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.
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Ptipm &
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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. I got a two-week
paid vacation this way.”
UCIlQt’
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Styling
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iturday
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areer
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The Texas A&M Career
Center and the Business
Student Council
present...
Thurs. Sept 9,7:30 pm
159 Wehner
etworking
Door Prizes
will be given
away!
Learn insider tips on how to effectively
network with recruiters and make great
impressions at career fairs and at employer
receptions.
Representatives from:
IKON Office Solutions
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Career Center * 209 Koldus * 845-5139
http://aggienet.tamu.edu/cctr