Tuesday, July 01, 2008

I really want to write about the memoir thingy, but I'm having a little bit of a crisis right now and need some input. For some reason, it has become "door-to-door" week at the Harding/Miller household. The first of the week was a possible magazine scam (for a cause that was not really explained). After telling them that Scott and I "couldn't buy it right now," I was told that I could due to my obvious demographics and that I should stick to saying that I am not interested.

The second was the neighbor girls selling rocks. Yes. Rocks from the driveway. It's better than video games, I suppose. They wanted a steep 25 cents. Is it bad that I played along and gave it to them?!

The third was a nice young lady trying to raise scholarship money for college. She was selling Cookbooks. The publisher of these cookbooks was some Christian company that also sold childrens' books about Jesus and his life that I could read to Roz and/or that Roz could read to me some day. I told her that we couldn't do it right now either. The look of disappointment on her face just about killed me. I almost asked if she would simply take some money from me outright, but my imagination got the best of me (I could just see her using it for drugs or a pedicure).

I want to give these people a chance, but I don't need anything from them. I want to help them, but they ask for too much in order for me to buy their little trinkets or scary books. We do donate to charity, and I am often concerned that our money doesn't every really go to the people who really need it. In the case of these door-to-door nomads, would my direct money be more beneficial? Or should I simply lock the door and absolutely never under any circumstance open my door unless I recognize the person (which would not have saved me from the rock peddlers this afternoon)?!

I need some advice, dear readers. And I promise, you are perfectly welcome to ignore my plea, and it won't cost you a dime!

3 comments:

L*I*S*A said...

I'm too much of a cynic and a skeptic to buy anything from these people. I always wonder where the money goes. A simple, "I'm not interested" does the trick, followed by slowly closing the door.

Better than what I told the Jehovah's Witness tag team at my door this weekend:

"I'm an atheist."

I can feel the flames licking my feet.

kat said...

The lesson I see is capitalism. The buyer (you) has all the power. These door-to-door folks aren't selling anything that you want. Their job is to adjust their wares to what YOU want. No shame, no guilt. That's how it works! The charity aspect is just a part of their marketing.

So, the kid with the rocks? They'll be back.

Strangela said...

I just tell people I don't donate money to people who come to my door. If they want to leave a brochure or info on a website I will look into it. Although, I assume the girl with the rocks doesn't have a website!