Don’t give me the bull about the manager is only doing what they are pushed to by corporate, consumers being too polite about it for too long is how we got to this point in the 1st place. Elevate it as high as you feel comfortable and fill out their surveys, you will have to write it in the comments, since sales people will never ask questions on a survey that aren’t designed to lead you in the direction they are hoping to take.

The problem is it has become socially acceptable to sell things you don’t agree with to make a living. It is the same as saying “I was only stealing to feed my family.”

I personally just say “no” to 10%-off credit card offers, although if I’m making a major purchase, such as an appliance, I will try to get the one-year-no-interest deal. This is so that I can keep my money in an interest-bearing account for 11 months, rather than forking it over directly.

Didn’t know you could pay a credit-card transaction at the register at the time you make the charge. That might be worth it if you had to buy a lot of back-to-school clothing. The problem is, of course, every time you take out a credit card it temporarily dings your credit rating.

If that kind of aggressive tactic annoyed me as much as some folks apparently are annoyed, I would walk out without buying anything. I powerfully dislike being hustled, and I also dislike the way some lower-end department stores assume that if you’re shopping there you must be a thief. I don’t buy in stores that annoy me. If fewer people put up with that kind of b.s., fewer stores would inflict it on us.

The aggressive way the stores are marketing their credit cards ARE a pain in the butt, to us as customers and to the employees who suddenly need to promote them as part of their jobs.

But lost in our irritation is the reason why this is happening. The stores are promoting the credit cards because the more customers hold their cards, the more sales they’ll ring up.

Credit cards not only increase sales for the merchant, but they also lock in loyalty (“I have a credit card at XXXX Stores, let’s buy it there”). This method has been proven over time and accross industries. A clear cut example is dealer financing with cars; the availability of financing facilitates sales.

I guess what I’m saying is that while we find this irritating, let’s not lose site of the fact that these stores are just trying to SURVIVE–and we do need to respect that.

I don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this, but we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of door-to-door sales people showing up in our neck of the woods. Now I know a lot of people find this practice irritating as well, but it’s just people trying to survive, and again, we don’t have to like it, but we do need to respect it.

The times are hard and people and businesses are doing what they can to survive. As distasteful as the methods may be, it is nonetheless a noble pursuit. One day any one of us could be the peddler behind knock at the door or the person behind the counter hawking a store credit card, so we should make some attempt at empathy.