Charity muggers are irritating

"I don't speak English and this is the only sentence I know!"

With friends, I laugh out loud. Alone, I still laugh, hoping my temporary insanity would curb their attack.

One of my local charity shops are always asking for more . I am a regular customer and spend quite a bit with them they have some great stuff. but everytime I go in they are forcing bags on me to fill with donations. Asking if I would like to become a volunteer. Shoving a try full of red heart badges suggesting I should give them a £1.00 or persuading me to write a love note to go into the window...........!!!!! At the end of the day I don't want to shop there anymore they have now lost out on a good customer.

Stare at the charity muggers in the eye, do not move a muscle and bark out loudly but clearly 'Nein'. Message delivered and received.

There's a good old-fashioned phrase which I always use for the chugger/survey/catalogue agent/clipboard brigade who persist in trying to impede my progress through the local town centre, and it is, "Not todaaaaaay, thank you!" delivered in a Hyacinth Bucket-type wail. Works a treat!

I noticed the collection tin rattlers are always hanging around the 'Covert Your Change' machine (where you tip your jars of coppers into a machine that takes 8.9% of it and gives you a voucher to redeem at the till) in Morrison's where I live. As the machine is inside the supermarket, obviously they have Morrison's permission to make people feel guilty for not giving the parasites anything. Also they have charity workers who start helping you pack your shopping and then they expect you to give them money for it for their particular 'charity'! When you think most money donated to charities goes on 'admin' and the rest is given to keep dictators in Africa in luxury while the people you gave it for are left living in sh1t, it's not surprising people avoid them like the plague.

The chuggers have been getting worse, especially since they've started to turn up on doorsteps. I had an encounter with an Oxfam guy who was particularly rude when I expressed my lack of interest in continuing the conversation. Your one doesn't sound rude, just clueless, but if you have anyone being an ass I'd suggest that you complain to both the organisation in question and to their watchdog, the PFRA. Maybe if enough people voice their dislike of this kind of approach they'll eventually get the message.

I've got nothing against donating to charitiesblocking the automatic door.On my exit again

If you live in Manchester you will know St Annes Square is teeming with charity workers. Usually, a polite but firm "No thank you" will work but you do get the more aggressive ones who pretty much run after you. Recently, one did some kind of arm waving dance in front of me, making it difficult to pass. Give these people your personal details at your peril (believe me I've done this). Once the charity have your contact details they will be forever phoning you about 8:45pm, telling you that if you could "Increase your contributions by another £20 a month, we can help even more........". Charity is a great thing and is unfortunately needed in this world. But I know as well as most people that the directors of these organisations are on hefty salaries which is a contradiction in my view. I'll continue to put a quid in a collection box from time to time.

If you live in Manchester you will know St Annes Square is teeming with charity workers. Usually, a polite but firm "No thank you" will work but you do get the more aggressive ones who pretty much run after you. Recently, one did some kind of arm waving dance in front of me, making it difficult to pass. Give these people your personal details at your peril (believe me I've done this). Once the charity have your contact details they will be forever phoning you about 8:45pm, telling you that if you could "Increase your contributions by another £20 a month, we can help even more........". Charity is a great thing and is unfortunately needed in this world. But I know as well as most people that the directors of these organisations are on hefty salaries which is a contradiction in my view. I'll continue to put a quid in a collection box from time to time.

A person collecting money for "the blind" approached my friend who is quite clearly blind ( big guide dog). As a joke my friend suggested that he cut out the middle man and just give her the money now. He was extremely huffy and offended. Apparently they don't have a sense of humour!

I have a friend who worked as a chugger (team leader no less) and was bragging about earning the grand sum of 17k... my husband audited the same charity, and discovered that the average rate which actually ends up in charity coffers after chugger wages, expenses, bank charges, admin etc is 2p in the £, where a straight donation was adding 40p in the £ (still pathetic don't you think??)

I've got nothing against donating to charities, but my pet peeve is the guilt trip some of the larger charities try and lay on you n the form of TV commercials. I make it a point never to give to any charity which advertises on TV, purely because the money they spend on the commercials should be used for whatever cause they're meant to be supporting.