Is this a new type of begging?

ibarelycare

Was driving back to work at lunchtime and was stopped at traffic lights at a very busy junction in Blanchardstown, where it takes about 4 minutes for the lights to go green. There's always a guy there selling the Herald at lunchtime, walking up and down the lanes of traffic.

I saw a young woman walking down the line of cars handing something to all the drivers. She was a foreign girl, pretty and very nicely dressed. I thought it was some promotion so I rolled down the window to take my freebie. She gave it to me without saying anything and moved on. It was a small scented candle and a piece of paper saying "Please buy this product, I have one child and no job."

She gave the candles & notes out to about 20 cars then legged it back to the top of the line to collect her money. A few people in front of me bought the candles, I think I was the first person to just give it back to her. When I didn't give her any money she roughly snatched the candle out of my hand and did the same to the old woman in the car behind me....wagon!

Has anyone else seen this or something similar? I suppose it is kind of innovative but it still didn't make me want to give her anything

AnonoBoy

Damn it! Blanch you say?

Do you know how long I spent driving around yesterday looking for candles after all the lightbulbs in my house went out???

RedXIV

There's two old guys on the road outside my house which has a traffic light that walk up and down past every car with a cup. They have it down to a tee, with the walking sticks and poor hygiene. I nearly fell for it except i caught one of them straightening up and walking with the stick under his arm at night.

sly bugger

boardinwork

No i havent seen that, but you have to admit it's pretty smart! We Irish, are crap in those situations and most people would have given her the €2 or whatever it cost. Fair play for not caving! I'd say she is making a packet :pac:

frag420

happened to a friend of mine before in dublin. He just lit it up and stuck in on the roof of the car for her to collect.

Would she not have been better of buying food for her one child than buying and selling candles. Hope you reported her to revenue!!ha ha

AnonoBoy

frag420 wrote: »

Would she not have been better of buying food for her one child than buying and selling candles.

Eh.... if she makes a profit off it then no she's not better off doing that. :rolleyes:

You see profit is when you buy something and then sell it on for more money...... ah forget it.

Mr.Lizard

You should have told her to stick her candle up her hole.

connundrum

There was 4 of them operating on Newlands Cross at the weekend.

I pulled up at the red light and a Garda van pulled up next to me. All 4 'sellers' spotted the van and began the worst looking, most blatent retreat ever. 2 of them actually walked backward into traffic whilst watching the Garda van.

Needless to say, none of the Gardai in the van saw anything amiss, and several people got a hassle free candle

Ludo

This is very common practise on the continent (France mainly)...usually happens on trains or in bars though. Damn annoying it is too...but at least they are fairly polite about it there.

ShooterSF

Somebody's been reading Influence: The psychology of persuasion. Well done OP for not caving.

me-skywalker

RedXIV wrote: »

There's two old guys on the road outside my house which has a traffic light that walk up and down past every car with a cup. They have it down to a tee, with the walking sticks and poor hygiene. I nearly fell for it except i caught one of them straightening up and walking with the stick under his arm at night.

sly bugger

That happend to me in Centra, i was waiting to buy my petrol and opened the sunday world and there where the two guys in full two page article....

actualyl sorry that didnt happen to me i read it in the paper.

Lockstep

They had those in Belgium.

You'd be sitting in a mcdonalds or something and they'd leave a small toy on your table (especially if you were sitting with kids) and leave.
Would return a few minutes later expecting the kid to have picked it up so they could demand money.

ibarelycare

boardinwork wrote: »

No i havent seen that, but you have to admit it's pretty smart! We Irish, are crap in those situations and most people would have given her the €2 or whatever it cost. Fair play for not caving! I'd say she is making a packet :pac:

I know, I actually felt embarrassed that I wasn't giving her money when other people were! Feck her though, that €2 was well spent on my euro-savers chicken nuggets, yum yum!

Mr.Lizard

kickoutthejams wrote: »

They had those in Belgium.

You'd be sitting in a mcdonalds or something and they'd leave a small toy on your table (especially if you were sitting with kids) and leave.
Would return a few minutes later expecting the kid to have picked it up so they could demand money.

No, they're actually employees of the Disney Corporation. Easy mistake to make tho.

frag420

yeah i understand how profit works. What i dont understand is how there is a market for small scented candles sold at the side of a busy rd with begging notes attached to them stating she has only one kid and no job!

ShooterSF

frag420 wrote: »

yeah i understand how profit works. What i dont understand is how there is a market for small scented candles sold at the side of a busy rd with begging notes attached to them stating she has only one kid and no job!

It's a market when you factor guilt/sympathy.

Mr.Lizard

She'd be much more useful if she had 1 job and no kids.

Hagar

Not new at all, I remember beggars years ago "selling" holy pictures that they just lifted out of the little racks at the back of the chapel.

bluefinger

Mr.Lizard wrote: »

You should have told her to stick her candle up her hole.

+1

Those people really get on my wick.

AnonoBoy

frag420 wrote: »

yeah i understand how profit works. What i dont understand is how there is a market for small scented candles sold at the side of a busy rd with begging notes attached to them stating she has only one kid and no job!

1. Buy Candles
2. Find traffic lights
3. ????? Guilt
4. Profit.

Finally! I've figured out step three!

Mr.Lizard

bluefinger wrote: »

+1

Those people really get on my wick.

So you don't wax lyrical about them?

boardinwork

frag420 wrote: »

yeah i understand how profit works. What i dont understand is how there is a market for small scented candles sold at the side of a busy rd with begging notes attached to them stating she has only one kid and no job!

Do we really have to explain this to you? Listen, it's their art of bullying you into paying for something that you dont need or want.

Quazzie

connundrum wrote: »

There was 4 of them operating on Newlands Cross at the weekend.

I pulled up at the red light and a Garda van pulled up next to me.

Are you sure it was only candles she was selling?

ShooterSF

AnonoBoy wrote: »

1. Buy Candles
2. Find traffic lights
3. ????? Guilt
4. Profit.

Finally! I've figured out step three!

Pfft. The underpants gnomes only need 3 steps. You are doing 33% more work for the same result.

TPD

She could make a profession out of killing kids. Two birds with one stone, as it were.

Mr.Lizard

TPD wrote: »

She could make a profession out of killing kids.

No, you have to go to medical school first.

karen3212

Beggars demanding the trickles from the trickle down economy. Greedy pigs

Vain

What a useless service. In my town they clean the windscreens of cars with a black sponge. I always use this service how else am i ment to clean my windscreen. Hold on a minute my car has a windscreen washer sh!t all the money i wasted. Smart feckers:rolleyes:

emy-87

I was sitting in traffic in Goatstown when one of those girls gave me a candle. She was walking towards my car to collect it of me when an unmarked garda car drove up, they called her over and told her to wait across the road for them to speak to her, then two jumped out and went over to talk to her! Dunno what happened to her, but she hasnt been there since.



Wohoo first post in after hours!

Blangis

karen3212 wrote: »

Beggars demanding the trickles from the trickle down economy. Greedy pigs

In my experience, very few beggars are actually worthy of the name. The most accurate term for them would really be 'askers', or even just 'collectors' because they don't do anything even remotely like begging, as far as I can make out.

The closest I have seen them get to real begging is the kind of inarticulate whining that the women with babies sometimes produce.

I'd like to see them put a bit more effort into the thing - a bit more begging, if you please. As it is, they're really getting money for nothing.

Kipperhell

There was a one legged woman doing that near Airside and she used to appear near Clarehall too. They prey on peoples' sympathy and even the cynic in me thinks that is wrong. It is easy to think of the charitable ones as fools but I think it is fairer to say they are fooled and the beggars are the problem.