Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Oh yay, it's been so great to hear from people who are gathering their "free gifts with purchase" and sending them our way. I'm realizing this is the way to go instead of those cold-calls to businesses, especially big corporations who stare at me blankly as I start my spiel. I tried again today with our favorite place to buy groceries (I won't name names here, but frequent readers of our blog can easily guess which one), a place we've loyally shopped for years. The manager looked at me blankly (unlike the manager of Bath and Body Works who enthusiastically congratulated us on our adoption plans--love her!) and went into his spiel about how I'd have to get a letter from our agency stating their nonprofit federal number and where the donations would go.

Um, hello? All I'm asking for are 20 or so little bottles of hand lotion or bars of your hippie-dippy tea-tree oil soaps. With a lot of these corporate managers, I feel like Oliver Twist, begging for a scrap of bread, that they're going to reach across their counters to knock my cap off my head and pinch my ears, shooing me out like a rapscallion who's overstepped her bounds. I don't see how salespeople make these "cold calls"--my skin is much too thin to have my motives misread and looked at skeptically all day long.

And I didn't write this yesterday, but the furrowed brows of the lady in Nordstroms nearly drove me to tears. No kidding. I've never been good at letting anything roll off that proverbial duck's back.

Anyway, Ms. Namby-Pamby Overly-Sensitive Lori thanks you for sending things in! If you've got thicker skin than I do, you could ask store managers for donations, but I wouldn't wish that rejection on anyone (and I'm most likely going to keep asking anyway--the Nordstroms lady was proof that it can work).

This has nothing at all to do with adoption. It's the most brilliant thing I've seen in a while though. I wish I had thought of this!

14 comments:

veggiemom said...

So no free gifts with purchase here (haven't bought makeup or the like in at least 15 years) but I love the video.
Kerri and Ruby

mama becca said...

LOVE the video.
I will vote for whoever can change my attitude about waiting for a court date :). Is anyone up for that task? I'd love to see them all debate "how to change becca's attitude."
Okay, I'm laughing really hard now. Lori, you win the presidency.
love
becca

emily said...

That is genius!

Drew Carey Show said...

I'll see what I can get from Murad too. LOVE the video. Awesome.

sweetpea said...

CHANGECHANGECHANGECHANGECHANGE!!!


It's the meme o' the day.

emily said...

Can I pirate this? I need to share the joy with others.....I will give you credit of course for the discovery:)

Mollie said...

ohhh you said Rapscallion lol I LOVE IT... sometimes I wonder if I'm the only oddball on the planet who uses old rarely used words anymore lol.. Glad to see you're just as big of a weirdo as I lol

LOVE the Video~I'm so stealing it!

Stacie said...

The video is great! I love it. I'm stealing it to - I'm going to email to everyone I know. :)

Anonymous said...

Love the video, I am with you on the asking for donations thing, I have never had much luck when I have tried to do it for Urban Outreach, people look at you like you are trying to get something for yourself, and I even have the nonprofit tax id number with me to give them...every once in a while something good comes from it though, makes me wonder how actors like Ted deal with all that rejection.

PVZ

Anonymous said...

Oh Lori, that video is awesome! Nice find, nice find.

Natalie Fournet said...

Love the video!!!! I will steal it...OK?? I need to post something anyway:)

Jo Hertel said...

If we change as many times as we're told we need to change, our heads will be spinning! Thanks for sharing the video!

~Laura~ said...

This video is brilliant! Love it!

Amanda said...

You know who you need to hit up for samples. . . Dirty Hippie Soaps. I bet they'd love to send some.