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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1999)
Battalion Aggielife Page 3 • Tuesday, September 7, 1999 No Means No ——^ 1 a i * JT . 1 . IT T* • j1 T • • . exasA&M students find dealing with solicitors on campus is far from no-risky no-hassle SUNDAY psilon: Will t with casual = Creek Park. here will ba 9 p.m. in Tiily Ruder at ~ormation. MONDAY BY EMILY RUDER The Battalion tealth and silent as a jungle cat, the predator stalks his prey. After ana lyzing the target, he decides on an ef- ive strategy. Careful not to alert the victim of his J\TURDAY sence ’ the hunter suddenly lunges out, No ir" Pdsmg his prey. 15 ln S s "Would you like to sign up for free long tance? We have the best rates in town! ” During the first weeks of school, the C, Commons Lobby and Sbisa Dining 11 are crowded with tables of men and men selling newspapers and magazine ascriptions, promoting telephone ser es and credit cards — each passing out ?rs and tons of freebies. Students accept the hordes of sales- 3ple as part of the first week of school, t that does not mean they have to ac- Yt $alesmen without a struggle. Jesi Harvey, a sophomore agricultural irnalism major, said solicitors on earn ed plomms^ 8 q uickl y overstay their welcome. . “They are annoying,” Harvey said. 30 pr Cr ; hey might be nice people, but what -j6-3ocm - -TTe doing is just annoying.” Ha il >17. Harvey said sometimes she must put r manners aside when she is ap- =ter: cached by a persistent salesperson, t 7 p.m mRj “1 don’t like to be rude, but sometimes teacfh'.na: ; lU can’t help it,” she said. ntervieAS. 1 ' “u I tell them I’m not interested and frees./', ey keep it up, then I feel like I have to i rude.” Jennifer Johnsen, a junior biomedical "UESDAY ience major, said solicitors on campus id Programs simply irritating because they are not >: meet )urteous enough to students. DO Program* “They act like all they want is extra a.m. in)mmission, the credit of selling the prod- :ts,” she said. “They don’t care about le consumer.” rans:Agar- Johnsen said not all solicitors are - n w ta- ereotypical pushy pitchmen. ■ur ScMCys tut' Ptipm & speaker ■ oquetof^i p.m. inlOll ormatiofl.ttf- “If they seem like they care about their product or if they seem honest, then I am more likely to listen to what they have to say,” Johnsen said. Johnsen said she tries to always be po lite to solicitors, but sometimes it is hard to convince the salespeople that no means no. “My reaction depends on the mood I’m in when I pass them,” Johnsen said. “If I’m in a bad mood, then all of them are going to annoy me.” Johnsen said her strategy for avoiding the salespeople is to ignore them and make her escape. “I avoid eye contact and power walk GABRIEL RUENES/Thk Battalion past them,” she said. “I hate trying to dodge them.” Freddy Blair, a local newspaper solici tor, sympathizes with the students he stops in the MSC. “I hate telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen,” Blair said. “When I see booths like these, I don’t go up to them. So I just try to be polite to people because I know what it feels like.” Blair said this week was his first and last experience in sales. “1 make good money, but it is just not what I expected,” Blair said. “I’m still em barrassed. The only thing really OK about my job is that what I am selling is a good deal. It’s not a scam. It’s good for college students who are strapped for cash.” Contrary to Harvey and Johnsen’s re actions to solicitors, Blair said Texas A&M students never react harshly to him. “The students are not rude,” Blair said. “They’re real friendly here in Texas.” Christine Tran, a junior finance major, is a solicitor for a small telecommunica tions business, and she said she has had positive responses to her sales pitches. “If they stop at the table, lots sign up,” Tran said. “If they listen to our sales speech, they usually sign up.” TYan said her employers hire motivat ed people to sell their services. “There were no qualifications they were looking for,” Tran said. “You have to be really self-motivated.” Unlike Blair, TYan said she enjoys her job. She said she wanted a job in sales not only for the commission she could earn, but also for the interpersonal skills she would gain. “I was really shy at first, but after the first day [at work] I relaxed,” Tran said. “When I saw all of my colleagues handing out free stuff and talking to peo ple, I started doing it too. After all, I have nothing to lose.” Both Blair and TYan would recommend their jobs to students for the money, ex perience and connections they could make with other people. “The money you make depends on how much you want to work,” Blair said. “I would definitely recommend this job for out-of-state people. 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