It occurs to me, on the charity-upping-the-ante thing: all I would need to do, if a charity does something like that to me, is respond, "Okay, I'm giving $30 then" and keep lowering the amount each time they protest.
That might solve that problem. (But really, it irritates me - I've already made an offer that is reasonable given the state of my finances. Do not press me further.)
3 comments:
That's a good idea. It might really have an effect if everyone did it all the time. The reason some people use annoying tactics is because annoying tactics often work.
Yes, they do work (having spent considerable time working in a fund-raising office, though thank heaven THAT was never my job).
The person on the other end of the phone has no idea how firm you are on your amount: most people aren't, very. So if they "nudge" someone, many times the person will think "oh, it's not that much more" and say yes.
OTOH, for someone who *has* already made up their mind how much to give thankyouverymuch, it is pure annoyance.
Still, it could be said a lot more politely than it often is. Especially THIS year when any giving is a stretch for some people.
I hate talking on the phone anyway, and being put on the spot like that *really* irks me, so I usually interrupt them as soon as I realize it's a fund-raising call and say, "Excuse me, could you please put me on your 'do not call' list?" By law, if you ask, they HAVE to do it, and only twice have I hit really stubborn people (or people working under really heavy pressure, I suppose) who try to argue with me about it. (I deal with those by hanging up.)
Life is much more peaceful since I started doing this. I give where I choose to.
Lowering with each ask seems a good plan!
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