# Coworkers selling crap at work **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 18, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353 "2012-05-18T19:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/41 "2012-05-19T23:14:45Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Oh. My. God. I can’t wait til one of your coworkers is diagnosed with Parkinson’s… Three hours later, and I just started laughing at this. Completely whooshed me when I first read it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/42 "2012-05-19T23:34:06Z")
We have a special version of this in the non-profit world. Since donations are so critical to the daily operations of non-profits, and all your friends and coworkers are social workers and doing like 20 projects on the side, you pretty much get hit up by a different person every day for Issue of the Week Donation. And if you can’t afford to shell out ten dollars a day for the rest of your life, you not only feel like a bad friend, but you have the added bonus of feeling guilty for not caring more about the blind anorexic baby seals on crack. My Facebook News Feed is just one long guiltrip. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/43 "2012-05-20T00:17:50Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I keep boxed “healing crystals” (actually they are rather nice rose quartz pieces if you like that sort of thing for jewelry) in a desk drawyer at work as a pre-emptive strike against anyone that come around hawking stuff. Sometimes fighting fire with fire works best. Maybe you could cut them a deal and read them their fortune in exchange for whatever they are selling? It’s a lose-lose! ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/44 "2012-05-20T00:24:00Z")
When my dad was working (as a teacher) he did a cracking business selling bedding plants that he’d grown himself from seed. It paid the costs of supplying the plants for his own garden. That was down to the providing a good product that people actually want business model however. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/45 "2012-05-20T00:42:24Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > You would think that, if you were terribly naive. Guilty as charged, I guess. But why **don’t** bosses mind this sort of “commercial harassment” going on in their offices—at least, the bosses who aren’t engaged in such activities themselves? I know my co-workers and I would catch some flak from our supervisors if we kept pushing a hard-sell attitude about some completely work-unrelated product that nobody’s shown any signs of wanting. Seems like it accomplishes nothing but wasting time and causing aggravation. > [@Springtime for Spacers](#): > > When my dad was working (as a teacher) he did a cracking business selling bedding plants that he’d grown himself from seed. It paid the costs of supplying the plants for his own garden. That was down to the providing a good product that people actually want business model however. Well yeah, I guess that’s another exception. At my workplace, everybody does know that this one guy sells eggs from his free-range chickens and the occasional pumpkin etc. to people who request them, and there are some similar casual para-commercial activities going on. But AFAIK nobody’s devoting serious time and effort to pitching unwanted crap to unwilling buyers, and I think there would be some negative repercussions if they tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/46 "2012-05-20T01:16:22Z")
I like it when someone sells Avon at the office, and they just leave the books in the lunchroom with their name and extension number on it. _That_ is how you sell things at work. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/47 "2012-05-20T02:16:29Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > Maybe you could cut them a deal and read them their fortune in exchange for whatever they are selling? It’s a lose-lose! That’s not a bad idea. Evil laugh, I may start making that offer also. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/48 "2012-05-20T02:18:12Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I like it when someone sells Avon at the office, and they just leave the books in the lunchroom with their name and extension number on it. _That_ is how you sell things at work. I had the weirdest thing at one of my jobs with my crazy Avon lady. I’d buy stuff often, but she’d almost begrudge me the freaking catalog. She would be really pissy about giving me one, which seemed counter-intuitive to me. Normally I’m not too passive-aggressive, but I made sure to hunt her down when I knew a new one was coming. I don’t mind people selling things, but the begging and hard-selling is not work-appropriate. I wish I had a girl scout parent. I didn’t end up with cookies the last few years. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/49 "2012-05-20T02:59:04Z")
Wow. I’ve never experienced this. I would…not react well, I think. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/50 "2012-05-20T03:20:51Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > I had the weirdest thing at one of my jobs with my crazy Avon lady. I’d buy stuff often, but she’d almost begrudge me the freaking catalog. She would be really pissy about giving me one, which seemed counter-intuitive to me. Normally I’m not too passive-aggressive, but I made sure to hunt her down when I knew a new one was coming. > > I don’t mind people selling things, but the begging and hard-selling is not work-appropriate. I wish I had a girl scout parent. I didn’t end up with cookies the last few years. ☹ I think they have to buy the catalogs and samples they hand out. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/51 "2012-05-20T03:38:38Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I think they have to buy the catalogs and samples they hand out. They do, but that’s part of the model and for catalogues at least it’s not expensive and you get them in packs of ten iirc. So she may not be buying enough in the first place but they send you extra all the time in an attempt to get you to pass out more and make more sales. Samples are pretty cheap also. I have a friend who sells, I drop off the catalogue at work for people though not many buy. Everyone knows I’m the hookup if you want Avon though. The school has been trying other things for fundraisers. This year it was family portraits, but on a particular date and time which did not work for me at all. Nice to not have to try and shill to everyone, but I expect next year might be back to selling. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/52 "2012-05-20T04:00:27Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > Psh, Avon can be fun and I don’t know anyone who thinks Avon is exotic and extravagant. What crack are you smokin? I dig their nail polishes. Most chicks I know who love Avon mostly like it for cheap but cute flip flops and jewelry. Yeah, Avon has always had some really nice stuff. And Avon Skin So Soft is great as a bug repellent and it smells much better than something like Off! or whatever. (We used to use it when I was in Girl Scouts) My mother works with a woman who sells Avon and she’ll bring the catalog home so we can see if we want to order something. > [@hajario](#): > > At one place that I worked several years ago, there was this one squirrely mother fucker that used to push Amway hard. He spent tons of work time hitting up co-workers and chatting with his “uplink” in the parking lot. > > He used to tell anyone who would listen that in the future he wouldn’t have to work anymore. Technically, he was [correct](http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crm-536.html). All I can say is HOLY SHIT. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/53 "2012-05-20T04:31:47Z")
Stuff like this makes me appreciate my employer’s policies on school fund raisers, side businesses, band candy, scout cookies, football pools, etc. Simple and to the point, the policy is NO, and violators can be and have been terminated. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/54 "2012-05-20T16:38:07Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Stuff like this makes me appreciate my employer’s policies on school fund raisers, side businesses, band candy, scout cookies, football pools, etc. Simple and to the point, the policy is NO, and violators can be and have been terminated. That works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/55 "2012-05-21T01:48:44Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I think they have to buy the catalogs and samples they hand out. While that might be true, it still makes me all 😕 because if she wanted people to buy stuff, why wouldn’t she make the catalog available to people like me who bought stuff? I wasn’t a looky-loo. The profit she made on the stuff I bought paid for the cost of the catalog. She was just crazy. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/56 "2012-05-21T22:45:57Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > Our middle school had a campaign called ‘Bug Off’ and a $50.00 ‘donation’ exempted your kid from all fundraisers for the entire school year. It was money well spent to get out of all the other fundraisers. As much as I would resent having to pay to be left alone, I wish that sort of thing was available to those of us on the receiving end. If I have to get up one more time to answer the door to someone trying to sell me something… ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/57 "2012-05-21T23:04:29Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > As much as I would resent having to pay to be left alone, I wish that sort of thing was available to those of us on the receiving end. If I have to get up one more time to answer the door to someone trying to sell me something… What if they’re selling “No Soliciting” signs? ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/58 "2012-05-22T00:13:04Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Stuff like this makes me appreciate my employer’s policies on school fund raisers, side businesses, band candy, scout cookies, football pools, etc. Simple and to the point, the policy is NO, and violators can be and have been terminated. That’s the way it’s been in the last two offices I’ve worked in as well. Neither allowed outside vendors either - no burrito guys or sammitch ladies wandering through… ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/59 "2012-05-22T01:05:21Z")
Where I work it’s mostly boxes of chocolates left in the lunch area with a note about which school/charity is going to be the recipient and a bag for money, occasionally there is an email sent around announcing it. Pretty low key. When my wife was off work after having our first child she was selling \*\*\*\*\*\*\* (another makeup mob, a bit like Avon) and I would leave a catalogue in the lunch area with her name & cell number on it. Occasionally I would drop stuff off to someone at work who ordered it. A few days after we had a new woman start she came around asking people if they wanted to buy Avon products. A bit later that day I wandered into the lunch room to grab a drink & found an Avon catalogue on the table & my wife’s catalogue missing. :dubious: On a hunch I checked the rubbish bin & sure enough, there it was. Not wanting to assume malice at that point I grabbed it and put it back on the table (it was clean). That afternoon, same thing only this time the small section with my wife’s name & number had been torn off and was missing! Checking the Avon catalogue revealed the name of the new co-worker and a number written I black felt-tip pen. I let my wife know, she emailed her customers to update them on why the latest catalogue wasn’t in the lunch room & that they could get it from my desk. I returned to the lunch room with my trusty felt-tip and a few quick changes to the phone number transformed the 1 into a 7 and a 0 into an 8. Enjoy all those calls, bitch. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353/60 "2012-05-22T04:46:46Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > What if they’re selling “No Soliciting” signs? Heh - they don’t work! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coworkers-selling-crap-at-work/622353.md?page=4)