“Back off, motherfucker” has worked for me. Feel free to use it (Creative Commons license) with attribution.
Of course they do. You just have to be TUFF. And I say this as someone who was not always tough. I just don’t even make eye contact, wave dismissively and say “Not interested” while maintaining my walking speed. I don’t even slow down and I never answer their ‘questions’/.
SCUSE ME DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR OWN NAILS?
Not interested!
The same kiosk is at the mall a few miles from my house (suburbs of Atlanta). Same aggressive walking out into the aisles to grab potential customers. Same hard-selling style. And yet my wife has escaped from them by the simple act of not engaging them to the point where they can grab her hand.
If you stop, if you let them stop you and begin the process, yep, you’re now going to have to be rude to break away. So, just don’t let it start. Don’t engage. Common sense says if it has to be sold with these tactics, then it (a) doesn’t work, or (b) it is incredibly overpriced.
If you buy this stuff, you’re endorsing and approving of this kind of salesmanship. This is the new bad stereotype of sales. It’s no longer used car salesman, it’s now the mall kiosks.
And I hate them so much and wish everyone would never go to them again, so they would learn it’s not a valid sales technique. Once upon a time I used to like going to the mall when I had nothing better to do on a lunch hour - I can get some walking in, it’s only five minutes away, and I could browse the stores. Now I have these stupid assholes shouting at me at every junction.
Edit: AND you can get the stuff elsewhere!
I love when kayaker joins a thread!!:D:D
One of the nicer things about getting older is that I’m more immune to the attempts. When I was younger and more naive, I was more susceptible to this approach. In a way, it’s sort of sad. Mostly not, though.
A few months back, I was just finishing some truck maintenance in the driveway at the end of a long, frustrating day when an attractive young lady approached me. I had observed her going door-to-door while I was under the truck. She smiled and started her cheery sales pitch (which she assured me was just a survey). I smiled back and in mid-sentence, waved goodbye and turned and walked away. I wanted a hot shower and a cold beer much more than I wanted to listen to her.
She was not prepared for this. How dare a middle-aged man resists her 20-something charms. As I walked away, she huffed, “At least you could be more polite!”
I remarked, without stopping, “Ma’am, that was me being polite.”
I was one walking by one of these kiosks and without asking they attached these electronic leads to me – some kind of electric massage. I had to threaten to walk away with their device to get them to remove them.
Anyway, my point was that Leftfield’s advice is off the mark.
I think if someone is able to surreptitiously attach a lead that you can’t just pull off or unclip immediately, you kind of deserve the lesson in situational awareness.
I was trying to imagine how it would work. I mean, I’m pretty aware of my surroundings and always know if someone is approaching me. However I live in a medium sized town. I don’t remember where Ascenray lives, but if it’s in a big metropolitan area, I guess it could be really crowded and he wouldn’t notice…?
I almost never go to the mall when it’s really crowded, too. If someone came at me with a clip I’d flinch automatically - I don’t really like being touched by strangers.
Today I learned that I am apparently shopping and dining in all the wrong places.
That’s a pretty obnoxious thing to say.
It wasn’t surreptitious. It was unexpected. I don’t expect that when in walking by a kiosk in a shopping mall on one of the country’s most affluent counties that a kiosk salesperson is going to attach something to me.
Situational awareness? Bullshit. We walk around in public assuming that people will adhere to certain accepted standards of behavior. If someone deviates from the norm it can be surprising.
I still don’t understand what sort of lead could be attached immediately without your consent that’s not immediately removable.
I am in malls not infrequently and I have no difficulty evading the kiosk salespeople.
Two of my favorite posters are disagreeing.
NOW KISS!
What are ya? Kwai Chang Caine?
I’m not saying I could detect a skilled pickpocket or anything, but we’re not talking about criminal masterminds, it’s a salesperson. I mean, I guess, if you find yourself in these situations a lot, walk faster or ogle merchandise from 20 feet away.
What’s that?! Sorry, the music in this strip club is obnoxiously loud!
I’m more bothered by the fact that it works on so many men. That it works easily. Pathetically easily.
Imagine walking home from grade school and you see a dirty old van with “free candy” written on the side. Now picture, instead of your fellow students being leery and suspicious, you standing there dumbstruck as they mob the van, scrambling to get in, some are pissed off that they can’t fit in, and as the van drives off loaded with classmates, rather than anyone writing down the plate number you hear a chorus of “Awww!”
That feeling? Like you want to be stung by a bee so your face will swell up to twice its size just so you can do the biggest facepalm possible? It’s like that.
If someone attached something to me in a mall walkway without my permission, they better be prepared to deal with what happens when you attach something to someone who isn’t going to stop and politely say “pardon me , these leads seem to have somehow attached themselves to me as I walked, whatever are they for?”
Nope, I’m either ripping those things off of me as I walk or it is coming with me. It’s better for them if I keep walking at that point.
Not trying to be Barney Badass here, but you’re letting it happen to you. I go to the mall ( more than I want to, believe me) and have seen every variety of sales method and product discussed here. Not one single time has anyone rubbed anything on me, attached anything, or plucked my eyebrows.
Maybe your local mall rats are more aggressive. Do this: Keep walking while not making eye contact, actively evading them if necessary. If they, despite your best Barry Sanders attempts, corner you into stopping, say in a clear strong voice. “Stop! I am not interested in hearing your sale pitch, please step aside.” If they continue, turn around, walk the other way and tell mall security that you would like to file a complaint with the mall office.
That may seem like overkill, but a local mall severely limited the ability of kiosks and store to actively interact with patrons after receiving a number of these complaints. Basically sales reps could only sale to customers who approached them, not the other way around.
This is funny…just last week my friend was telling me that he had some bottle of “Egyptian” moisturizer that he bought at the mall after some pretty girl rubbed it on his face. He said it felt nice and he thought his wife would totally be into it, so he bought it.
Of course his wife doesn’t want the stuff (sometimes you just want to use your own cheap stuff!) and he’s had this bottle of lotion sitting around in his sock drawer for a few years.
I couldn’t really understand the story. How could you randomly decide to buy moisturizer for your wife one day, out of the blue?
Now that I got the play-by-play from the OP, I figured it out.
(Shortened for clarity)
No, you chose to be molested by a creepy guy who was waiting at a kiosk for someone like you because…
The salesperson was looking for people he/she could, hopefully, manipulate into buying his product.
Kayaker’s right. Psychotic…but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!"
I have no problem talking in a loud, clear voice to people who are deliberately annoying me. Practice these these phrases in a mirror -
- I’M NOT INTERESTED.
- KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF ME.
- I HAVE A .45 AND A SHOVEL. I DOUBT ANYONE WILL MISS YOU.
Geez, if I were walking down the street and some stranger walked up and started touching me, I’d punch him (or her) in the nose. Why is it okay for mall whores to do this?
I vote we start socking these vermin outright and see what happens. Will they claim assault? Just say that they approached and touched you against your will and you have every right to defend yourself.
Plan B: carry an airhorn and if one them approaches you, put it right in their face and give it a prolonged blast.
Gah, it’s becoming more like a third-world country every day. A stroll through the mall is like walking through a red-light district or a dodgy bazaar.