Arriving at my van this afternoon after grocery shopping, and finding not one but two advertisements shoved under my windshield wiper really got under my skin. They must have worked hard to get those papers seated; my wipers, when inactive, nest deeply down into the window well.
This annoys me to no end, and without exception, the wasted paper is torn up and discarded in the closest garbage can without even getting a glance. Parking lot spammers are among the kinds of businesses and people I would never, ever do business with, regardless of what sort of business they’re in.
“What other kinds of advertisements irk you?” you ask.
Well, since you asked, I’ll lay it out for you. I would never do business with any company or individual who would resort to:
- Parking Lot Spam: as above
- Telemarketer/Phone Sales: We all get these calls – they wait until they’re sure you’re sitting down enjoying dinner with your family, and then they call. It’s unfortunate that these people aren’t intelligent enough to get a real job, but then again, it’s not my problem. You call and disturb my family dinner, and you can expect to deal with my wrath.
- Phone Donation Requests: Telemarketers with a cause. Blech. Really, there are so many good, worthwhile charities and causes out there, as we all know. However, it’s my choice when and where I donate my money, and I find these calls every bit as intrusive as telemarketers. If I’m going to give you money, it’s on my terms, and my time line.
- Door to Door Sales/Donation Requests: These days you never know who is coming to your door, and if they’re legit or not. Better that you contact these places of your own volition via channels you can verify than hand out money to someone coming to your door. The exceptions to this, for me, are Unicef boxes at Hallowe’en, and Girl guide cookies – and I don’t think the guides even go door to door anymore, do they? Not in this area anyway.
Last but not least:
- Email Spam: Just as a rule of thumb, unless you asked for and are expecting their email offers and can trace the email back to the actual company, you don’t deal with anyone who sends you email advertisements. Period.
There are other ways to advertise your business. Other legitimate, honest, non-invasive techniques you can use.
Oh, and while it’s a cult, and not a valid business, there is one type of invasive caller that I’d love to sic my dog on… the dreaded, invasive, JW. They show up in pairs, dressed in dull, somber suits. They smile as though they’re on crack, and ask the inevitable “have you heard the word” questions. The worst thing about these people is that they often drag their children along, and make them stand in front of you and recite garbage they can’t possibly know the meaning of. I wish it were illegal to do this sort of thing to children. Surely brainwashing is a form of abuse. My heart goes out to these kids. My growling dog goes out to their parents. Well, not really, she’s a good dog and wouldn’t really bite them… probably.
Rant over. I feel better now. But, my friends – how do you feel about it?
I’ve worked telephone sales – it womps. I try to be polite when I say no. I hate collection calls that are rude. One actually dropped an F bomb on TMB!
.-= Iva @ HorizontalYoYo´s last blog ..Book Banter: My Sister’s Keeper =-.
Oops ;) You know I love ya Iva! I’d never be mean to YOU!
Wow I was just having a convo with someone about JW’s and how much it irritates me when they come to my door. If I want to know your beliefs I will effing ask! drives me nuts how they use their kids too.
.-= Shannanigans´s last blog ..Skunk Juice =-.
And speaking of e-mail spam…where do you think all those Nigerians who have 1 million dollars to give us come from?
.-= Melissa B.´s last blog ..There’s Nothing Magic About Good Manners =-.
I always feel bad for those tele-sales people, my sister did it for a while as a student and hated it. They always seem to call at the worst time, the funniest ones are when we get calls about conservatories and they take ages to run through all the details and then I’m like, so you do know I’m on the 3rd floor right? We’re not so bad for this at the moment as we are on the telephone preference list to get no tele-sales, really works and if you do get one and tell them you are on the list they hang up really quickly cause they’re not allowed to call you!
We don’t have so many JW over here, I can only remember one time they did come to the door, I was quite young and my Mum answered. We were about to have dinner and they said to my Mum what’s that cooking it smells great and she told them it was Lasagne, the said oh we love lasagne it’s so good and she wasn’t sure what to say, they looked like they expected her to invite them in, it was a bit odd! She said sorry we have to eat now, bye and shut the door!
Hiya Jade! We have a national DO NOT CALL list, and I put us on it the second it went live, but we still get nonsense calls. Sometimes I play with them, other times I just hang up – depends on my mood. ;) I always track down the 800 numbers that call (after I’ve hung up on them) and get added to their do not call list. It has cut things down dramatically, but I still get a few calls every week. They’re the weeds in my garden ;)
Wow, sorry that was a huge comment!
.-= Jade @ No Longer 25´s last blog ..Living in Aberdeen =-.
Yep…yep..I am there with ya..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The amount of calls I still get..even though I asked to be on the NO CALL list…always at dinner. They NEVER EVER pronounce my last name correctly..which to me..isn’t rocket science..GEEZE!!!!! Thank Goodness for Call display..but it still annoys the crap out of me..Don’t even get me started on the ones that come to the door..seems to always be when all the dogs are loose, and the 2 babies are napping…Can you just imagine my mood when I answer? ;)