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December 07, 2007
I Joined The Army, Again.
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| Image: The Empire was not all bad. Is it possible
Luke was a terrorist? Tomorrow I'll be ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. With a couple of wars going on I wasn't sure joining the army was the best idea for me and my family. But the Salvation Army assures me that security will be tight at my locale. And in the end you do what you have to do for your country. I've never wrung the bell before. I have given money to the red bucket... just change. And I'll also admit that I've found the bell ringing to be rather annoying. But in all fairness I'm generally annoyed when shopping. It's an attitude I've perfected as a defense mechanism that keeps my wife from ever asking me to go to the mall, thrift stores, or any place else where goods are exchanged for currency. I assume others are easily annoyed during the stressful, crowdy, spent-too-much-money, lead up to Christmas. So my hope was that readers could give me pointers on what not to do, or what to do. I would like to be a successful bell ringer. I'm hoping to raise $3,000 or $4,000 during the hour I'll be working. Is that realistic? Is there any way someone can get Ken Grossman down to Raley's tomorrow between 1-2PM? I do have a little experience "selling" small non-profit donations. Last summer I spent quite a few Thursday nights at the downtown market hawking T-shirts to fund raise for the Nico Project. I learned early on that standing passively behind your table gets you nowhere. You have to grab the "customers" attention, create rapport, and then close the deal with a hard sell if necessary. Most people at the market will avert their eyes when they walk by you, most of them have already formed the words "no thanks" before they even get to you. Breaking through that pre-formed barrier is the most important step. You can sometimes do that by asking the person you're approaching something completely unexpected. I tried things like "Did you know there was a sea monster loose in Bidwell Park?" or "want to see a shipwreck?". But you can also use questions like "when is your birthday?" which people will automatically answer. Questions elicit responses, whereas yelling "T-shirts for sale!" sends people running away from you. But I'm at a loss as to how to approach people while ringing the Salvation Army bell. I don't think "alms for the poor" works very well. Is the Salvation Army bell ringing such a tradition that you don't spoil it by adding that personal touch that creates interaction? Perhaps, you just say Merry Christmas, and ring that puppy? |
| CI Rules Committee Finding: Gregg Payne "in my tush" filed a complaint with the rules committee over the pine beetle challenge a few days back. He felt technically that Trevor had won the challenge, and if not Trevor then his guess which came before Anthony's was also technically correct. Trevor guessed "Is that a bug chewing it's way through some wood?" Gregg guessed "Looks like a bark beetle butt" Anthony guessed "It's a pine beetle" I think the "bug chewing" guess was too ambiguous to win, but the "bark beetle" was pretty close. From a fairness standpoint, I'm pretty sure Anthony has already paid to have monogrammed towels that say "I won the CI Challenge on December 4, 2007" made. So taking away his victory is not fair. What I can do is offer these fine virtual silver medals to both Gregg and Trevor. They can print and cut these out, and savor the first joint second place in CIC history. But these are only for Trevor and Gregg, nobody else should print them and cut them out. We're counting on the honor system here. I believe in you people, so don't do it. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, see YouTube clip below and let me know if you can find the fellow in the picture. The clip takes me back to my first days in an army barracks. |
Posted by Lon at December 7, 2007 06:32 AM
Comments
It was a team effort.
Trevor and I pull our clairvoyant idiot savant guesses out of our... I mean, the sky, and Encyclopedia Anthonia takes the time to do the extensive scientific research. Art and science are really the same thing. They're both inspiration and perspiration.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at December 7, 2007 07:28 AM
Gregg,
You guys do kind of remind me of one of the greatest teams of three ever, the Bee-Gees.
I have to get some sleep, I wrote this post after getting up at 2:30AM for the second night in a row (and it shows). I must have some kind of fever, one likely to break tomorrow night. I'll call it the Saturday Night Fever.
I think I just exhibited symptoms of it.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 7, 2007 08:03 AM
I will wear my badge with pride. Which Raley's are you going to be at tomorrow? I'll go and throw dollar bills at you til you throw your bell at me just to get me to stop throwing things. And i'll wear my medal!
Posted by: TrevHastings at December 7, 2007 08:15 AM
Trevoranymous,
I'll be at the expensive one. Oh, I guess that's all of them. I'll be at the one on the south side of town near Home Depot. You can throw your dollar bills, but you're not getting a table dance. Well, maybe one, it's for a good cause.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 7, 2007 08:19 AM
I always thought the expensive-er one was the north side. the south-side one has been there since I can remember...
Posted by: TrevHastings at December 7, 2007 08:33 AM
I got ten bucks for the Caddy Shack Squirrel Dance and twenty if you do it with a spandex Captain America outfit.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at December 7, 2007 09:14 AM
Gregg,
I'll take your ten-twenty bucks, but honestly I'd do both those things for free.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 7, 2007 09:31 AM
Nobody will get the CI Challenge. Bet on it!
I'll even let you know it's associated with the title of the blog. This challenge is safe....
Lon
Posted by: Lon at December 7, 2007 09:53 AM
It's Chico's local Army Recruiter!
Posted by: TrevHastings at December 7, 2007 10:08 AM
It's Hugo Chavez returned from the dead to lead an army of zombies to ring bells in front of raleys!
Posted by: TrevHastings at December 7, 2007 10:11 AM
Your still doing it for free. The dough is going into the red bucket.
OK, I'm coming by. I wanna see spandex and Captain America doing a pole dance. "Be all you can be".
Photo op everybody! Bring bills.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at December 7, 2007 03:11 PM
Captain America For the win.
Posted by: TrevHastings at December 7, 2007 04:01 PM