That’s what the Oregonian calls them, “aggressive advocates for environmental or humanitarian groups.” They’re one reason the city is trying to craft a new law to replace “sit/lie”, one that would “protect people’s rights to assemble while setting enforceable rules for sidewalk use.”
Here at OurPDX, we call them “chuggers”, short for “charity muggers“.
I tend to rant about them a lot. The chuggers, the buskers, the beggars. I think they make the core of downtown a much less friendly, a much less inviting place. It’s a huge contradiction in this friendly peaceful city. They are the worm at the center of a delicious apple. But how bad are they, really?
Let’s say you wanted to try one of our excellent food carts, the ones at 5th and Stark. It’s a beautiful day, so you want to walk about 4-5 blocks on SW 5th to get there. Could you avoid any chuggers? Not on your life. I know because I counted them.
There were a total of 6 chuggers working a four-block stretch of 5th avenue today. I’ve plotted their locations on this satellite image, A-F, and given you a handy visual reference for each one.
Remember, you can readily identify chuggers because they always have a clipboard or binder in one hand, and they’re always standing directly in your way.
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I want people to make a living in my city, but I can’t stand the chuggers. I thought I was alone. Do they make a living wage? How much of what squeeze out of people goes into their own pockets? What else could these folks be doing?
Rarely do I think I have a right to be rude to people who are doing their job, even telemarketers. My chugger rule after a nasty encounter in the Pearl: I ask them nicely, twice. Then, all bets are off. There have to be SOME rules about the way these people, working for charties, behave in public.
I feel bad for the folks who do this job…and I’m a professional nonprofit fundraiser, believe it or not. (But I don’t work street corners.) They make low wages, and face constant rejection and scorn. It’s a tough job.
Sadly, I have settled on the attitude that perhaps we all need to think of the “chuggers” as many of us do the panhandlers who advocate only for their own interest. (Don’t give them money; it only encourages them.)
While I understand that charities do this type of fundraising because it is successful (i.e. brings in far more than it costs), I also believe that these charities are not earning the goodwill of the downtown workers (myself included) who are approached many times a day by their canvassers. Ensuring your nonprofit is one that people view positively has to be worth something.
In the year that I have lived in this city I have ran in to these “chugers” many times, at LEAST once a week. How? Because when they are not posted at every corner downtown, they are on PSU campus. Asking, who? But student’s, you know the same people who will eat ramen to get by on any given night? Admittedly, I am a little over aggravated with these guys, on that fact. I have a visible disability, and I am puting myself through grad school…. And, I have had polite reasonable conversations with all, (except Miss C; she was kind of a well…never mind) and they still try to stop me… I swear they have the will of an ox and the brain of a humming bird….
These people aren’t difficult to deal with. They’re easy to identify and they usually use a line right when you walk by. All you have to do is say “No, thank you!” You should say it firmly, but not impolitely. A smile helps. It’s pretty easy. There’s not much someone can do when you confidently, but politely refuse to interact with them.
I wouldn’t group buskers as a group with the chuggers and beggars; *some* buskers make the downtown a more friendly, inviting place.
There are some godawful ones though.
The chuggers though, are especially annoying to those of us who live and/or work downtown. It’s one thing to approach a weekend tourist during a Rose Festival event, it’s another to accost multiple times a day, every day of the week, the workers and residents of the area. I’ve fantasized about having some sort of badge that identifies passersby as residents to the chuggers so they don’t ask you “do you like trees?”. Though I doubt that would work.
I’m with Will Radik. I just smile politely and keep walking, perhaps saying “No thanks.”
I interviewed for a job with one of those companies when I first moved here and was surprised that something like 20 – 30% of the proceeds go to overhead costs. There are more effective charities.
I truly wish I had the Zen-like ability to smile and walk on. Unfortunately, I’m deeply conflict averse. Just seeing one of these folks on the sidewalk makes my gut clench in anticipation of the inevitable conflict. Whatever happens, I’m left fuming as I walk away.
And a polite response might work for some people, but all too often I get a response designed to guilt trip me into talking to them. “Don’t you want to help children?” “Don’t you care about the environment?” or my personal favorite, “Hey, I’m just trying to help YOU.” The gut clenches further, and now I have a sour taste in my mouth.
But really, it doesn’t matter what they say. If I were to go outside and make a point of stepping into someone’s path and forcing them interact with me, for ANY reason, I would expect a negative response. It’s just rude. It’s the kind of behavior that bullies use on playgrounds to get a rise out of their target. And it shouldn’t be tolerated.
I moved out of downtown because of the chuggers and the panhandlers. Really, I moved in there to be able to walk to everything I needed, walk to places to go eat and go out, etc. However, I just got so so so tired of being hit up for money more than once every single time I stepped out of my apartment.
It’s a terrible blight on the city.
I don’t mind it at all, and find anyone’s indignation at simple people doing a modest job is only a symptom of a much deeper personal problem in their lives.
Do you realize that all these people you’ve pictured are women? That probably says something in itself about the true motivation behind this post.
Good going girls!
Wow, reading the comments on this is disheartening, for it clearly exemplified the hubris many people experience over what amounts to as a mental inconvenience.
I think the gentleman in picture E might have something to say about your assertion. And I would be fascinated to hear your theories regarding my true motivation in writing this, since apparently dealing with a petty frustration day in and day out for the last 8 years isn’t sufficient in and of itself.
Oops, I stand corrected, thank you. Yes I see now the skinny girl with the bad posture in photo #E has some facial hair indicating maleness, my bad.
I still think it odd that such a modest, and tough, job bothers people. Every person in every city is familiar with people doing these types of jobs, and like all jobs you have someone trying to make a living in this stupid system that is setup to perpetuate we continue to rely on technology from 1902 – but that’s another subject.
Getting indignant because some poor bloke is doing a job like this just seems so entirely petty, like that MTV show “My Sweet Sixteen”.
I’m used to the chuggers and think they’re doing more harm to their organizations than they think. But a recent interaction really bothered me. I was with a colleague woman who is of color, and the young blonde male chugger **totally** clued into her and called her “sistah” in his pitch while he threw in some of his hip “ghetto” talk etc. etc. It was uncomfortable, obvious, and incredibly irritating.
Yes, while these are folks “simply doing their jobs” they’re irritating. And frickin’ offensive as well. Particularly as women being approached by unknown men. God knows how many stupid pick up lines we’ve had to listen to and endure and the constant having to gauge the situation for safety. I can brush them off when I encounter them, but it doesn’t make my experience a good one.
ijostl, get off your sanctimonious high horse. Yes, some of the chuggers are friendly just as are some of the homeless in the city. They are polite and when one says no thanks, they move on. Yet, as someone who walks downtown every single day, I have to say that the majority of them are aggressive, insulting, overbearing and intimidating. I have seen them corner people smaller than them (men against women.) I have seen them follow people until the person responded aggressively with terse language. I have had them insult me just because I said no. Honesty, I will not -WILL NOT- support Greenpeace or Save the Children ever again and I have money to give. They have burned that bridge. I just hope the Human Rights Campaign got my email and pull their people before they too break the camel’s back.
I’ll admit, too, that I once gave in to a chugger I just couldn’t shake and gave him money (yes, it was indeed a man) Everytime I get mail from the organziation, I feel an overwhemling anger and bitterness to them. I rip and throw it away for two reasons. First, it makes me feel better. Two, I like that they are still spending money on sending me their expensive printied materials. Mail away, even pepole at CARE. Keep it coming.
I’m with dieselboi on this one. I, too, totally avoid the charities with lots of chuggers — and before I moved to Portland, that wasn’t the case. I’m also not really fond of the PGE “chuggers” who stand outside Food Front on 23rd trying to sign you up for the green energy option. I finally just started lying and said I was already signed up. That way, I got no guilt trip. And as a renter, I didn’t have a choice on where my energy came from.
Dieselboi – I know you’re typically pretty rational, so maybe you have – but are orgs on your “no giving list” aware of this? Have they been written to – and more than once – that you would fund them, but no longer will? It took more than one annoying person to make you stop giving – they should get more than one email… especially when it truly is those who need the service who will hurt by not getting funding.
I guess I just don’t understand the passion around this issue – sure they can be irritating, but I too work downtown, and just walk by or say no… and I honestly can’t remember a single time I’ve been harassed or followed for not stopping. Even the folks in these pictures look like they’re standing pretty peacefully, looking for someone to give their pitch to…
divebarwife,
(
Actually, I’m far from rational some times….
More than one communication? No. I understand your point, but I counter with – these are large behemoth corporations that showcase themselves as charities. Yes, they do good thing. I grant them that. But would a second email really make it beyond the secretary? No. I don’t believe that. Maybe if I were a foundation or had a ton of money, yes. What’s sad, and has been highlighted by the last two presidential campaigns is that the small donations add up. Too bad they are driving that away.
chirp chirp chirp chirp
Divebarwife, not to negate your experiences but I have been followed and hassled. And a polite no did not work in some cases — until I turned on my “east coast persona,” which I learned obviously while living on the east coast and which is not pretty.
I don’t like having to turn on that persona. That’s why I moved to Portland.
But I can’t believe that the chuggers are doing more good than harm. People in Portland don’t like confrontations of any sort.
For what it’s worth, I have never encountered a Greenpeace “chugger” in any other city I’ve been in. Even on the east coast.
Just returned from an awesome week in Boston. About 3 days into walking the entire metro area end-to-end, I noticed something odd. I had not seen, much less been confronted by, even one panhandler, huckster, druggie, or any other individual working the sidewalks. Not one person living or lounging on the sidewalks. Also the cleanest streets I have ever seen. Not one piece of litter anywhere. Doesn’t that seem remarkable? I was later told that this is due to the leadership of the previous 4-term mayer of the city. Do we have that kind of leadership in this city?
Earlier this summer a friend came to town from Seattle and she expressed dismay at the panhandlers and homeless folks on the streets. She said it ruined Portland for her. Her reaction made me realize how much I block this situation from my attention. If Boston can tackle such a seemingly tough problem, why can’t Portland?
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