Christmas Gauntlets

I've been a little upset this year with all the charities asking me for money.  I mean, I know they need money, and the easiest way is to ask.  But I feel like I'm running a fucking gauntlet every time I go into a store. 

It starts outside the store, with the Salvation Army kettles.  You have to go by this twice, on the way in and the way out.  I usually feel guilty about not putting in at least some change.  But most of the time I don't carry cash.  And when I shop, I go to many different stores and they all have kettles outside!  So I'm exposed to them multiple times for an escalating sense of guilt!

Inside is also a problem.  A lot of stores have their credit card machines set up to ask you if you want to donate money.  But even there they want to guilt you into it.  The one at PetCo asked me Do you want to save a homeless pet?  And then you have the option of saying Yes or No.  So I clicked No.  I do not want to save a homeless pet, because you're trying to guilt me into it.  Cabela's does it differently.  You can round up your final cost to a whole number.  So if you spend $36.58 you can round it up to an even $37 and the change goes to an environmental charity.  How could you NOT do that?

The one I hate the most is when the cashier asks you about donating.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  They have these colorful printouts that you can write your name on in a marker and they put it up on the wall so that everyone can see just how charitable Tamsyn X really is!  I fucking hate those.  Every time I run into one of those I seem to be in a long line and the cashier chimes out Would you like to donate $1 for xxx charity?  No, I don't.  I just want to buy my shit and get out of your store.

And, of course, the best is the telephone ones.  You're sitting there in the privacy of your own home, thinking you're safe, and the police call you up and ask you to donate to help the widows of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Don't get me wrong, I do donate to charities.  But I do it on my own time, and to specific ones that I really want to donate to.  So stop trying to guilt me into donating!  I could spend a hundred dollars a month, easy, on all the charities asking me to donate.  And I don't have the money to spare!

Survived October

Guess what - no rant this year for a Pink October!  I survived October fairly intact.  I'm assuming this was mainly due to the backlash against the Komen Foundation.  I did notice several pink advertisements on TV that mentioned their money going to other organizations.  Whatever the reason, I'm just glad I didn't have a freaking aneurysm this year.