AIBU to feel harassed by charity chuggers targeting women in public?

[Bertiebiscuit]

I'm so sick of male charity chuggers, i watch them always bear down on older lone women - the "Dorothy Donor" stereotype is still operating i guess- i am on a fixed income, cannot afford to give money to charities, although I'm a regular buyer in charity shops and always donate goods when i have a clear out. As if i would give out my card details in public anyway, they must think we're stupid! And all that fake "charming" act they put on - hello 'young' lady, i like your hat/coat/haircut blah blah 🤮. Long story short i ignore them and march past,but lately several have felt they can shout snarky comments as i walk away, basically is amounting to street harassment,bog standard male bullsh*t and entitlement. I confess that the most recent one i gave him the finger. I feel as though I'm just prey, as women and girls always seem to be, and it makes me furious.

It should be outlawed it just annoys people. I also wonder how effective it actually is for the charity? If they were just collecting a donation I'd be much more likely to actually engage. I don't want a ten minute presentation than a £20 donation extracted monthly for life.

I’m not rude to them, but in my experience ‘no thank you’ is often NOT effective with these people.

I take it you’re not a willowy young damsel?

I hate them too- the best thing to say to them is "I already have a direct debit set up to your charity". They have literally nothing to say to that - they cant prove you're lying and there is no point them signing you up if you tell them you already donate PLUS you can say it loudly and look like lady charitable to every passer by who hears it. Also, they are kind of obliged to say thank you because otherwise they're being rude to their own customers.

Works every time. They go completely silent and give me a little half smile and a thank you and I carry on my merry way knowing I am secretly thinking fuck you.

I either spout off at them in German - because it sounds terrifying, just asking for a cuppa in German! Especially with a cross face.
Or if they’re the “complimentary kind” you know; hi young lady, nice hat/scarf/shoes, I always say “oh yes, you can buy it from really obscure website it’s nice isn’t it?” As I continue to walk away from them.
My favourite thing to do is to keep taking my glasses off “polishing them”, blinking and saying “sorry who said that?” And just walk past like they’re invisible.
The door knockers are the worst IMO, we had one for GOSH, a couple months ago. I answered the door with soapy wet hands and proceeded to tell him the children were in the bath (at 10am on a Wednesday morning). Or the dude raising money for the deaf, when I answered the door using (very rudimentary) sign language he looks super confused and didn’t know what to do. So I told him he wasn’t a very good advocate was he? And closed the door

My biggest concern is that the bulk of people who do sign up do so because they feel pressured into it, rather than because they want to.

I think it should be illegal for them to knock on front doors. We’ve had a couple who were really pushy and manipulative, which doesn’t work with me, because it gets my back up, but I think it’s really unfair on vulnerable people. Nobody should be put in the position of dealing with that. I actually wrote to my MP about it years ago but got a BS ‘it’s an important form of revenue for charities’ response. I don’t think it’s a moral way of making that revenue.

I agree.
I do make charitable donations but the in person hassling really intimidates me and puts me off.
I particularly hate the ones that block the exit in shops. i experienced this in Boots the other day. They had a table by the door and a group of them with clip boards and pictures of sick children.i felt like i had to run the guantlet to get past them. Its intimidating begging using emmotional blackmail. "You look like a lovely compassionate lady who wouldn't walk past without helping sick and dying children"
I felt awful.
I was recently bereaved, ill and collecting a prescription .i found it difficult to articulate that i wasn't able to donate .
The pressure is awful. i cried when i reached my car.

Statistically women are more likely to respond to charity appeals and typically women are also better at longer-term committed giving. So you’re not wrong in observing chuggers are more likely to approach women. However if you’re not interested, you just politely say ‘no thank you’ and move on.

And if they’re rude or shout abuse, you report them. They work for a separate company (not the actual charity) but if you report to the charity, they will raise it with the company who provides the service.

It’s really not that effective for the charity. When my friend worked for a national charity, the chugger agency would take a really hefty commission for the first year of the direct debit.
I’m not sure if it was a set amount or a percentage but eg on a £5 per month sign up, the chugger agency would get £5 per month for the first year. So if the dd was cancelled after a year then the charity wouldn’t have benefited at all! Once I found out I vowed never to donate that way.

If they’re snarky or aggressive towards me I very conspicuously stop, take their photograph or film them and then report them to the charity.

I really hate that annoying two step you have to do down the High st to try and wind your way around them without getting caught...and the fake cheesy compliments? urgh, nope.
I usually just say 'sorry, Im busy' as zooming past.

I did have one once follow up with 'dont you care about the planet!?' He must of been having a bad day, it probably got worse after I proceeded to tell him exactly how much I didnt care about the planet!😆

I can't stand it when they knock on your door and tell you most of your neighbours have signed up. Oh really? Well shall I knock on a few doors then? Someone is bound to confirm your bs!

YANBU OP.

Chuggers are parasites and the firm takes a cut of the money donated. There was a poster recently who was accosted trying to get through barriers at a station and the chugger refused to move out of her way. He kept waving the card machine at her and refused to move until she tapped her card. Scrounging bastards took £25 off her!

I don’t think they specifically target women.
I wear headphones and just point to them and mouth ‘I’m on the phone’ - always works.

I disagree. They are not “just doing a job”. It is harassment and yes, they do target certain people and women in particular. It got so bad near the tube station where I live in London that the council had to intervene.

I am also of the demographic that they think will engage with them. To be honest, given that they get paid to do this, I blank them and if they persist, a suggestion that they ‘fuck off’ usually does the trick.

I hate them. The buttering up with ‘hello beautiful lady’ makes me murderous.

I also agree. "Just doing their job" does not excuse not taking no for an answer, hassling, pestering, shouting to get people's attention, getting in your path, getting up in your face, trying to guilt trip you and publicly humiliate you to coerce money out of you. All of which I have seen chuggers do whilst "just doing their job".

Well they can fuck right off. This behaviour is not acceptable and it's not ok and I am not going to put up with it.

I hate them with a passion especially the ones who try and stop you in your tracks by stepping in front of you.

Absolutely 😂

That rarely works - hence the ‘fuck off’. Most large charities are corrupt in any case so I am
definitely not donating via tossers who take a percentage

Oh, I don't have money but if you're hungry I have a bag of chips here. Here, take the chips, you look hungry. No, no money, but take the chips.

He was actually backing away from me. Panhandler, not charity person. So trying to force chips onto men trying to get your money seems to have a repellent effect.

One tried to stop me a few weeks ago, I politely told him I’m not interested thanks for him to then look me up and down and say “like I’d be interested in you sweetheart, you think highly of yourself you’re not all that” was totally uncalled for.

I learnt on here that the knife crime chuggers at London stations are actually collecting for a charity. There is no charity commission registration. Makes me suspicious of all of them.

I give them a brisk "no thank you". The ones round our way are thankfully well mannered but I have encountered cheeky ones in the past. Anyone who tried to block my way would get an earful they would never forget. We also get then at the door and I inform them very clearly that I will never sign up to anything on the doorstep and neither will my neighbours.

We had annoying guys at the door trying to flog their internet service - three times in one day! They were persistent and cheeky too. My neighbour gave them HELL. I complained to the company and got our names on their do-not-visit list.