( 12:55 PM )
Charity Donations
Watch out for the latest in charity donation solicitations. I guess the phone telemarketing, the junk mail, junk email, standing outside the doors of supermarkets and Walmart isn't working anymore. I know I’m immune to those tactics. I can walk right by a kid in a wheelchair holding a big sign for some disease research charity and not feel a twinge of guilt or remorse.
It’s not that I’m not sympathetic to these charities. It’s just that I do my fair share of donating throughout the year and don’t feel like I need to be strong-armed (or guilted) into donating to every organization that occupies a street corner. I donate to my church, to several favorite charities via yearly solicitations, and through my company (who matches my donations dollar-for-dollar), so at the end of the day, I don’t feel like I’m not doing enough.
But yesterday I was unprepared for this sneak attack. On my lunch break, I hit my local CVS drug store to pick up some miscellaneous supplies. When I got to the register, the woman rung up my items to a grand total of $16.48. When I took out my credit card to pay for everything, she said (in a rather loud voice I might add), “would you like to donate a dollar to the Lou Gehrig’s Disease Foundation?”
Now, if there weren’t 20 people in line around me and behind me, I might have said, “not today.” But it seemed everyone was waiting to hear my response. So of course I said, “sure,” and she quickly rung up another dollar on my tab.
It’s not a big deal. An extra dollar on top of miscellaneous drug store items won’t put me back. But I’m half torn between being impressed by the slickness of the solicitation technique, or annoyed by it. I guess it will take a few times before I’ll be able to resist the guilt of saying “no thanks.”
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( 2:10 PM )
Sandwich Envy
I’m having some “deli sandwich envy” or possibly some “deli sandwich inadequacies” at my local lunch stand.
The deli I go to is great. They have everything. But it is always very busy, and they’ve got like 6 guys working behind the counter. You place your order with one person, and another person makes it. You stand around with 20 other people and wait for your sandwich. The problem is, when they finish making it, they scream out your entire order.
“Alright, who’s got the fried pastrami, provolone, bacon, lettuce and tomato on toasted rye with mayonnaise – and a side of potato salad!!?”
Damn…
Everyone looks around to see who the gutsy person is that ordered the heart attack sandwich, secretly wishing they had ordered it.
So there’s a lot of pressure to order something creative at this deli, and sometimes I’m not up to the task. I’m a baloney and cheese on white bread type of guy. Sometime I like liverwurst and onion on a roll – which usually gets some looks. The most creative I can get is turkey and bacon on rye – which still is pretty boring.
Sometimes, while I’m waiting in line, hearing people order things in front of me, I panic and break formation and just retreat to the salad bar.
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