On Donations

As many of you know, i support my writing habit by working a retail job during the day. Like a lot of places, we've been taking donations for Haiti recently, and i wanted to take a second to talk about the acceptable ways to respond to "would you like to make a donation?" There are two... yes and no. That's it.

It took me a long while to understand why people feel it necessary to justify themselves to me when they say no. For instance, i ask for a donation and get "Oh, i've already done it." Yeah? So? Wanna do it again? That's not an answer. Or "I give other ways." Okay. So give THIS way, too... or don't. Just give me a straight damned answer. My (least) favorite is "I give through my church." I DON'T THINK THAT GOD WOULD MIND!

People, you don't have to justify yourself to me. Why do you care if i think that you're cheap? (By the way... if you won't swing a dollar for some worthy cause as you're in the process of buying $200 worth of shit that you don't need... YOU'RE CHEAP!) I'm just some cashier that you see occasionally when you hit my line. WHO CARES. Just... say... no.

One customer the other day repeated several times that she gives "a lot". Obviously waiting for me to... i don't know... absolve her? Tell her that it's okay that she's not giving to help the people of Haiti? I didn't. So she repeated it. And repeated it. And repeated it.

And i didn't absolve her.

Either give or don't. But ultimately, if you're not going to, just say "No". Don't waste my time trying to get me to ease your conscience.

Peace

Rev. Randal