Don't you know who I am?

So this one's a bit different. I was out street recruiting (recruiting people walking around the city centre for jobs) at some point last summer, when I encountered a lone guy standing around on the high street he seemed in no rush, and so naturally I approached him with the offer of employment.

Me: Hi mate, how're you doing?

Guy: Huh? Hi, yeah not bad.
Me: Good to here, are you interested in a job? (blah blah, company info)
Guy: I'm not really interested, I'm focusing on my music career
Me: Cool, that sounds great. The job is all evening work though, so it's quite good for fitting around people's schedules. A lot of people like yourself are tending to go for something part time, like three or four days a week so it can be that little bit more flexible around anything else you have going on.
Guy: Yeah but I'm a singer and I'm taking it very seriously.
Me: ok, no problem. Thanks for your time and best of luck with the music.
Guy: Erm, don't you know who I am?

(At this point the guy removes his hat to reveal a load of straggly ginger hair)

Me: Nope, sorry mate. Have a good day.

The guy stormed off, messing with his phone as he went while muttering something under his breath as I slowly turned away wondering what his problem was. He seemed genuinely annoyed, if not insulted, and his identity bugged me for the rest of the day.

It was later that night, at the pub after work, that I was discussing the interaction with some colleagues and bar staff. We came to the conclusion that it was either a local indie band, or (and part of me really hopes it is) Ed Sheeran.

Just the thought of annoying someone like him makes me oddly happy. It's quite rare you get to interact with someone famous, unless of course you don't recognize them.

Random Train Encounter

Ok quick, odd story I only just remembered because why not.

We were getting off the train in Sheffield, returning home from work, and in front of us was a man taking a bike off the train. He was struggling a bit and suddenly dropped the bike in the middle of the train door. We and the man had the following brief exchange:

TL: Oh dear.
Man: Is not a deer, is a bike!

We exited onto the platform:

Man: You hold for moment.

One of the team had the bike thrust into her hands while the man walked around the platform in little circles for about ten secomds. He then grabbed the bike and vanished through the station and into the night. Who knows what dreams he is now brightening.

"I owe my life to your charity"

I met a lady once while working for a cancer charity. The woman appeared quite frail and slightly started by my presence. I begun my pitch in the usual way, asking the lady how she was l, and she suddenly burst to life.

The lady proceeded to tell me how she had throat cancer six years ago, and since then she had been donating £20 a month to the charity I was representing. The strength of this woman, who had had her life turned upsidedown by her illness was amazing. She was incredibly proud to support the charity, and in her own words:

"If it weren't for the support and care I got I wouldn't be here. I owe my life to your charity."

That Wasn't In The Training Pack

We fundraisers are only human, and from time to time we do make slight mistakes and monumental cock ups. What follows is a collection of such instances, when fundraisers just couldn't use words right.

People Are Strange

In an average day I will knock on 150-170 doors, out of that I'll probably speak to about 50 people for any length of time, and out of them there are always a few gems. Below is a collection of the more bizarre, confusing and just plain stupid interactions there have been with people.

Sneaky Chinese

This delightfully odd story takes place on a slightly rainy day in Sheffield. It was early in the day (4:00 - 4:30) and my team leader and I approached a door with high expectations having recently started a new charity campaign (I can't remember what it was but it isn't vital to the story). What follows is our interaction with a particularly interesting old lady. The majority of the most interesting people we've talked to tend to be a bit... eccentric.


I start pitching the lady, but I'm not even half way through when I'm interrupted.

A VERY British Man

For my first story, I thought I would be appropriate to tell you something which happened during the first few weeks of my being a fundraiser.

From what I remember, the team I was with were in Doncaster. We started shift in a fairly ordinary looking council estate with some more mid-dem houses as we went through the day. Our work day goes like this; be at the office no later than 2pm, travel to where you're working and start knocking doors by 3:30, we then get a half hour break around 5:30, and finish knocking at 9.

It was approaching break time and we'd started to move out of the council estate, and with about ten minutes to go I knocked on the door of the most British man I have ever met. Dressed fully in tweed, with an impressive grey mustache gliding away from his face, he greeted me warmly and the conversation went something a bit like this: