This is very common phenomenon in Ireland nowadays and Britain too I believe...
On my way through Dublin today one stretch of the street had no less than 8 Oxfam charity workers arranged in such a way as to make avoidance almost impossible. Apparently talking on the phone, listening to an iPod or conversing in depth with a colleague is no deterrent for these charity workers and while once upon a time you would be asked to contribute a few Euro for a raffle/lottery ticket or badge of some sort nowadays you are asked for your bank details so as a regular direct debit can be set up on your account.
I like to contribute a bit to a good cause every now and again but giving my bank details to some person in the street who works for a company and takes a wage? ...no sir. Do people actually say to themselves 'that job pays well, I'll go for that'? I have nothing but respect for the people who take their own spare time to work for non profit (or next to non profit) charity organisations but career charity work seems morally wrong to me; charity should be a selfless act.
Oxfam would even be one of the more respectable charity organisations. A cousin of a friend of mine told me she worked for a while for 'the Hanly Centre' (supposedly a charitable Alcoholic support organisation based in Dublin) and said that they would get a coach to a different part of the country each weekend, go out collecting during the day then take their cut and go on the piss that evening!
Do you have this kind of 'charity work' in the US?
Discuss.
On my way through Dublin today one stretch of the street had no less than 8 Oxfam charity workers arranged in such a way as to make avoidance almost impossible. Apparently talking on the phone, listening to an iPod or conversing in depth with a colleague is no deterrent for these charity workers and while once upon a time you would be asked to contribute a few Euro for a raffle/lottery ticket or badge of some sort nowadays you are asked for your bank details so as a regular direct debit can be set up on your account.
I like to contribute a bit to a good cause every now and again but giving my bank details to some person in the street who works for a company and takes a wage? ...no sir. Do people actually say to themselves 'that job pays well, I'll go for that'? I have nothing but respect for the people who take their own spare time to work for non profit (or next to non profit) charity organisations but career charity work seems morally wrong to me; charity should be a selfless act.
Oxfam would even be one of the more respectable charity organisations. A cousin of a friend of mine told me she worked for a while for 'the Hanly Centre' (supposedly a charitable Alcoholic support organisation based in Dublin) and said that they would get a coach to a different part of the country each weekend, go out collecting during the day then take their cut and go on the piss that evening!
Do you have this kind of 'charity work' in the US?
Discuss.