View Full Version : Negative reactions when handing out literature....
RonPaulFever
10-31-2007, 06:23 PM
Ever had really bad experiences while promoting RP?
I tried to hand a guy a liberty card today and he said, "Get the fuck away from me."
:confused:
NinjaPirate
10-31-2007, 06:24 PM
I've had people just nod "no" at me when I tried to hand them a slim jim while they were stopped at a light.
margomaps
10-31-2007, 06:26 PM
That first reaction was a little extreme. Some people are jerks, plain and simple.
The second reaction is pretty typical I think. I usually don't like it when people approach my car on foot either. Depending on my mood I'll either ignore them, or do exactly as you describe: make eye contact and shake my head no.
Lord Xar
10-31-2007, 06:31 PM
Ever had really bad experiences while promoting RP?
I tried to hand a guy a liberty card today and he said, "Get the fuck away from me."
:confused:
hahaha.. that is horrible. Did he know you were supporting Ron Paul?
I can only surmise he was an EXTREME lefty or an EXTREME NEO-CONNY else, he just didn't want to bothered..
but big kudos to you for promoting..
RonPaulFever
10-31-2007, 06:35 PM
hahaha.. that is horrible. Did he know you were supporting Ron Paul?
I was with my meetup group at the local university. We had a table set up with yard signs and a banner, and I was wearing my RP hoodie.
My first instinct was to thump him, but I held back for obvious reasons.
Brendan Wenzel
10-31-2007, 06:35 PM
For every no I usually get 5 positive responses. Worth every second of helping.
aspiringconstitutionalist
10-31-2007, 06:39 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKbENOMxRo
Doesn't get much better...!
RonPaulFever
10-31-2007, 06:40 PM
For every no I usually get 5 positive responses. Worth every second of helping.
This is usually the case. Most people are very cordial. In fact, I've never had a response like that, and as many slim jims/flyers/cards I've handed out I guess I was due for one! lol
Edward
10-31-2007, 06:42 PM
The late prophet Mitch Hedberg once said: "When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, 'Here you throw this away.'"
RonPaulFever
10-31-2007, 06:45 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKbENOMxRo
Doesn't get much better...!
I was at the Illinois Straw Poll and saw the whole thing go down. The "goon" had no right to take the sign, but in all fairness, the guy in the red shirt was drunk and acting like a douchebag all afternoon. He was an embarrassment.
Mr. White
10-31-2007, 06:48 PM
Consider these words, spoken by a comedian who's name I don't recall.
"When someone hands me a flyer it's like they're saying 'Here, YOU throw this away!'"
hells_unicorn
10-31-2007, 06:50 PM
I was handing out fliers outside the flee market in Quakertown and I handed a woman one and she asked "What are his stances on foreign policy". To which I responded, "well he voted against the Iraq war". Right after I said that the lady took the flier and threw right in the trash can in front of me. One of the other guys in my meet-up said right afterwards "she was more polite than the average Bush supporter".
The late prophet Mitch Hedberg once said: "When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, 'Here you throw this away.'"
lol nice, I don't really feel that way though unless the flyer is trying to sell me something that costs money, like event tickets or services or something. Usually in LA it's cellpones and cellphones plans... ugh.
ashlux
10-31-2007, 06:53 PM
Ever had really bad experiences while promoting RP?
I tried to hand a guy a liberty card today and he said, "Get the fuck away from me."
:confused:
I've had a couple. I tried to hand one out to a younger couple walking. The girl said no. But the guy she was with took it, ripped it up and threw it in the air. They both got a good laugh out of that one.
He did not bother to look at it and there was no indication what it could have been (I was wearing a plain-colored shirt).
bbachtung
10-31-2007, 06:55 PM
Ever had really bad experiences while promoting RP?
I tried to hand a guy a liberty card today and he said, "Get the fuck away from me."
:confused:
Most of the mentally ill in this country are walking freely among us.
quickmike
10-31-2007, 06:57 PM
I was with my meetup group at the local university. We had a table set up with yard signs and a banner, and I was wearing my RP hoodie.
My first instinct was to thump him, but I held back for obvious reasons.
You should have stuffed his corpse with slim jims and threw him off the highest building. That way, people would see him lying on the ground with slim jims all around him and think"wow! that guy must have really liked Ron Paul alot to wear himself out spreading the word like that. Maybe I should check Ron Paul out a little closer" LOL
jk
what an ass--le though.
Stealth4
10-31-2007, 07:02 PM
I handed a young guy (very large, so I didnt think he was an ex-soldier) a liberty card, and when I walked past him again 2 min. later he handed it back to me and said "Fuck that guy, everybody deserves to live free" so he didnt like Paul because he voted against the war and he served in Iraq.
I didnt argue, just said one line that RP wasnt against our soldiers or the Iraq people, just the method in which we intervene, then I thanked him for his service to our country and moved on.
brandon
10-31-2007, 07:04 PM
I hand out flyers all the time. I must have handed out 1000 in the past week. Two people have said "he is a rascist" and stormed away before I could talk to them. One guy said "He hates immigrants" and didnt want to listen to anything I had to say.
Overall though, I get a very positive response when handing out slim jims. For every one person who says something rude, there are 50 people who are very receptive to the message.
ashlux
10-31-2007, 07:08 PM
You should have stuffed his corpse with slim jims and threw him off the highest building.
Yes, awesome idea. Just think of all the free press coverage! :D
MS0453
10-31-2007, 07:09 PM
I've had a couple. I tried to hand one out to a younger couple walking. The girl said no. But the guy she was with took it, ripped it up and threw it in the air. They both got a good laugh out of that one.
He did not bother to look at it and there was no indication what it could have been (I was wearing a plain-colored shirt).
Lol What a bunch of tools...
cac1963
10-31-2007, 07:12 PM
I've had a couple. I tried to hand one out to a younger couple walking. The girl said no. But the guy she was with took it, ripped it up and threw it in the air. They both got a good laugh out of that one.
He did not bother to look at it and there was no indication what it could have been (I was wearing a plain-colored shirt).
We encountered a couple of them at the widespread panic concert this weekend. We walked around handing out what I was calling "tickets to freedom" - "here's your ticket to freedom, enjoy," which was a small half page flyer with three key topics - end the war in iraq, the drug war, the irs. Most people took them in earnest and actually looked at them but every so often they'd make a point to loudly crumple it up and toss it or throw it back toward you as you're walking away. You get hardened to it after a while, and nothing can dampen your smile as you wink or nod right back at them and keep going to the next one.
Same thing with sign waving: for every 6 or 8 beeps or waves and thumbs up you get one jerk who gives you a thumbs down or a finger around the ear loony signal. I just smile and wink to thank them for their attention and keep on making smiling eye contact with every car I can.
RPTXState
10-31-2007, 07:12 PM
I heard a "Oh God no!" from an officer of the College Democrats yesterday when he realized we (the Ron Paul Revolution) was going to show up at their "presentation" of the Democratic debate yesterday. He relaxed a bit later on, but seemed a bit...unnerved (?) when he realized that a full 1/2 of the audience where RP supporters.
Brian Bailey
10-31-2007, 07:16 PM
We encountered a couple of them at the widespread panic concert this weekend. We walked around handing out what I was calling "tickets to freedom" - "here's your ticket to freedom, enjoy," which was a small half page flyer with three key topics - end the war in iraq, the drug war, the irs. Most people took them in earnest and actually looked at them but every so often they'd make a point to loudly crumple it up and toss it or throw it back toward you as you're walking away. You get hardened to it after a while, and nothing can dampen your smile as you wink or nod right back at them and keep going to the next one.
Same thing with sign waving: for every 6 or 8 beeps or waves and thumbs up you get one jerk who gives you a thumbs down or a finger around the ear loony signal. I just smile and wink to thank them for their attention and keep on making smiling eye contact with every car I can.
I love this Ticket to Freedom concept. This should be duplicated.
Freedom
10-31-2007, 07:20 PM
Here's the worst negative reaction I have experienced: "Why the hell haven't I heard about this guy before!!! You guys need to do a better job of getting his message out for the people to hear!" So I asked him if he would like a handful of slim jims to help pass out, "Sorry, I'm too busy.":eek:
nayjevin
10-31-2007, 07:21 PM
"Get the fuck away from me."
could be amphetamines, steroids, or even hallucinogens. there's a lot more users out there than you might think. could be drugs combined with a total prick. could be a guy from a rough part of la or new york -- somewhat normal reaction around there.
ignore 'em. it's not about you or ron paul anyway - it's about them. people with bad attitudes cause themselves way more problems than they ever cause anyone else.
xerxesdarius
10-31-2007, 07:23 PM
I was handing out slim jims and flyers at Octoberfest a few weeks ago. My colleague handed a woman a flyer and she came back two or three minutes later and handed me the torn up pieces. I have no idea why she felt it was necessary to do that, very angry but didn't say a thing.
Otherwise the response has been absolutely positive. It doesn't hurt that I generally dress snappy and bring my outgoing six year old daughter. She charms them.
cac1963
10-31-2007, 07:24 PM
I love this Ticket to Freedom concept. This should be duplicated.
Thanks. That seemed to work better than saying "end the wars, all of them" as you stick a flyer in their hand but I alternated back and forth from that and the freedom ticket thing. When I said "end the wars, all of them" to one group, this blonde attractive woman came back with, "but I'm ok with the wars." My immediate first thought was YOU DUMB BLONDE, but I just smiled and handed all her girlfriends a flyer too so they could debate it amongs themselves and moved on.
cac1963
10-31-2007, 07:31 PM
Not to hijack the thread but today I was sign waving on the sidewalk right outside a drugstore and traffic was seriously unusually heavy for people rushing in to get last minute halloween stuff (I guess). Right behind me were two cars made up of about 8 black chicks ranging in age from 4 to probably 30. They had been hanging there for about half an hour when I glanced back and saw the hood open on one of the cars so I asked if they needed any help. One of the older women said she needed a jump so I said I'd pull my truck down to help. When I got there she had 3 of her companions (or sisters??) grab a sign out of the truck and go stand up on the sidewalk to keep waving signs while I was helping with the jumper cables. They didn't even know who Ron Paul was, but... they do now, all 8 of them. :))))
RonPaulFever
10-31-2007, 07:33 PM
Not to hijack the thread but today I was sign waving on the sidewalk right outside a drugstore and traffic was seriously unusually heavy for people rushing in to get last minute halloween stuff (I guess). Right behind me were two cars made up of about 8 black chicks ranging in age from 4 to probably 30. They had been hanging there for about half an hour when I glanced back and saw the hood open on one of the cars so I asked if they needed any help. One of the older women said she needed a jump so I said I'd pull my truck down to help. When I got there she had 3 of her companions (or sisters??) grab a sign out of the truck and go stand up on the sidewalk to keep waving signs while I was helping with the jumper cables. They didn't even know who Ron Paul was, but... they do now, all 8 of them. :))))
Wow! Stuff like that reaffirms my otherwise shaky faith in humanity. :)
Geronimo
10-31-2007, 07:36 PM
I tried handing a guy a slim jim and he tazed me.
Ok. That didn't happen, but I thought it was funny. :D
CAKochenash
10-31-2007, 07:48 PM
I tried handing a guy a slim jim and he tazed me.
Ok. That didn't happen, but I thought it was funny. :D
will you help us restore liberty?...and don't taze me bro...k, thx.
There are miserable, depressed people out there. They often take it out on strangers instead whatever/whoever is tormenting them. Get used to it!
It's funny, but the negative reactions I get when handing out fliers actually keep a smile on my face.
nayjevin
10-31-2007, 07:55 PM
Not to hijack the thread but today I was sign waving on the sidewalk right outside a drugstore and traffic was seriously unusually heavy for people rushing in to get last minute halloween stuff (I guess). Right behind me were two cars made up of about 8 black chicks ranging in age from 4 to probably 30. They had been hanging there for about half an hour when I glanced back and saw the hood open on one of the cars so I asked if they needed any help. One of the older women said she needed a jump so I said I'd pull my truck down to help. When I got there she had 3 of her companions (or sisters??) grab a sign out of the truck and go stand up on the sidewalk to keep waving signs while I was helping with the jumper cables. They didn't even know who Ron Paul was, but... they do now, all 8 of them.
somebody hire this guy quick!
nice work man!
smtwngrl
10-31-2007, 07:56 PM
Here's the worst negative reaction I have experienced: "Why the hell haven't I heard about this guy before!!! You guys need to do a better job of getting his message out for the people to hear!" So I asked him if he would like a handful of slim jims to help pass out, "Sorry, I'm too busy.":eek:
OMG........how sad. :confused:
Well, at least that's another person who will be voting for him.......unless he's too busy to vote. :p
MS0453
10-31-2007, 07:57 PM
Wow! Stuff like that reaffirms my otherwise shaky faith in humanity. :)
Seriously. That's just a great story.
campaignjunkie
10-31-2007, 07:58 PM
A few weeks ago during rush hour I had a guy honk at me and give me a really strong "thumbs down." But I take it as a sign that at least he knew who Ron Paul was! We still have loads of people who haven't even made it that far.
nayjevin
10-31-2007, 08:00 PM
There are miserable, depressed people out there. They often take it out on strangers instead whatever/whoever is tormenting them.
this is the crux of the issue, IMO. people are unhappy, and are always looking to unload negativity.
it's like being poor, and always wanting to become more dependent on a nanny state. the strategy has a negative impact on others, and doesn't effectively solve the root problem.
sales taught me that a person's attitude doesn't have to effect yours. i can't say i'm 100% effective, but i know it's about them, it's not about me.
lmao i tried giving a slim jim to a guy once--and let me tell you this guy looked 'fringe'--and he said that he never voted that all elections are rigged that it's all a scam. and he refused to take one. idiot.
ADGettis
10-31-2007, 08:09 PM
I think mine might be the most inexplicable example. We were canvassing a neighborhood in Missoula on a Saturday around 11am. An older lady answered her door, we gave our usual pitch (which had proved to be effective with almost everybody else so far), and she said, "What you guys are doing is really inappropriate. I'm serious. You are trying to take away people's right to vote."
Huh? We told her that was certainly not our intention, asked her if she would at least look him up for herself (she said "no"), and then thanked her and left.
Believe it or not, the woman a few blocks down with a "Keep Abortion Legal" sign in her front window was more receptive to a conservative pro-life Republican sales pitch than the old bag was!
Corydoras
10-31-2007, 08:15 PM
I haven't had any experience worse than a guy making a nauseated face and saying, "Politics is NOT something I'm into."
But I can say from sales training is that you can just tell yourself that a negative person is just having a really bad day. And leave it at that, and forget about them. After all, they really MIGHT be having a terrible day!
thehittgirl
10-31-2007, 08:24 PM
I was handing out slim jims and flyers at Octoberfest a few weeks ago. My colleague handed a woman a flyer and she came back two or three minutes later and handed me the torn up pieces. I have no idea why she felt it was necessary to do that, very angry but didn't say a thing.
Otherwise the response has been absolutely positive. It doesn't hurt that I generally dress snappy and bring my outgoing six year old daughter. She charms them.
Exactly why I try to get my 7 year old son to help out. He's got such a cute kidish voice that I would think it would be hard to say no to him-lol.
mesler
10-31-2007, 08:29 PM
Ever had really bad experiences while promoting RP?
I tried to hand a guy a liberty card today and he said, "Get the fuck away from me."
:confused:
Some people are like that. I'm also guessing that they don't vote, so to heck with them :)
newmedia4ron
10-31-2007, 08:45 PM
Its part of the job. March on.
Bossobass
10-31-2007, 08:54 PM
My wife and I have had plenty of doors slammed in our faces, rude remarks on the streets and angry yells from passing cars.
It's just a matter of taking a bullet for the cause, which is to bring the truth about this election to those who are starving to hear it.
The trick is not to judge anyone by their reaction to your uninvited solicitation. Just move on to the next person, and cover as much ground as each opportunity affords you, then plan another one.
We've stood outside the debates in terrible weather. Weve gone door to door. We've talked to every family member and friend. We have our vehicle's windows adorned. We hit the internet. We've used our phones to call IA and NH. We worked the streets of Des Moines. We worked the streets of Manchester, NH. We've worked rural areas of NC.
Point is, there were 25 of us back in May at the second debate, hundreds of us in June at the Des Moines rally and there will be THOUSANDS of us at the Philly rally this month.
Never stop. I dig this thread. It inspires me.
My wife nearly lost her life during recent heart valve repair surgery and she spent 8 days on life support and a month in the hospital. The first day home, from her bed she said, 'Play some Ron Paul vids (on the pute in my office in the next room) and crank it up so I can hear them.' as one of the more emotional vids played (there are lots of them, as you all know), she shed a tear. Believe me, as soon as the docs say she can (and probably before that, if I know her), she'll be back out there slammin' boat loads of lit.
She won't sweat the angry or indifferent ones. She never does.
Bosso
ksuguy
10-31-2007, 08:58 PM
Negative reactions are pretty rare. Most people will take the stuff. A few will politely decline and say no, or they will say they like another candidate.
At the one sign wave event I went to we got a lot of positive honks, a few fingers and a couple people yelling insulting comments. I think some people didn't even know what we were there for, they just thought it is funny to heckle anybody that happened to be standing by the road. Had one guy that took the time to roll down the window and berate us on how Ron is going to destroy the country. I just ignored him and let him leave when the light changed.
Eric21ND
10-31-2007, 09:01 PM
Angry negative people like that probably don't vote anyways so no there's no loss with these people. I'd just move on to the next person, and if they are a real ass then I would kinda snub them off.
Stealth4
10-31-2007, 09:01 PM
My wife and I have had plenty of doors slammed in our faces, rude remarks on the streets and angry yells from passing cars.
It's just a matter of taking a bullet for the cause, which is to bring the truth about this election to those who are starving to hear it.
The trick is not to judge anyone by their reaction to your uninvited solicitation. Just move on to the next person, and cover as much ground as each opportunity affords you, then plan another one.
We've stood outside the debates in terrible weather. Weve gone door to door. We've talked to every family member and friend. We have our vehicle's windows adorned. We hit the internet. We've used our phones to call IA and NH. We worked the streets of Des Moines. We worked the streets of Manchester, NH. We've worked rural areas of NC.
Point is, there were 25 of us back in May at the second debate, hundreds of us in June at the Des Moines rally and there will be THOUSANDS of us at the Philly rally this month.
Never stop. I dig this thread. It inspires me.
My wife nearly lost her life during recent heart valve repair surgery and she spent 8 days on life support and a month in the hospital. The first day home, from her bed she said, 'Play some Ron Paul vids (on the pute in my office in the next room) and crank it up so I can hear them.' as one of the more emotional vids played (there are lots of them, as you all know), she shed a tear. Believe me, as soon as the docs say she can (and probably before that, if I know her), she'll be back out there slammin' boat loads of lit.
She won't sweat the angry or indifferent ones. She never does.
Bosso
wow, just wow.
Best wishes and a speedy recovery to your wife!
honkywill
10-31-2007, 09:06 PM
Had one guy that took the time to roll down the window and berate us on how Ron is going to destroy the country. I just ignored him and let him leave when the light changed.
Next time someone does that too me I'm going to be like "Oh, shit. Are you serious? I didn't know..." Then I'm going to drop my sign.
What the hell do these people hope to accomplish?
fcofer
10-31-2007, 09:11 PM
Next time someone does that too me I'm going to be like "Oh, shit. Are you serious? I didn't know..." Then I'm going to drop my sign.
What the hell do these people hope to accomplish?
I just blew coffee all over my keyboard at that. Thanks.
honkywill
10-31-2007, 09:15 PM
You're welcome.
alicegardener
10-31-2007, 09:23 PM
As we were sign waving at a busy intersection this weekend, a black pedestrian yelled at us, " I know what you really are, racists. " Less than 24 hours later, a Ron Paul supporter on another blog basically called me a Socialist because I am a cross-over voter from the Democratic party. Whew, getting it from both directions!
austin356
10-31-2007, 09:31 PM
I was handing out things as people left the UA football game and had some drunk guy start yelling obnoxiously "Giuliani" "Giuliani" "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy" and soo on and soo on.
honkywill
10-31-2007, 09:33 PM
How can you non-obnoxiously cheer on Rudy?
newmedia4ron
10-31-2007, 09:38 PM
Yeah apparently Ron Paul is a liberal, even though he is the most conservative member in congress.
He's also "crazy". WTF? When did supporting the constitution become crazy?
The arguments against him our pathetic.
Apparently he's antisemitic because he doesn't support entangling alliances like Jefferson.
Apparently he believes in 911 conspiracies because some of his supporters do.
Apparently he is racist because some of his supporters are.
He can't help who is attracted to his message.
thomj76
10-31-2007, 09:47 PM
When I get a negative person, I just tell them that I hope they have a good day and move on. I figure that if you get negative back, then there is no chance they will look into it, and if other people are watching, I want to be respectful, thoughtful, and balanced, so that others have a chance to learn about respecting freedoms.
Pizza God
10-31-2007, 09:59 PM
Got told off by a few people at the Texas Straw Poll. Only one was rude.
We did a sign wave at a Fred Thompson Fund raiser. Of course we didn't get any positive feedback, but we did get a nice wave from Fred Thompson. We had one guy stop and tell us he had nothing against Ron Paul, but what we were doing was in poor taste. [the event was at the Ft. Worth Zoo, we have done nearly every fund raiser in a public place, we skip the home based ones]
At the Sean Hannity concert, we got about 40 percent thumbs up, and 60 percent thumbs down. Got flipped off and laughed at a few times. But that was OK, Mitt Romney was there that day, along with Newt.
In all, we get more positive reaction than negative reaction, that is what keeps me going.
mavtek
10-31-2007, 10:03 PM
Pizza God I was at both the Hannity concert and the Zoo, and I was listening in on that conversation, give you a hint I was the one who said well Fred Thompson is in bad taste all by himself.
Edward
10-31-2007, 10:05 PM
When I get a negative person, I just tell them that I hope they have a good day and move on. I figure that if you get negative back, then there is no chance they will look into it, and if other people are watching, I want to be respectful, thoughtful, and balanced, so that others have a chance to learn about respecting freedoms.Good points. For those who might be watching, it makes your position look better if you are able to shrug off those who might not be so kind to you.
Nate K
10-31-2007, 10:16 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKbENOMxRo
Doesn't get much better...!
LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that was hilarious for some reason.. but srsly if someone did that to me i'd curbstomp them.
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