It has been a few weeks since I have given an update on my week in finances. I’m overdue for an update.
A high school student came knocking on my door on Wednesday. He was trying to sell newspaper subscriptions in an effort to get a $500 college scholarship. He was shocked when I said I had no interest in the local paper. He said that if I bought it, he’d come by and have it recycled every day. What an amazing sales technique?!?! Buy something you don’t want and I’ll dispose of it for you. When I continued to say that I wasn’t interested, he said incredulously, “You’re not interested in helping me go to college?” I wasn’t all that interested at $99 a year for a subscription. Does that make me a bad person? If someone knocks on your door and tries to sell you something you don’t want, does that obligate you to buy – even if it’s for a good cause?
I’ve been saving money this week as I’ve stayed late at work to get free dinners. My fiancée is using some of her pile of vacation time to tie up loose ends for the wedding back in Boston. If she were around I’d come home early to have dinner with her.
I’m getting ready to make another $1000 payment towards my HELOC. I’m pretty excited about it as I’ve made nearly $5000 worth of payments since February. The only reason I pause to make the payment is that we have that wedding coming up and costs associated with that.
A non-financial thought for this week:
I’ve talked about the billboards along highway 101 on my commute in Silicon Valley in the past. This week a new one popped up that caught my eye like none before. The company I work for has a couple of 800-gorillas that have niche products in the space. One of them took out a billboard targetting exactly that niche – not a good sign for my company – pun intended.
“If someone knocks on your door and tries to sell you something you don’t want, does that obligate you to buy – even if it’s for a good cause?”
Of course not. Next time he says “You’re not interested in helping me go to college?” you can reply “Are you interested in helping me pay off my HELOC?”
The whole your not interested in helping me go to college answer would have really pissed me off.
I mean seriously, $500 is like a weeks work at a burger joint. There must be some other scam/angle that you don’t know about.
Sending high school kids around for fundraisers of any kind is dangerous to the kids. And potentially dangerous to their personalities as you witnessed.
LOL @ the high school student. All I can say he was very very persistent. I doubt if $500 can send him to college –that is not enough to cover books for 1 semester. Next kid that try to sucker you tell them I am more interested in putting my own kids in college !
When I was in college, we had some college student who said he traveled over 6 hours to come to our neighborhood and sell us magazines. WHAT?!?!?! 6 Hours? I just thanked him for the opportunity and sent him on his way.
I would also like to know what the SCAM here is because either this kid lied to get us to feel sorry for him, or he really did travel 6 hours just to get an untapped market.
If it’s a guy with a notepad, I reply with a quick “No thanks!” and close the door immediately. I figure anyone selling stuff at my door is already performing an impolite act, so I see little reason to waste my time and theirs.
Once I did get “chatted up” and realized that the high school the kid supposedly attended didn’t exist. If you’re going to make up stuff, at least spend five seconds to come up with the name of a high school that didn’t close six years ago.
Hmmm, sounds like the young chap needs to learn the important sales technique of walking away when you need to. Or risk getting shot by an unhappy door answerer.
I think they have some kind of scam going. I once got conned big time at the university. I paid cash to some rude demanding kid who convinced me to buy magazines. They never came, go figure. Stupid decision on my part.
I have recently learned the art of peaking from upstairs everytime the doorbell rings. I see the puzzled looks of sales people when they see 2 cars in the drive way and no one answers. Haha