charities & dogfish

OK charities, listen, i get it. curbside donation appeals are hardly a rewarding task. most people try their hardest to get by without making eye contact so they don't have to talk to you; even folks who DO make eye contact ignore you and rush by without stopping to talk. and then even those who you do manage to stop are likely rude most of the time, and i'm guessing only a tiny fraction of people agree to hear you out and/or donate.

so when you DO get someone to stop and listen, and that person says they'll donate? LEAVE HER BE FTLOG.

planusa.org, which is legitimately a very good & worthy charity, has had volunteers stationed outside my metro stop for the past few weeks, trying to flag down commuters to solicit donations. about two weeks ago a guy named patrick successfully got me to stop, went into his spiel, and convinced me that child trafficking is bad and that i should donate some money to prevent it. all good, right?

yeah, no. i told him i liked the charity, and did they have a card with a website? because i'd like to donate online. he told me i should give him my credit card number there, on the sidewalk, and donate on the spot. i said no thank you, i would rather donate securely online. patrick launched into a 5 minute long argument with me about other places i used my card that were unsafe, and how i should trust him and a proven charity and just write down my credit card number on the form on his clipboard already.

look. people. i know that every time i use my card, it opens me up to risk. i know that i have to give my card to waiters at restaurant, where they take it out of my line of sight, and could do naughty things. but just because these are necessary risks involved with owning a bank card, does this mean i may as well ALSO give my bank information to the nice nigerian price who emails me all the time? no, no it does not.

it's the argument that if you're not going to eat only grass and carrots all day long, there's NO POINT in having lowfat yogurt instead of ice cream, because WHY BOTHER if one other thing you ate was unhealthy?

(it's a bad argument, is my point.)

so basically patrick here wouldn't let me leave even though i promised to donate online. he got kind of aggressive about it, trying his best to bully me into donating right then. he FOLLOWED ME about 20 feet down the walk, chastising me that i should donate to him directly. i asked him at one point if he got commission or recognition for the donations, because i'd use his name online if so; he claimed that was not the case but that "only 1% of people donate online."

"well then, luckily for you, i'll help bring those numbers up," i replied. it didn't help.

i eventually had to abruptly walk away from him because he made it clear that wouldn't stop. i was so irritated by the whole thing that i was really hesitant to donate to them at ALL at that point. you should not HARASS people into volunteering their money, you know? but, i HAD said i would donate, so i did. a $50 donation via their website when i got home.

yesterday, patrick was at my metro stop again. he pounced on me immediately - "hey! remember me? patrick!-" and started his spiel again. i interrupted him with "yes, i do, and i donated $50 on your website, as promised."

"oh. so will you donate today?"

"i.. i just told you that i donated..?"

"yes, but that was like 2 weeks ago," patrick pointed out incredulously. his tone turned reproachful. "don't you think you should give more...?"

HELPFUL TIP TO CHARITIES: do not attempt to shame people who have JUST DONATED by suggesting their contribution was meager and not helpful enough. YOU ARE LITERALLY BEGGING ME FOR MONEY ON THE SIDEWALK.

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in less ranty news, are any of you familiar with dogfish head beers? they're a local(-ish) brewery, and when marie and i recently found out our friends planned to make a roadtrip there, we asked* if we could join them and planned a mini weekend getaway.

*it was less "asking" and more "demanding" that we come along, technically. details.

Instagrammed by Marie

if you're local, i highly recommend the tour. it's very fun & VERY informative.

and they let you drink a pretty good quantity of beer. :)


have a great long weekend, everyone! my weekend, while it should be quite nice, will be exactly the same length as normal weekends because i do not have monday off. TERRIBLE.