Minding time

Those who approach strangers on the street to invite them to sign a direct debit in favour of a designated charity need to learn to handle rejection which is sometimes expressed forcibly or rudely.

One young lady, whose job is to train recruits to this kind of work, uses the trick of sending her charges out simply to ask a stranger for the time.

It teaches the trainee that any unfriendly, indignant, impatient or insulting reaction which they may receive after they start work in earnest is not necessarily an expression of a specific reaction against what the person approached sees as a modern curse - of chugging.

The young lady trainer did not seem to be aware of any ‘good’ reason why anyone might react adversely to a simple request for a kindness from a stranger.

Some people may have learned the hard way that not all such requests are as innocent as they seem.

I too was an innocent until the day I expressed surprise at the number of times I was being approached on the street in this way in the city I had moved to recently.

Oh – they just want sight of your watch, I was told. To see if it’s worth stealing.

That particular scam seems to have fallen out of favour.

These days it is more likely that they are interested in putting a valuation on your mobile phone.