Damnit, I tried real hard this year, but we're only one week past Thanksgiving and I'm already ready to rip that goddamn bell out of the next persons hand and shove it up their ass. Before I get too far, understand that I know what you're doing is for a good cause, but that doesn't mean you're not annoying the shit out of me.
Starts innocently enough, outside a mall, maybe a department store, couple days later they're posted up right in front of every supermarket, and then finally outside busy subway stations. I literally can't leave the house with out $.50 in change in my pocket in fear feeling guilty the rest of my day if I don't have anything to drop in the bucket. Except there are so many of these guys this year that I'm carrying around about $1.75 in nickels and dimes just to try and keep up.
And is it just me or are the bell ringers getting a bit aggressive this year? Hey asshole, you don't have to ring the bell louder as people approach, we're not frigen sensory deprived, I can hear you, and believe it or not I can see you in that bright red smock. If I have some change you'll get it.
And then there are the truly greedy SOB's of the bell ringing community. The ones that hit you going in and coming out. Just as unethical as it gets. Everyone who's ever solicited outside a store knows you pick either the entering customers or the exiting customers to pitch too and that's it. Fourth grade kids selling candy bars have a tighter game than these people. If one person this season tries to hit me up on the way out after they already whacked me on the way in I'm going to demand a refund. I'm all for charitable giving but the Salvation Army may want to screen their ringers for douches and pricks before they let any old person grab a bell and smock.
