Pushy, pushy

Raise your hand if you've ever gotten a phone call from a tzedakah.

[waiting...ok, all the hands are up, as I suspected]

Okay, now raise your hand if you didn't have money to give at the time (or at the very least, had other places to give to which could use the money just as much, if not more).

[waiting...yeah, that's what I thought]

Is it just me, or do the people making these phone calls not know how to take "no" for an answer?! Honestly, they're worse than the Children's International stalkers on the streets of New York. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, you can say to one of these callers to make them understand that you are, in fact, not committing to "just a small $18 pledge today" (or a "small" $36 pledge, $100 pledge, etc).

Recently, I received a follow-up call from an organization which called me a couple of months ago. I told them at the time that I did not feel comfortable making a pledge for what I thought was a reasonable and valid reason, but the caller said, "Well, can we just send you an envelope?" So I told her she could, but that I wasn't making any sort of official pledge. "Well, I'll just put you down for $18."

[click]

Now they call back wanting to know where that $18 is! The reason I gave still holds, and I tried to explain it yet again to the recent caller, who still would not take "no" for an answer.

I know that tzedakahs are all strapped for cash right now. I know that many people who used to underwrite entire programs and make very generous donations are no longer able to do so, and that they are trying to make up for in volume what they lost in large lump sums. (Hey, it totally worked for Obama.) However, at the same time, I think it behooves them to realize that the people they are calling are often in no better financial shape than their no-longer-big donors, and pressuring and falsely putting down people for pledges is not going to make them any friends.

Back from the abyss

Hi there, readers, if any of you are still around. I know it's been an awfully long time since I've written. I apologize for that. Life has a way of getting in the way of little things like blogging sometimes, you know? I can't even promise that now I'm really back, because I have a new job(!!!) which basically consumes most of my energy and waking thoughts, not to mention the hours I actually put in at work. (Seriously, if they paid me for the work I do when I'm not clocked in, I'd be making waaaaay more than I am.)

Still, I figured that an update is in order, seeing as it's been several months. Here's some of the stuff that's been going on in my life and going through my mind in the recent or distant past, in no particular order:

• Job searching seriously, seriously sucks. B"H I have one now, but it was total hashgacha pratis that I got it - it pretty much fell into my lap. No, I will not be giving details. If you know me in real life, feel free to ask me via media other than the comments section.
• They weren't lying when they said that, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." It's not that I got into any actual trouble per se when I was unoccupied all summer...but, well, my brain prefers that I stay busy.
• That being said, as I mentioned above, this new job is consuming most of my available energy and probably some that isn't actually available, too. This has its drawbacks, but aside from being exhausted, frustrated, and losing my voice, I feel GREAT!
• In reference to the Yamim Noraim which just passed: Is it possible to actually ask forgiveness from someone when you don't even know what it is you're asking for? I'm not talking about the stupid little things, which may be minor annoyances when they occur but are easily forgiven and forgotten. I'm talking about relationships where one person has no idea that they're doing something to hurt/bother/otherwise harm in physical or nonphysical ways, but they ask forgiveness for "anything that I may have done" blah blah blah. Granted, maybe then you'd say that the onus lies on the person who is being hurt to let the other person know (preferably before it's erev Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur and it's "mechilla season"). But if the person has good reason to believe that the hurtful/harmful behavior would not change, and bringing it up would only cause further harm to the relationship, what then? Just some food for thought; feel free to sound off in the comments. I'm interested in what people have to say.
• Back to work: I'm jealous of the people who can roll out of bed and be at work. There are lots of them in my workplace, and it's getting tiring to hear, "Oh wow, you come in all the way from Neighborhood X? That must be such a long trip! How long does it take you?....Wow, really, that long each way? I don't know how you do it." Yeah, I don't know how I do it, either...oh wait, yes I do. It's called, I got a job and I'll do what it takes to show up to work on time every day.
• Kids today are way more chutzpadik than they were when I was growing up. Yes, I have confirmed this with friends who are teachers, and I'm not making it up. Unfortunately for me, I have a very, very low tolerance for chutzpa.
• You know you're officially engrossed in your work when you dream about it multiple nights in a row. Yes, it's been about a week and a half into starting and I'm already there.
• I realized something about myself earlier this summer: I'm far more willing to go out of my way and go beyond what would be acceptable and called for to help a friend than I am to help myself. That's something I have to work on. Not that I should stop helping friends, but that I should consider my own life as important as theirs and do more to help myself.

Anyway, I think that's about all for now. Hopefully I'll be back sooner next time than I was this time around, but no promises; I don't wish to disappoint. I hope everyone has a chag sameach!