New Design (or, How I Need to Work on Saying "No")

As you can probably tell, I've changed the look of my blog. Nifty, isn't it? (I love the word "nifty". I think it's just a really fun word).

Anyway, I figured I'd ramble a little more, now that my blogs are actually showing up on the page (you might want to scroll down a bit, too, to see if you've read all the posts below-- I know there was a post I made in May that only showed up today after I changed the layout of the page).

So, my latest problem:

I've been plagued by people trying to sell stuff to me.

Okay, so it's only been two. But it seems like a lot more, because the suffering they've brought me... Well, okay, I guess it's not so bad. I'm just incapable of saying no to them!

Take yesterday, for instance. I got a call from MasterCard (guess what kind of accent the guy had? C'mon, guess! Yes - Indian!), with the guy telling me that he's going to send me an unactivated credit card, and how the terms are really good for students, etc., etc. Simple, everyday kind of call, right? Everyone gets them.

Right. Except it took me fifteen minutes to get off the phone -- because my dad's been telling me lately that I should get a credit card, and so I thought I'd take the opportunity to receive a credit card application in the mail and find out its terms and things like that - but then the guy started asking me which college I'm in, and things like that, and my suspicious nature kicked in, as it does whenever anyone asks me for any sort of information that isn't easily accessible (like, I guess I won't be suspicious if they ask me how old I am -- but, after years of drilling via my parents, I absolutely refuse to say what school I go to or what neighborhood I live in...). So I kind of started backtracking and telling him that never mind, I don't want to receive anything from him -- but you know how those telemarketers are. Once you get them started... Fifteen minutes! And I only got him off the phone by asking him to call back at another time after I talk to my parents (it always works to use the "I'm a helpless kid and need my parents' permission to give out any information" card, if all else is lost). Hopefully, he's exasperated enough with me never to call back.

And then today: I'm sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park, getting ready to have a very nice lunch hour with my book and my carrots and green peppers, when this guy comes up to me and starts telling me about this promotion his spa is having. So I feel obligated to listen to him for a couple of minutes, and then I actually get interested, because it's a pretty good offer, and it looks fairly legitimate-- and it's occurring to me that it would be a great present for my mom-- so I listen to him go on and on about it, until I realize that it's not just a flyer he's handing to me, but that I have to fill it out and pay him right away-- which I'm obviosly not going to do with some stranger on the street, no matter how legitimate the flyers look.

So I start telling him that no, thank you, I'm not going to pay you right now, and I think I probably looked fairly stubborn about it, because he got a semi-defeated, understanding look on his face. So I'm thinking, yes! I got through to him! He's going to leave me alone! But no-- he's reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone, telling me that I can call the number on the flyer and verify what they are.

I say no; then he dials 411 and tells me to call them. "I definitely don't have any friends there," he says.

I say no again. He manages to look very hurt and informs me that lots of people have payed using their credit cards, and it's extremely safe.

I say no for the fifteenth time. He insists on asking why. I explain that I never buy anything from anyone on the street. He looks very hurt, and tells me that he doesn't want me to think he's a con artist. I tell him very politely that I'm sure he's not a con artist, but I'm not going to take any chances. The guy pulls out his cell phone again.

"Here," he says. "You can call my mom and ask her what my job is! She'll tell you..."

At this point, I'm wondering how I manage to get myself into these situations. Do I look like someone who will buy anything if they're nice to me? I mean, I guess I have an inherent inability to be rude to strangers (most of the time, anyway), and I can't just stand up and leave, or yell at them-- but I'm pretty stubborn, too, and I never actually buy anything.

So why does it take me so long to say no? Or, rather, why does it take them so long to accept my no?

I remember watching a show a long time ago, and this scene stayed with me:

A girl is sitting along in a bar, angry after a fight with her friend. A guy slides in the seat next to her and smiles, obviously intending to talk to her.

She just looks at him with a subtle expression of disgust on her face, shakes her head, and says, "Uh... no."

The guy leaves immediately.

I want to be able to adopt that tone of voice, and to be able to use it with people. I mean, I think being rude is horrible, but sometimes I just sit there, after a fifteen-minute conversation with a spa-salesperson, and wish I was able to just look at him with that don't-contradict-me expression, and say "no" in a way that would give him no room for argument.

But no. I'm doomed to a life with hours of time wasted by listening to salespeople talk to me about things I'm never going to buy.

Oh, well. At least if I am ever forced to become a salesperson, I will never have to feel guilty for being angry at people that are rude when I stop them on the street.