Some People Are Just Jerks...

What is this world coming to?

"Muahahaha!" - Mr. Sneaky Raccoon

I'm pretty sure that if you look back over the history of man, for as long as people have been living together in some sort of organized society, there have been people who knowingly take advantage of other people....which is ridiculous. How are people okay with taking advantage of others?!?

I just don't get it, I guess. I don't think I could sleep at night if I knew that I'd stolen from someone else...

Why bring this up?

I was watching the local news this morning and there was a story about a few people running some sort of scam operation a few towns over...people were soliciting magazine subscriptions and asking for monetary donations so that magazines could be donated to local hospitals. A lady called the local authorities reporting the suspicious behavior of the young man that was going door to door selling these magazine subscriptions. After a quick search, it was found that the company that is supposedly selling these magazine subscriptions has been in the scam game for quite some time. [Give 'Midwest Circulation, LLC' a quick search...]

A couple of weeks ago, I was approached by the same people [or at least people working for the same 'company']. I'd gone to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and the guy approached me while I was looking for some cough drops for my kiddo.

He talked really fast and was stingy with details about why exactly he needed my money. He ended up trying to talk me into signing up for a 12-month subscription to three different magazines, for a total of about $140! I tried to politely decline but he was rather persistent and he then tried to get me to sign up for just one of the subscriptions for a 'mere $45.' Thankfully, I held my ground and told him that I would not sign up for any subscriptions...but I didn't leave the forced conversation completely unscathed...I did end up giving him $20 when he said that any monetary donation would go directly to St. Jude's. Thank goodness I decided to give him cash rather than write him a check...but still...I'm rather peeved that my $20 didn't really go towards any sort of charity at all.

Certainly feels like it...

Here's my issue with all of this:

I was talking to my sister about it earlier today [I'd told her about the odd encounter with the magazine solicitor right after it happened], and she jokingly said, "Guess that you won't be being nice to random people anymore!" And you know what, she's actually pretty close to being right...


What if I actually did stop being nice to random people? Who's to say that I'm not one interaction with a heartless a-hole away from ending all charitable donations...not that I guess that would matter to whomever made the decision to take advantage of those who are kindhearted enough to help others...

Just saying...there are more jerks than nice people out there, is it really wise to treat the nice ones poorly?