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.
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3 comments:
Next time somebody asks you for money (or demands it), just tell them "I give all my money to the (some disease) foundation." For example: "Support the Police Department hockey game? Sorry, I give all my money to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. You know, because I HAVE it." :-)
The solicitor will often turn a bright shade of red and backpedal hilariously.
Ashford,
This wasn't at TGI Friday's, by any chance was it? Similar thing happened to me at that particular restaurant last Friday (no pun intended). Bagpipes, while loud, were cool, but the makeshift choir of servers was...hmmm, how do I put this? They had good intentions, but the musicianship was sorely lacking. I made the people I was eating with crack up by stealthily singing a few notes here and there to support their blend of chaos.
You know, I STILL haven't looked at my grades yet! I'm terrified to see what I got in microbiology...
Yikes... bagpipes take annoying carol-singing to a new level! You're not selfish just because you don't want to give to their cause at the moment they want you to. For all they know, you spend 10months a year vaccinating children in Africa! Besides, I never give money to people I just randomly meet... I want to know about their cause and their organization, and make sure I know where my money is going and whether it is going to make an impact.
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