It hasn’t happened to me in a while, but thing thing with a deaf person trying to sell stuff used to happen on the CTA trains. This guy would walk the length of the train car handing people keychains or putting then on the empty seat next to you, then walk through again collecting them and hoping somebody would buy them. Since I usually have my nose buried in a book it’s not too hard for me to pretend I don’t notice him, although occasionally he would actually try to get my attention, at which point I would look at him and shake my head. I always wondered whether he actually made enough to justify the potential risk of somebody getting really annoyed at being disturbed.
I remember being hit up multiple times years ago by the deaf people passing around trinkets.
They always seemed to hit the food court at the Glendale Galleria (mall in S. Cal.). I gave money the first time or two (I believe they were selling pens—overpriced pens, but what the hell) but after that, I got sick of it. I believe it was the same deaf person passing the stuff around in some cases. And also I remember them doing this on the bus.
I just got sick of it after a while. To be put on the spot by someone that you don’t even know is deaf or not…I don’t know. I didn’t like it. And there’s only so many overpriced Bic pens I need to buy.
However, I am often a sucker for Girl Scout cookies or other shit from the kids of anyone I know. I almost always will buy whatever crap the kids of coworkers or friends are selling. I kind of feel like I owe it to my late dad, after all he did for me when I was a Camp Fire Girl.
You see, I often was deemed the “best seller” of Camp Fire Girl candy in our group, all thanks to my dad’s selling efforts at the Post Office where he worked. I swear, I think he had more of a stake in selling that candy than I did! His Post Office buddies pounced in him to order the stuff each year, he seemed to enjoy selling the stuff, and I got all the credit! I think I would have broken his heart had I quit the Camp Fire Girls prematurely, because the supply of Camp Fire Girl candies would have dried up! My candy sales were the jewel in the crown of my otherwise mediocre Camp Fire Girl career, all thanks to my dad and a bunch of candy-loving postal workers! 
(Yes, I know that the candy wasn’t considered all that good, but don’t tell these particular postal workers that!)
Haven’t encountered any deaf people lately,but that has happened to me in the past. I hate it when that happens because I DO NOT carry cash on me ever.I usually carry at least one credit card and my checkbook and that’s IT.I don’t feel comfortable writing them a check…besides…who would I make it out to?
And I sure as hell am not handing them my platinum Discover card.
I never knew that Girl Scout cookies varied from region to region.Our “Samaos” used to be called something else and I hated them.Then a couple of years ago I bought a box of Samoas and loved them.Plus…I am furious with the GS right now because they discontinued the little shortbread cookies that I loved.They were so yummy and now they don’t make them anymore!:mad:
Damn them.
IDBB
Of course the deaf people selling stuff, assuming they ARE deaf, are trading on pity. That annoys the HELL out of me. Given a decent opportunity, I’m sure they could be doing a real job somewhere. I realize that they have to eat, but this just seems demeaning to me.
I’ve never seen deaf people sell trinkets to anyone. I would have been annoyed. And I tend to get annoyed when people get in my face trying to sell stuff. It’s a pretty common occurance in Greece, so I just ignore people like this.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned teenagers selling magazine subscriptions.
Every place I’ve ever lived, even with the “NO SOLICITORS, MISSIONARIES OR MAGAZINE SALES” sign up, A teenager will stop by the house every month or so, selling overpriced magazine subscriptions. One thing they all have in common …
“If I sell two more subscriptions, I win a trip to Walt Disney World!”
Every kid, every time, is always just this … close … away from winning a trip to Disney. Argh!
When I was a Girl Sprout in the '70s, in NJ, we went around with order forms. People would order what they wanted, then when the shipments came in, we would go around again and deliver. (Same thing with the nut sales in the fall…that peanut brittle was divine!) So we didn’t risk getting stuck with cookies we couldn’t sell; it was just a matter of getting your butt out there and getting as many orders as the market would bear.
Now, here in CA, Scouts table in front of grocery stores with boxes of cookies ready to go. Apparently, they get cookies dumped on them, the way auto dealerships get cars dumped on them, and they have to move so much product or else. So what happens if the troop can’t sell, among them, the amount they’ve been given? What a way to run a railroad.
Rilch, when I was in GS, some ten years ago I guess, we did it exactly the way you described, BUT… when the cookies came in they’d send us extra boxes to sell at tables and such. Any boxes that were undeliverable (guy was there to order them, but couldn’t be found to actually give him the cookies and get the money) would be sold that way. Also, sometimes people would buy an extra box or two when we delivered the ones they had ordered before.
(Oh, and unsold boxes could be sent back.)
On the topic of strangers selling junk… I was once walking down the street when a woman approached me and told me I was beautiful and she wanted to give me a sticker. (It was a star attached to a square of paper.) I took the sticker, not really thinking about it (except, whadda weirdo) and then she told me that she expected me to pay for the sticker. I told her I had no money. Not even pocket change? She asked. Nope. No change at all? She asked. Nope. She took her sticker back.
Well, that’s good news.
I’ve sold Girl Scout cookies both on the spot, and with order forms. The annoying thing about the order forms was that you had to make the rounds TWICE, and if you did like I did once and sold 480 (!!!) boxes of cookies you had a hell of a lot of ground to cover. I don’t remember if we used the order forms that year. I did get a week at camp out of it.
I also never sold again except to family and friends. No door-to-door ever again. I did buy a couple of boxes two days ago from an adorable Brownie troop outside Walmart (yes, the Evil Retailer) because I love Thin Mints.
elmwood–this actually happened to us a year and a half ago and not only were we forced to listen to his magazine pitch, but how this was ‘helping’ him help other kids who were ‘needy’ or ‘on the verge of joining gangs’.It was my fault…I opened the door without checking through the peephole first.After listening to the pitch,we had to give him three things we thought about him on the spot.WTF?We stumbled through a reply and then ended up buying a subscription for Reader’s Digest and a local magazine called I Love Cats.
Boy were we stupid.Never again have I opened the door without checking through the peephole first.
IDBB
Well, maybe i’m an asshole, but i would have told her that she gave it to me with no mention of a price, and that it was mine now. A gift is a gift.
Still, it’s probably easier to just give it back and move on.
What a wierdo!
For all you know that sticker could’ve been laced with acid or something and it would’ve absorbed into your skin the moment you touched it and you would’ve become an instant addict!:eek:
Seriously…my mom used to tell me horror stories like that all the time. If you took a small square of paper (even if it had a cute sticker on it) from a stranger,it almost ALWAYS was acid-laced and would cause you to become an acidhead.:rolleyes:
IDBB:dubious:
There are two different bakers for Girl Scout Cookies. One is the baker with the funny names (Samoas, Tagalongs, etc.) and the other has more descriptive names (Caramel Delites, Peanut Butter Patties, etc.) My daughter belongs to the Minneapolis council, which gets their cookies from the “descriptive” baker. The St. Paul council gets theirs from the “funny names” baker. It sounds like you just like the cookies from the “funny names” baker better.
We ordered one box of each kind of cookie (people kept asking my daughter which cookies were the best. How were we to know? We never got to taste any!) and I think that the undiscovered treasure has got to be the Lemon Pastry Cremes (I don’t know what the other baker calls them, if they even have them.) It’s a sandwich cookie with lemon filling. The cookie part is light and airy, not dense like an Oreo. (it’s not chocolate, either.) Yummy! Apparently, they are reduced fat, too…I think that scares a lot of people away, but they are really good!
Are Camp Fire Girls still around? You never hear about them anymore. I was a Bluebird, and I shlepped candy in my little red wagon. The problem with their candy is that it wasn’t exclusive…if someone really liked Almond Roca (the only candy name I can remember anymore), you could buy it at our town’s drug store every day along with all the other Russell Stovers stuff. I was amazed, selling with my daughter, how the Girl Scout cookies sell themselves! I sold that Camp Fire candy, and all sorts of crap for school, and it was like pulling teeth. My daughter sold 150 boxes of cookies just like that! (Our street, and her dad took the form to work. That was it!)
Anyway, regarding the OP, I’d call the school to complain right away. 26 calls is excessive, especially after you’ve already said no. Why let it go on any longer? If that doesn’t work, a letter to the editor of your local paper might be in order. I think the call should work, though. Whoever’s calling probably isn’t considering Caller ID…they just think you’re not home (and, therefore, they aren’t harassing you, since you can’t hear the phone.)
I just tell them I don’t like candy. That typically confuses people long enough to make a hasty retreat.
I’ve never had a teenager come by selling magazines, but at our last apartment a couple knocked and told us they lived in the complex and were looking to start some kind of club. (I don’t recall if they said it outright or implied it in some way, but it was obviously intentional.) Turned out they were selling magazines.
Why on earth would I buy something from someone so blatantly dishonest? How do I know you aren’t just going to keep the money yourself?
Oh, and IDBB, the “descriptive” baker (ABC Bakers) still makes Shortbread cookies. They’re not as good as I remember. (I think that the other baker called them “Trefoils”. Maybe that’s what I had before.) The “funny names” baker is Little Brownie Bakers. They still have Trefoils. I don’t know why anyone would tell you they didn’t make them anymore!
Lemon Pastry Cremes. That’s all you need to know.
Here’s my rule…if the kid is selling you something during regular school hours, it’s not legit! (“Shouldn’t you be in school?” tends to scare those candy and magazine selling kids off!)
Tonight,I got home from work and as SOON as I got home,who should call but the Band Boosters!
Ms.Cheery-Voice on the other end of the line asked me if we’d considered buying the coupon book in the week or so since she’d talked to my husband.I told her we would not even CONSIDER buying such a hideous piece of tree-killing crap.She sounded vaguely upset and urged me to reconsider.So…looking at the log we’ve kept from the last week or so,I told her we’d been called over 20 times by the band boosters.I told her I didn’t want to hear from her or her orginization again,because THAT many calls is tantamount to harrassment (IMHO).I didn’t call her any names and I stayed as calm as I possibly could while ripping her a new one.She assured me that we would never be bothered again and I bet we won’t either.
IDBB