In which I get taken advantage of...

Last night, J, my friend Jamie and I went out to eat at a local restaurant. A half hour or so into our meal, we heard the sound of bagpipes. They got louder and louder and finally, a group of people, clad in red and white clothes came into the dining area. One of them was dressed as Santa, the rest dressed as elves. They announced that they were there to raise money for the local respite house and then sang "Here Comes Santa Clause" while holding over-turned hats under our noses.

After collecting donations, the group filed out and on the way, one of the guys asked us how we were. We were obviously annoyed... J said "We're just trying to eat here" to which the guy responded, "Well, we're just trying to raise money here, selfish."

Note to annoying carol-singing money-raisers:

We do not have to give you money. The fact that we don't want to give you money does not make us selfish. We also do not need to be interrupted in the middle of a dinner we're paying for by a bunch of people who think it's okay to solicit from people in a private establishment. It is not okay to corner us in a small restaurant, damage our ears with your insanely loud music, stand right in front of our table and stick hats right under our noses. It's especially not okay to call us "selfish" if, after you do all those inappropriate things, we decline to give you money. You ruined our dinner. Happy fricken holidays.