quote:Is there really such a huge exertion between saying, "I'm sorry but I am not interested," letting the missionaries respond, and then emphatically but politely saying no again and bidding them good day?
The couple times when it's occurred, it took at least 3-5 versions of "no" before they went on their way. They were at least as pushy as any door-to-door salesman that I've encountered.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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quote:Is there really such a huge exertion between saying, "I'm sorry but I am not interested," letting the missionaries respond, and then emphatically but politely saying no again and bidding them good day?
The couple times when it's occurred, it took at least 3-5 versions of "no" before they went on their way. They were at least as pushy as any door-to-door salesman that I've encountered.
Well that's on them then. It's unfortunate that missionaries do that.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Rabbit: Are you certain you don't know these particular missionaries from church, or through family connections? You could always call up their mission president and have him ask the missionaries at mission conference to not use members as an endorsement in their proselyting unless they know them personally. [/QB]
I'm quite confident that they must be one of the two pairs of Elders that serve in my branch. Three of the four of them are new in the area since early December and I was out of the country for 4 Sundays in that time frame. So I've very likely met these guys and spoken with them at least briefly, but I don't know them well enough to have an idea what kind of missionaries they might be and whether they are likely to have good judgement in such matters or not.
Missionaries are after all only 19-20 years old and people in that age range very commonly have poorly developed judgement skills even if they are very well intentioned.
My big concern is that the Elders may be creating the impression that I sent them to talk with my colleagues. Since I am still quite knew here and barely know most of the people in the college, it would be highly inappropriate for me to send Missionaries to talk to them and I don't want the Missionaries to the impression that I have.
I figure that I'll approach them when I see them on Sunday and say something like "Hey, I hear you've been using my name" in a light hearted tone. Depending on how they explain what happened, if it turns out they have been using my name as a sort of calling card, I'll let them know that this is inappropriate, could hurt my reputation and gently ask them to stop. Tact is not my strong point, so it worries me a bit.
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posted
Rabbit: That sounds like a good way to handle it. Tact may not be your strong suit, but missionaries should learn to maintain good relationships with the members of their ward/branch. You may also prevent an even worse mistake of a similar type down the road.
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