Why must you torture me so?

[Rhakin]

I used to find those in my old place of employment around the store and in the break room. After about 2-3 months, they became offensive and I complained. Turns out, it had been the store manager doing it.

[MsFabulous]

Not quite the same thing, but I once had a customer bring the following to my attention...
Someone had gone through the personal finance section in the books and in about half of them had put in their business card which read along the lines of "Need cash fast? Why not [get rich quick scheme]! CALL ME etc etc etc"
Had to go through the entire section and flick through every bloody book on the shelf and take them aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall out. GRRRR

[friendofjimmyk]

I hate those damn pamphlets. When I waited tables, I would occasionally get one in lieu of a tip. I don't care what those pamphlets are pushing...they can't pay my bills!

[Jester]

This kind of rudeness is not limited to just religious pamphlets.

Case in point: a while back, some woman came in and dropped off some brochures for some "tour" she and her husband hosted here in old Key West. By "dropped off" I mean "put on the hostess stand so customers could grab them." One small problem: neither she nor her husband had bothered getting permission from management to do just that. The hostesses weren't quite sure what to do, as they didn't know if these folks actually did have permission. So, when Boss Man took a break from playing video games and drinking beer (he was done with his shift), they asked him. His answer was short and simple: "Pitch 'em." So they did.

Fast forward a few hours. Mr. Tour wanders in and sees his precious brochures tossed in the bin next to the hostess stand, and starts going OFF on the hostess. "How dare you toss my brochures, how dare you treat them like garbage, blah blah blah, yada yada yada."

At this point, Boss Man happened to be taking another break from the video games, and was passing hear. He stepped in between Mr. Tour and the hostess and said, "I'm the General Manager. Is there a problem here?"

MR. TOUR: "Yeah, there's a problem. Your idiot hostesses pitched my brochures in the trash!"
BOSS MAN: "They did that because I told them to."
MR. TOUR: "You have no right doing that! Those are MY brochures, for MY customers."
BOSS MAN: (rising to his full height, which is well over six feet tall) "Listen, buddy. Once you dropped those things off, they were no longer yours, they were ours, to do with as we wish. And since you never bothered actually asking if you could actually leave those here, you have no right to say jack shit about it. And how DARE you come in to MY bar and tell me how to run MY business. Now, if you don't want your precious little brochures in trash, dig them out yourself and take them with you, but either way, get the hell out of MY bar!"

Boss Man 1. Douchebag 0.

[blas]

I too was once a poor little waitress who received those tracts in lieu of a tip.

I wanted to chase those people down and give them a nice papercut by shoving that tract right up their ass.

[wagegoth]

I too was once a poor little waitress who received those tracts in lieu of a tip.

I think that when you turn in your taxes to the IRS, you should collect and include all those tracts to explain why your tips aren't as high as the IRS thinks they should be.

[LillFilly]

Funny how, depending on what your response is regarding what you believe in, they will try even harder to 'save' you. I guess I'm just a hard sell

[Mark Healey]

We have al the problems mentioned above plus....

We have a freebie rack in near the front door for local newspapers and magazines and fliers for artsy-fartsy cultural stuff. We have a sign that clearly says to ask before placing anything. If we didn't every band that got a gig in some 30 seat hole in the wall, every MLM sucker, every quack practitioner and every activist would be placing things in the rack.

Only about half do. The usual violators are the political groups, new agers and quacks. I've thrown away enough herbal cure,acupuncture, chiropractic, save the griffins, ban DHMO, meditate for bowel movements, using crystals to recharge your chakras and shed pounds and inches with wiccan cupcakes pamphlet to reforest Arizona.

I've found that the more overt someone is in whatever virtual belief they claim, religious, vegetarians, concern for the down trodden activist groups, whatever, the least likely they are to be a decent person. The guy with the fish in his yellow pages add will rip you off in a second. The vociferous vegan will be the one to neglect their pets, and the person who supports redistributionist political candidates will never share anything of his.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I too was once a poor little waitress who received those tracts in lieu of a tip.

If a local church is listed on the tract, go to that church and leave the tract in their offering plate. If it's good enough for a tip, it's good enough for an offering.

[Mordecai]

I was about to ask the same thing. I do save the ones I've come across over the years. As an avid roleplayer who's dating a Catholic, a lot of his more entertaining material applies to me.

Chick tracts?! LOL, I found some of those while cleaning restrooms before.

[MadMike]

I hate those damn pamphlets. When I waited tables, I would occasionally get one in lieu of a tip. I don't care what those pamphlets are pushing...they can't pay my bills!

Ever see one that looks like a folded up $20 bill? Years ago, one of my friends who was working as a stripper got one of those handed to her. She thought she was being given a huge tip, but when she later opened it, it turned out to be a flyer for a local church. Irony!

Boss Man 1. Douchebag 0.

Jester, your boss kicks ass! I wish I could have seen that. Sounds like it was beautiful. Just reading it brought a tear to me eye.

If a local church is listed on the tract, go to that church and leave the tract in their offering plate. If it's good enough for a tip, it's good enough for an offering.

I've said that before somewhat jokingly, but if the church isn't aware that its members are doing that, then I'd have to disagree. I think one of our members posted about getting one of those as a tip and taking it back to the church, but telling the minister about it. The minister then proceeded to spend the sermon condemning whoever left the flyer as a tip.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I think one of our members posted about getting one of those as a tip and taking it back to the church, but telling the minister about it. The minister then proceeded to spend the sermon condemning whoever left the flyer as a tip.

Now that is a minister I can respect.

[Nelsonette]

At work tonight, someone left me a flyer for their church, along with a 50 cent tip.

I refilled his drink twice, made his shake myself since he wanted it for dine in )instead of carry outa s he had told me) and the shake guys were too busy. I was nice polite and friendly, and so was he.

Until he left me a 50 cent tip and a church flyer on a $15 bill.
ARGH. >.<

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I can't speak for all religions, but Christianity deals a lot with generosity, being selfless and helping out your brothers.

That's what its dumbfounding to me to hear about people who leave a tract but NOT a tip! Jesus himself would have given the look to people who do this!

Also those ones that look like bills are crappy too, but they are designed like any marketing or promotions, they're meant to get you to look.

Personally I've always kept rmy religious beliefs out of the workplace. Now if I were asked to do something that went against said beliefs I would speak up, but I've never been asked to do that.

People who do that stuff give their churches a bad name. Those tracts are a terrible way of try to convert people.

[friendofjimmyk]

Ever see one that looks like a folded up $20 bill? Years ago, one of my friends who was working as a stripper got one of those handed to her. She thought she was being given a huge tip, but when she later opened it, it turned out to be a flyer for a local church. Irony!


.

NO!!! I never saw one of those...I think that would piss me off more than just the plain 'ol pamphlets.

Yeah, and the IRONY! They actually have to go into the strip club and watch the women dance then go and give them this phony money. They think they're better than those in that establishment...if that was the case...they wouldn't go IN the establishment! Period.

I'd like to hear from ONE person who's life was changed by one of these damn pamphlets! Anyone who ever got one and went, "Oh...that's it, I'm running out and getting saved RIGHT NOW!!!!!"