You're having a nice dinner with your wife, at a nice restaurant. You're sitting outside on the patio, and you see a guy pulling a wagon with his little girl, stopping at each table, trying to sell candles.

What did you do???

How much is the candle? Does he take plastic? I rarely ever carry any cash on me unless I'm going a sporting event or maybe a bar and don't want to spend too much.

What did you do???

 

How much is the candle? Does he take plastic? I rarely ever carry any cash on me unless I'm going a sporting event or maybe a bar and don't want to spend too much.

 

 

That is what I told him. I never carry cash. I had $2 in my pocket to pay for parking when I left. Somebody did complain to the manager though, and he was told to leave. I did think it was a little abrasive, and thought he probably would have done better if he asked people after they left the restaurant.

I am with you SF41...most of my paychecks the past couple of years are usually directly deposited so I don't have cash on me unless for the reasons that you explained.

 

If the little girl would have asked me, versus the man, and I had cash on me, I may have bought one.

I would probably just tell the man no thanks. I wouldn't ask for the manager unless the man was being rude to me or my family. I may look around when I left to see if he wa still around in the parking lot and buy a candle or just give him a few bucks if I had it.

I had a young man tell me one time that he had something similar to this one time, he told the man no and went on. He got to thinking about it when hearing in a song coming over the radio that had a line it it "do you think I would be standing out here begging if I had enough to eat". My friend said he turned around, went through a drive through fast food resteraunt and got the man some sandwiches and something to drink, returned and gave it to him along with the few dollars change from buying the food.

He said the man seemed truly appreciative and he went away from it feeling alot better himself. I just wanted to pass this story along, was the first thing that I thought of when reading the thread.

I'd tell the guy no thanks. The little girl may be able to sucker me in, but I doubt it.

 

No reason to ask them to leave unless you're bitter or if the sellers are being loud / disruptive. Even then, I probably wouldn't ask for a manager.

Selling candles, I would have bought one, no questions asked.

 

But, I do not just give money to people. I would buy something from them though. "Give a man a fish, and feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, and feed him for a life time".

Depending on how he approached me I'd probably give him some cash. Would I take the candle? Maybe. Maybe not. No matter what I think of the guy and no matter what I speculate caused him to be in this position, I'll always help out if I think it might help the child. Even if I later found out the guy suckered me, I'd still do it. No questions asked.

I'd buy the candle.

I had a young man tell me one time.................

 

Oldramble, I had something similar to this happen to me once, with a dramatically different outcome. Though my work, I have found that many people begging for money only use that money for drugs and alcohol, so I refuse to give cash only to people. But, I am not against helping people. Once I saw a man standing on the side of the road with a sign that said, " I am hungry, I will work for food". So, I went to a local drive threw and bought a generous portion of food and took it to the man. He became irate and threw the food at me and said, "I want money not food". I have never given stuff to people asking for money or food again.

 

But, again, I will buy stuff off of them, no matter if I want the product or not.

I guess it depends if The Boss/wife wanted a candle...:lol:

Depends on how much they costs, and/or, how much I'd been drinking at the restaurant

I would have bought the doggone thing. I would never have gotten the management unless it was something way over the top. "But for the grace of God", especially in these times. Many Americans are one pay check away from selling candles.....

I would have bought a candle.