People in the street

[Born2beSlicker]

Quick poll out of curiosity here.

I always leave the house with my earphones in, listening to music/podcasts. You're minding your business, when a stranger attempts to talk to you. Usually this means they have a clipboard and want to sign you up to a charity, but sometimes it's a person looking for directions...or whatever.

How do you act? Do you ignore the clipboard people? Do you ignore "civilians"? Are you friendly to everybody? I speak to everybody the same, no matter who they are. Even when I have no interest to sign up to some charity, I talk to that person and take a few minutes to try and get a few jokes in to brighten up their day of people being rude to them.

Depends how I feel, and who they are. But mostly I'm a cunt.

If someone is clearly asking for directions, then I always try and help. My directions tend to be shit, though, so my help is probably a hindrance.

Charity people ("chuggers"), JWs, etc. ... If I'm in a rush, I ignore them. Otherwise, I just say "Sorry, no thank you" and carry on.

Homeless people asking for change, or selling the Big Issue, etc. ... If I'm in a rush, I ignore them. Otherwise, I just say "Sorry, I don't have any change" or "Sorry, no thank you" and carry on.

I find earphones a good excuse for pretending to not hear someone... even if the music has finished.

Back when I still smoked (3-4 years ago or something now), I always carried an empty fag packet in my jacket. If I was smoking at a bus stop, or walking along, or whatever, and a stranger asked if I had a "spare" cigarette, I'd pull out my decoy packet and go "Oh sorry, I don't have any left".

I'm polite to everyone unless they address me rudely. I work retail, so it's a nice quality to have. I get a lot of return customers and in turn a lot of sales, which makes my bosses happy with me. Always nice for a recommendation on down the line.

But as far as random people on the street, same rule applies. I've said before in the Mass Effect 3 thread that I don't really have it in me to be a bitch. That goes for real life too. Though I can honestly say that I've only ever been asked to join/donate to a charity three or four times my entire life, and I can only think of one of them that was on the street and not in a store or mall. I suppose there's no difference, unless there is, in which case never mind... Other than that, random people don't really need directions around places I've lived... Everything you need is always on the main drag, and even me with my zero sense of direction could find them. Head toward the lights.

Thankfully the only kind of people that try to stop you here while walking are the salespeople on the perfume stands in the malls; and 90 per cent of the time they're only aiming their stuff at women.

When I lived in the UK though, I found a great way of dealing with chuggers. After a couple of occasions, it quickly became known amongst them that if someone said they were a member of the press, they immediately have to stop talking to you. Reason being, legally, the only people from a charity that are allowed to speak to members of the press for whatever reason are full time employees.

People don't often talk to random people in the streets here.
People are generally quite easy to avoid if you look rough and stare at the floor.

[Phlashman]

I don't stop for charity people. I've said here before but every year I pick a charity and setup monthly a direct debit. For me that means I can just go past the chuggers, which are there everyday at the supermarket exit.

My problem with Chuggers, is sometimes you just give them money without really considering the cause. Collector from a dog charity appear at the supermarket quite a bit and I hate dogs, so even if they try hard they won't get my money. Kids charities on the other hand I'll probably find a few coins.

Waitrose have a plastic token system, they give you a token after a purchase and you can put that in one of 3 pots.
I always read what the charity is all about, sometimes they are proper shit like plant growers or something.

clipboard fuckers can get tah fuck

People daren't stop me in the street to talk.

I'm a bit of a cunt in the street. I hate people with clipboards who try to stop me. Even when they try to be friendly..I tell them to kindly fuck off.

I don't speak to the chuggers at all, i give to the charities i want to, on principle i don't give to the charities who chase me up on anything. But in Hereford, we have a preacher who is constantly berating people. When he tried to hand me a pamphlet, after i politely said no thankyou, he follows up with "so you're happy going to hell then?"...dick, i may be an atheist, but what if i was a christian just in a rush? Stupid thing to say to people.

I will talk to all, except those crazy old women who think that cats are a worthy charity.
They can all fall over and break a hip, the freaks...

[Phlashman]

I don't speak to the chuggers at all, i give to the charities i want to, on principle i don't give to the charities who chase me up on anything. But in Hereford, we have a preacher who is constantly berating people. When he tried to hand me a pamphlet, after i politely said no thankyou, he follows up with "so you're happy going to hell then?"...dick, i may be an atheist, but what if i was a christian just in a rush? Stupid thing to say to people.

I get door to door god squad all the time. One of my favourite encounters was:

Me: "Hello"
Godsquad: "Hi, have you got some time so I can tell you about Jesus?"
Me: "Nah thanks, I'm an Atheist."
Godsquad: "Oh dear, what makes you think that way?"
Me: "Science and facts"
GodSquad: "Oh, Ok then. Have a nice day!"

There's was a moment you could see on the old dears face that was like "Science and facts, damn them again. There no winning this one.".

But they have got clever recently and started sending out hot girls instead of granny's and weirdos. Not found the right way to handle them yet, I need a clever line.

[MoBiUGeArSkIn]

I talk to the people I know. And sometimes I ignore them too. Chuggers can fuck off. They're always of the same ilk too, they come at you with this overly friendly bullshit pitch and it just rubs me up the wrong way. The strategic positioning also annoys me. Attractive guys approach girls. Attractive girls approach guys.

I ain't falling for that shit! *bodyslam*

Some Buddhist handing out leaflets grabbed my arm in the street once when I ignored him. I turned and said "You may be a pacifist but I'm not, don't you dare fucking touch me"