman yesterday who was only asking me for directions.

Vote with your cash - don't support charities who use them.

Yanbu. In my town centre, it is like walking down a gauntlet and they just walk out in front of you. I tell them that I'm 17. I do support charities but the ones that mean the most to me. I know they're just doing their job but people have a right to be able to walk down the High Street without being pestered and like a pp says you don't know what's going on in someone's life.

I had one stop me once while I was running for a bus with a yelling baby in a carrier on my front. And he didn’t just call, he actually jumped out in front of me waving an arm. Grr.

I hate it, there are many vulnerable people out there that end up getting caught up in this stuff and it shouldn't be allowed. I particularly object to them knocking on your door.

I use a spiel I picked up on MN a few years ago (thank you to whoever posted it in the first place!). I always say I have sorted my donations and direct debits for 2017 but I will definitely add them to the list to research when I’m making my choices for my 2018 donations. They are always polite to me and I am always polite back. Maybe it varies from area to area.

Most of them in Bristol are annoying middle class students, who are very arrogant. I bit ones head off a month ago, when he told my brother to "not be so miserable" and then started being a tosser. Brother had just had a breakdown and we were on the way to the doctor to get him a referral to a psychiatrist. A stupid comment like that could of tipped my brother or someone else over the edge. I informed him that he had better not still be there when we came out the doctors. Unsurprisingly he wasn't.

I had one guy try to follow me to work, fuck off! Annother jumped on front of me as I was rushing for a bus as my father had just died and I was trying to get to my hometown. I couldn’t speak with rage and actually shoved her so hard she fell on her arse!

I cross the street to avoid them usually. But often, they fucking follow me. It should be illegal.

DH had issues a few years back with some guy who was collecting for Cancer research or some cancer charity. The guy shook the bucket in DHs face when DH tried to walk past and actually yelled at him 'do you really not care about people with cancer' a few days after DHs grandad died of cancer. Absolute arsehole.

I got nabbed in Clapham junction on a split shift by an animal charity. I was running for the train & the chap deliberately obstructed me to tell me all about the poor suffering animals. When I pointed out I was en route to the SAME CHARITYS VETERINARY HOSPITAL to assist them with a number of emergencies & had now missed the train because of him, he got quite abusive. Never mind my bag containing various crap a vet needs was labelled with another well known animal charity logo with "veterinary surgeon" written on it.

The ones on Grafton St in Dublin are ninjas. I swear they should be entered for wrestling or the speed walking at the Olympics.

Rant over.

It won't be long before the practice is banned.

I remember the sad story about the old lady that committed suicide because the more she gave, the more she was harassed as the charities shared her information around. I think her family found letters a mails shots from over 50 different charities in her home.

The ones that try and stop in you in the high street - basically I don't let them intimidate me into avoiding them or changing my direction - if they say something stupid to me like ' do you care about children's health , sir' ,' , I just glare at them .

Our cul-de-sac is a cold calling free zone ( signs up etc), so any cold callers or canvassers risk serious sanctions if the attempt it.

Yes, it's a job, but it's also quite a lucrative one for the shameless, dignity free money grabbers that do it. There are other jobs that don't involve harassing the public.

The sooner charities realise that it gives them nothing but bad publicity, the better.

It used to be in the fundraising standards guidelines that they can only follow someone by four steps (I think? I used to know this properly ages ago) so if they approached me, I used to say “careful: I’d class that as five steps” and they’d either panic if they knew about the rule or look so perplexed that if gave me time to run away!

I dislike the use of chuggers but for me the absolute worst was when I was walking down the high street with my great aunt, who suffers from dementia. She has always been generous (more than she can afford) and now of course with her dementia she is in a very vulnerable position. She had already given a few pound coins to a Big Issue seller we walked past (fine, no problem with that), but then we walked past a chugger and I said 'No thank you' on behalf of us both, kind of steering us away. The chugger told me off for speaking for her and tried to butt in and engage with her. Of course this put me in a very difficult position as I couldn't very well reveal my aunt's medical details, which would have been embarrassing and upsetting for her. So I just kind of muttered that we were in a rush, and pushed on.
If my great aunt had been walking down the street alone, I have no doubt that she would have set up a generous direct debit within seconds. It was disgraceful.

Puddleducks I didn't know that rule! Classic, I'll remember that one.

I studiously avoid making any kind of eye contact and it usually works.

Otherwise I just say "not interested" and walk on.

What's really annoying is when you have to walk somewhere and you avoid them first time but then you realise you need to walk back the same way and run the gauntlet again!

I always with utter politeness say "I'm very sorry, I don't speak English" - this shuts them up.

I would be very reluctant to give to charities that use chuggers.

Yanbu, in September we had one on our close, I was weeding the front garden so saw her going round the houses, I am the youngest person on our street by about 30 years, the way she kept putting pressure on one of my elderly neighbours was awful, it came to a point where I had to go over and intervene. If someone declines they should just move on

I normally manage to be polite when saying no, but I really dislike being impugned on the street. Like the other poster who described walking down her local high street as ‘running the gauntlet’.

I feel that it’s such an invasion of privacy. Why should I have to explain to somebody why I won’t be stopping to talk to them, when I’m running to catch a train for example?

I just tell them i dont have a uk bank account. They have no idea what to say to that.

I have found as I have got older and my bladder weaker that all I have to say is I am on the way to the nearest public toilet and please do not stop me or I will pee on your feet. Never fails!

I was once running for mynonce hourly bus (I lived in the sticks) and one chap said ‘do you have a few minutes to talk about....insert sob story here!...’. Do I look like I have all the time in the world mate, said ‘no thanks I have 4 minutes to get my bus!’ His response ‘i’ll Only take 2!’ No no no I said no!!!!

I say politely: "I have already arranged my charitable giving for this year [next year if late in the year] but I will bear your charity in mind for the year after." That's always seemed effective.

I dislike the job they're having to do, especially as they're commission based. So they'll try any persuasion technique possible, including pressurisation to donate. It's down to what charity they may donate to.

However, I really dislike those individuals who sell wristbands or puzzle books for 'charity'- I feel sorry for those who actually fall for their scam 😞

That should say: it's down to the individual to what charity they may donate to.

Not all chuggers are comission based. Many r on a basic wage. I always ask. As by fundraising standards they have to say where the donation is going and who they work for. There are very strict regulations on how charities fundraise. Please be polite to fundraisers as they are human just like you. They probably hate their jobs but we all have you pay the bills.