While Jacob was at band rehearsal I did some grocery shopping. When I was exiting the store a stranger came up to me and asked if he could ask me “a silly question.” I asked if it would cost money, he said it would not, and it would “only take two minutes.” So, I thought to myself, “I could go for a silly question, it has been a while since I have heard a good silly question.” So I told him he could ask.
He started with, “Where are you from?”
Me: (thinking- this is not silly) Here in town
Stranger: Are you really from here or did you move here from another place? (indicating he was doing a survey for the local university)
Me: I moved here
Stranger: Me too, I am from California. Where are you from originally?
Me: I was born in Iowa
Stranger: Well I am here with 1400 other people trying to collect points towards a scholarship fund, and there is a contest to see who can collect the most points talking to people. This scholarship will pay for school and beer. Do you drink?
Me: No
Stranger: Then it is for books and tuition. Do you ever read magazines?
Me: Sometimes
Stranger: (handing me a card with magazine names on it) Do you ever read cosmo?
Me: No
Stranger: (takes back card and hands me a card with different magazines titles and explains) Each magazine subscription is worth different points. If you were to get a post card in the mail, what would you prefer? Tropical, funny, romantic or exotic?
Me: Funny.
Stranger: That would be me in my boxers.
Me: Laughed (very abruptly, I may have hurt his ego…)
Stranger: That was supposed to be a joke. Are there any two that you are interested in?
Me: (so he was trying to get money…) There is only one I would be interested in.
Stranger: Ask me how much it would cost.
Me: No thanks, I can read it for free at my in-laws’ house.
Stranger: There are 1400 of us out here and if you buy a subscription, you can tell them*
Me: (*interrupting him) That I have already donated to the “beer fund”?
Stranger: (Laughed) Never heard that answer before. Would you be able to buy a gift subscription to go to a homeless shelter?
Me: I don’t think so.
Stranger: Just go away.
Me: (walked away, and drove home)
**I stopped quoting the conversation because he used lots of profanity, and I really do not care for that. Which, while I do not approve, had he only used one word in a very logical point in the conversation, I may have considered buying the one subscription, but the words kept slipping, and I decided secondhand reading is good enough for me. Besides, by the time he got around to the real point, he had taken about four minutes of my time. And, I still didn’t get a good silly question out of my “two” minutes!
How annoying, I hate when people are sneaky like that. Great answers, though!
Yuck! I’ve had 3 or 4 different people come to my door with similar pitches, but for different causes. It’s funny how they all try to get you to buy magazines in order to help them in some way. The magazine industry must be in a slump. The other funny thing is that they’ve all gotten really mad when I tell them I’m not into reading whatever magazines they’re offering, which does not tend to make me more sympathetic to their cause. Weird, eh?
A similar thing happened to me last summer–not at a store, but in my own backyard. This hyper chic came running up to my fenced in backyard while I was sitting out there shucking corn and invited herself in (the gates were closed) and began shucking corn. She said she was from California and then began to tell me about the magazines that my neighbors bought (calling each neighbor by name and all). I did not fall for it and she FINALLY went away. The next day one of the neighbors came over to talk to me and we compared notes. This chic was full of it because she was not an honest sales person. UGG!! How annoying!!!