Within the past four days, I've had two encounters of people trying to either sell me something or leave pamphlets for me to read. Both of these encounters happened the old fashioned way with each individual coming to my door.
The first one were two Jehovah Witnesses. This is the not the only time they have come, more like the third time this year. You can read about another encounter here. They came in the middle of the day on Sunday when I was just about to take a nap, and of course the dogs alerted me that someone was there. Normally, I would not have opened the door at all and just pretended to not be home, but I thought it might have been my landlord. I opened the door and talked to them from afar, kind of nodded my head, even as they read some passage from the Bible, took their pamphlets, and then they left. They left, saying they hoped they could sit and chat with me sometime. Okay, that will never happen.
The second one happened yesterday. I had just gotten home and was about to feed my dogs, and then there was a knock on the door. It was a young kid--maybe seven or eight, selling some "spirit" card. It's essentially a card with a lot of different local restaurants, service places, and other businesses. Apparently, each time you shop there, you get a discount of some kind. This wouldn't have been so bad if I even remotely went to any of these restuarants or businesses. How could I say no to some sweet-looking young kid whose mom was in my driveway? I ended up giving up ten dollars I could have used elsewhere. As I was exchanging money with the kid, the mother yells out to me that she sees me all the time (I assumed out running). I guess this is one way to get to know the neighbors despite the fact that I've been here for oh six years.
It's encounters like these and this one too that happened this year which sometimes makes me feel like I have "sucker" written on my forehead. It's like there is a sign on my door that tells people to come by, because this person is nice, polite, and you can just get something from her. Any situation where people are "selling" their services at my door leave me feeling very uncomfortable, especially religious ones.
I have a hard time saying no anyway, but this doesn't make it feel any easier. Why is it I have no problem with some telemarketer who is trying to sell something over the phone that I am not interested? But face to face just seems so much harder, and if there is some cute kid, that just causes guilt. After all, who wants to reject a kid, even when it is like Girl Scout cookies which you don't even eat anyway. I've had that happen over the years as well with my landlord's daughter. There was a sense of "obligation" to buy from her.
I know I'm not the only one out there with this type of "problem" if you want to call it that. This is why they have classes for sales people to learn ways to entice you to buy something. I guess overall, it just reminds me of how I still have a problem with saying no and being assertive.
After all, isn't this just one other thing that can leave us feeling guilty, overworked, and stressed? So why do we do this to ourselves?
3 comments:
I don't know why we do this to ourselves. I have a hard time saying no too, especially to kids, and I can never bring myself to interrupt. It's tough, isn't it?
Kyla, it sure is. Of course, this is the exact reason why they use kids. I think this is one reason why I absolutely hate fundraising where you have to sell items.
This is why I'm glad that I live in an access-controlled apartment...nobody can knock on my front door unless they've gained access to the building because they already know someone inside! :)
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