Once again it is bell-ringer season. Every door, going in and coming out, I hear the bell and see the ringer, some standing quietly, but some giving it their all. We have some really good ones at the local Walmart, including one who can really sing! But it is bothersome to me. I don't have change ready when I'm walking in and I forget to be ready when I'm walking out. I can either look the other way, or politely say Merry Christmas, but either way, I feel bad about it, but it's more because of that guilty, peer pressure type of feeling than anything else. I could fill my pockets with change every time I go out, but is it necessary? What if I put in one large bill to cover it for the season...wouldn't I still feel guilty walking past the poor soul standing there in the cold ringing the bell?
How do you handle it?
4 comments:
Hmmm - that's a good question. I do pretty much what you do. If I remember when I check-out, I'll drop some change in the can. It's not only the bell-ringers that irritate me, but all the "begging" in the mail and telephone. It's kinda like should we give a little bit to everybody or pick a few we really want to support and give them more?
This request for money goes on year round and I guess everyone just has to do what is comfortable for them.
I typically don't carry change so having something available to drop in usually isn't going to happen. If I do give to the bell ringers I tend to put in a bill that I figure will "cover" me for the season. The ringers used to bug me more until I met someone who worked for the SA and it became more familiar to me.
What kind of bugs me is when fast food places, the grocery store, etc. all ask if you want to donate $1 or some amount to a charitable cause. Then I feel like you said Ada that you just have to pick the causes you like and support them.
I noticed at the Walmart in Lansing MI on Tuesday that there was a Salvation Army person at one door and not one at the other door. EVERYBODY was going in the door without the bell ringer & I mean everybody. Some would even have their head down and be heading for that door and when they heard the bell or looked up and saw him, they would turn towards the other door, look down & speed up their pace. I don't feel guilty as I go past because I know what I normally give and who we support in our local community. EDK
Yes, a bit of a dilemma. I always feel guilty if I don't throw a dollar or two in.
One year I had been really sick with bronchitis - then, on the mend but not better yet, got really dizzy in a store so went straight out to the car and ignored the bell-ringer. Mary Lee, about ten and suddenly very social conscious, said "Mom, you just don't care about poor people." :-)
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