Charity Muggers and Whatnot

Everyone knows who these people are. These are the ones that stand in the streets, asking you for a word or two about some charity, or a company such as Love Film, and today I witnessed it first hand, but not for the first time.
Of course, there are those that stand in the prime positions - at the enterance of the university, to throw flyers at student in the hope that this will persuade them to go out to their club. Well I for one can say that my decision is not influenced by what it says on a flyer, I think they need to come up with a new marketing scheme rather than standing there with a face on, handing out the flyers.

However, I'm a sucker for it. I'm too much of a nice guy to say no when these leaflets get shoved in my face, so I just end up filling my pockets with junk that I'm eventually going to throw in the bin.
My friend, however, sees it as an opportunity to make the promoters look like idiots. He can say no to anything, so when he gets asked something in the street, or offered a flyer, he bluntly tells them no.

Today was a prime example of his determination not to give in to them. Here is how the conversation went.

"Excuse me guys, do you watch films?"
"No."
"Do you have a games console?"
"No."
"Do you want to take a flyer?"
"No."
"It has free stuff in it!"
"I don't want one."

The irony is, he's a games computing student, so obviously could have answered yes to some of these questions, but instead, he just makes it an awkward situation for everyone. I felt so awkward that I felt inclined to spologise to the lady for his stubbornness.

You see it every day, no matter what city you are in. People will always reject talking to these people, unless they are genuinely interested (which seems to be rare), or they don't like sounding mean, like me.

But like I say, it would be better if people were approached in a different way, because nobody wants to stop and talk in the street when they have places to go and people to see, that's why they say no to these people.

As for me, I will try to be a bit more like my friend in future and stop being a sucker - I will be able to do it eventually!