Diary of an ex-banker: Chugging — Does the end justify the means?
Today on my way home from a local supermarket I ignored a total stranger who came up to me in the street and tried to start a conversation. In fact, I did it more than once.
I’m not an unfriendly person. I live in central London and am quite often asked for directions by total strangers. I am always happy to help.
The difference today was that I was approached by a chugger working for UNICEF. For those of you not familiar with the term, the word chugger was coined in 2002 and is a contraction of the words Ch[arity] and [M]ugger. It is defined by the Collins English Dictionary as “a charity worker who approaches people in the street to ask for financial support for the charity, especially regular support by direct debit.”
My first experience of chugging was nearly 20 years ago when a very pretty young lady stopped me in the street with the words “I think you dropped something” as she pointed behind me. Of course, it was just a ruse to distract me and start a conversation. After a few minutes of what I took to be flirting, she moved the conversation on to human rights and made some statements that it was hard not to agree with. Over the next 15 minutes she persuaded me to sign a Direct Debit for regular payments to her particular charity.
Part of me admired her simple, but clever, ploy to engage with me in the first place. But a bigger part of me resented her deceit and high-pressure sales tactics in general. Particularly when I read that she would be paid commission for signing me up (she had not disclosed this). The next day I cancelled my Direct Debit.
I expect charities to follow the highest ethical standards in all aspects of their work, including how they raise their funds. For me, chugging fails this test. Personally, I think less of charities such as Amnesty International. Oxfam, Water Aid…I could go on…because they use chuggers. I know that since 2016 there has been a code of conduct (Street Fundraising Rulebook) that, for example, requires chuggers to avoid “pursuing the public excessively”. But, in my opinion, they shouldn’t be pursuing the public at all.
However, am I being over-sensitive? I know that these charities do great work. Is it better to accept that the end justifies the means? For example, if the money raised saves the lives of children or provides them with food or education does it really matter that I was made to feel a little uncomfortable for a few minutes on my local high street, carrying shopping bags laden with M&S goodies and on my way home to my nice safe apartment?
What do you think? Please add your comments here or answer the question in our simple Facebook poll.
Originally published at jsixq.com on June 19, 2018.
