A bit of charity
As if it wasn’t bad enough spending their days getting knocked back in the freezing cold and driving rain, charity muggers could soon find themselves before the Beak for harassing or intimidating people on the street. I wonder if dancing in a ridiculous fashion in order to catch passer-by’s eyes, phoney mateyness and smiling cheerily when on the inside they’re crying, constitute intimidation and harassment as if it does they’re all screwed. I’m not a big fan of chuggers, but I always feel sorry for them, as I walk by desperately trying not to make eye-contact or mumbling about already having signed up (which nine times out of 10 is a lie, I’m ashamed to admit). It must be a terrible doing a job which everyone hates you for doing. They’re even less popular than journalists for God’s sake. The Government is also examining ways to prohibit the sale of fake Mass cards (I would imagine that the atheists, agnostics and other non-Catholics out there would consider all mass cards fake, but there you go) and fake charity clothing collections.
When I first moved to Dublin many years a friend’s father died and I went to get a Mass card. Even though I would be a seriously lapsed catholic her mother would appreciate it.
In Belfast to get a mass card you go into your local newsagent, paid a pound and the name of the deceased person was written down in a notebook which was then passed to the parish priest. All the cards were pre-stamped with the priest’s signature. And I thought it was the same here. But oh no.
I had to buy a blank mass card, paying normal card prices. At the time I was completely broke and had only a fiver. So I paid for the card and made my way across the road to get it signed by a priest for the name to be read out for people to pray at mass.
The priest signed it and then put out his hand only for me to look to blankly at him. He asked me for a fiver. I said I didn’t have it as I had already paid for the card.
he looked disgusted and turned and walked away. Now whether I believe it or not, I presume the priest did, but my friends father was supposed to be remembered in a mass. And he had walked away without taking his name.
So I shouted after him ‘by the way the person the mass card is for is….’
(Sorry that rant is probably longer than your post but it really annoyed me at the time, to get prayers you needed money.)
Comment by red mum | January 23, 2008 at 3:13 pmRed Mum, when you hear stories like that, it’s hard not to think much of the mass card business is a complete scam. How is asking for fiver for a signature and a brief mention at a mass justified? And how is it significantly different from the selling of indulgences which got the church into a bit of a fix all those centuries ago? I’m not giving out about mass cards as a concept at all as they provide a great number of people with some solace at what is a very difficult time but turning it into such a nakedly commercial enterprise is unseemly to say the very least.
Comment by Conor | January 23, 2008 at 3:28 pmI wouldn’t feel too sorry for the chuggers - they are paid to harass you after all.
Now days I boycott any charities that employ them. Imagine if every charity resorted to such bully tatics. It would be impossible to wander the streets again…
Comment by DaveG | January 23, 2008 at 4:54 pmThose clothing collection people really annoyed me. For a time we were getting several fliers a week. I saved several of them, photographed them and put them on http://clothingcollection.org/ with descriptions and keywords for people to find them through a search engine.
I get a few hits a day through Google and it’s very satisfying knowing that someone might be a little more educated about these crooks.
Comment by Donncha O Caoimh | January 23, 2008 at 10:27 pmDaveG - chuggers are unbelievably well paid too. I worked at a recruitment agency for a very short time about 5 years ago who acted on behalf of one of the charities - the going rate at that time was €20 an hour.
Comment by Catherine | January 24, 2008 at 10:36 amCatherine - €20 an hour! Whooooosh. . . That’s the sound of my sympathy evaporating. I just presumed they were all being paid on a commission basis which, judging from the almost universally hostile response they get, would make their wage meagre to say the least.
Comment by Conor | January 24, 2008 at 1:02 pmSo embarrassing getting stopped by those chuggers. I never know what to say. I don’t walk in & out of work anymore, so it’s not such a problem, but a few years ago when I walked everywhere I would get harrassed by them all the time. It drove me to distraction. Eventually (and I remain slightly ashamed of this to this day), I would take out my mobile and pretend I was engrossed in conversation every time I approached one of them…
I’m going to hell
Comment by Neill | January 24, 2008 at 3:20 pmNow that we’re getting all confessional Neill, I’ve done that too. See you in Hell!
Comment by Conor | January 24, 2008 at 4:12 pmConor, a sure-fire way of quelling their ardour is to complain directly to the charity they are collecting for. I had three awful experiences in Cork with these chuggers and complained every time. And it worked. Just make sure you get their name from the badge they wear around their necks. If you tell them you are complaining about them their hard-sell act soon changes. And their mates soon learn.
Comment by Paul | January 24, 2008 at 5:15 pm