Writer's Blog 2011-03-21-2011-03-26

I am currently lying on the floor on my landing. Why? Because for some reason my computer is having trouble with the wireless. So I need to connect to the short yellow cable. I am on-line so it is sort of working.

I was in the centre of Cardiff the other day. I saw a young woman with a clipboard. I guess all town centres are smiler. These people are collecting money for charities and often ambush unsuspecting passers by.

Don't get me wrong I have no problem with charitable fund-raising its just the way they go about it. I'll admit to you that I have done this job. Though I am worse as I went door to door. I'm sorry. It is a terribly intrusive thing. Home should be the place where you can be sure of not being disturbed. For this job you have to lean this spiel of who the charity is and why you need money. I did the door-to-door job for three days. I hated it so much that I quite that quickly!

Anyway this woman's style should be the benchmark by which others work. She introduced herself, talked briefly and then basically said - they were raising money - it was so much a week - and could I help - perfect.

You see as soon as someone like this approaches, you know what they want. It often takes them ages to get to the point. Maybe its just me but I find it difficult to interrupt someone whist their delivering the long speech. So I would suggest to charities that they should try the simple style. They might find that they get more people signing up. The reason being that if the person they're talking to is going to say 'no' - you get there faster. You will then be able to speak to more people and make more money for the charity. That is the point after all!

So, being you typical poor student, I told her I couldn't afford it at the moment. That was it. I think though that charity collection is becoming more like a business. It is, as I know first hand, being done as a job rather than by people who are actually interested.

Of course you could try avoiding the collectors. My brother has the idea of carrying a clipboard yourself. He seems to reckon that the people would split to the sides of the street. It could work.