Would You Like To Donate A Dollar To The Children's Hospital?

I'm on the line at Albertsons and there's a well dressed man in front of me ...He's wearing a Rolex watch, expensive shades, and is talking on the cellphone on the checkout line... When he opened his wallet I could see it was full of twenties... The woman at the cash register asks him if he would like to donate a dollar to the children's hospital and he said no... Since I was right behind him we both walked to our cars at about the same time... He was driving a Lexus LS 460 I belive..


I'll bet he was a Republicon...

Besides they can go to any emergency room so they get free medical care. Gawd bless America.

Or perhaps he, like me, only donates through certain channels and usually resists on-the-spot appeals for money.

Although judging by your description of him, he sounds more like a cocaine dealer.

eom

Maybe he feels that hospital failed his child or a child that he knew.
Or maybe he's just selfish and cheap.
It's hard to judge in that situation unless he said something.

Even if he donated a huge amounr the dollar wasn't going to break him...

regardless of what we're inclined to assume based on his fat wallet and Lexus. I come from a toss-a-buck-in-the-hat family but my father has never made a sizeable donation to a single charity. He spread it around when he had spare change.

It was a revelation to me when I met higher income people who chose to target charities and make larger donations usually with some leverage (matching funds from challenge grants, for example.) A dollar at the checkout is a dollar. A dollar with a matching donation is worth twice as much. Which is better?

The second myth is that people with the most money are the most generous. But while the rich give more in total dollars, low-income people give almost 30 percent more as a share of their income.

Says Brooks: "The most charitable people in America today are the working poor."



http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2006/12/06/who_gives_to_charity

but the total donation is what builds the new hospital wing, or funds the programs. Frankly, if Lexus man could afford to give a thousand bucks but chose to give $100, he shouldn't feel proud of his donation but I'd give him a little credit if the charity got 100 bucks out of him. Many others who can afford to give choose to give nothing.

Lower income people know the value of a dollar though and that's why many are so willing to share it if they have it. Many have been in the position of scrounging coins in the sofa and pawning possessions for lack of a few dollars. The collection jars are an easy way to accomplish that.

I'd rather have the higher total dollars for my charity, than the lower donation / higher percentage.

Sid

How do you know he doesn't contribute a large portion of his earnings to charities he's chosen?

For A Dollar For The Children's Hospital...

I'd bet my dick the only "donations" he makes if he makes any is to the GOPU...

I find it taking advantage of my real need to be there and bullying with the whole everyone behind you watching and judging you. At drive-thrus at the super market, at work. It's rude. If I can spare some cash I give it to causes I believe in. I don't need a clerk to let me know someone needs something and I don't appreciate being made to feel bad just because I want a burger. It's endless and you have to draw the line sometime.

Just because someone appears to have money doesn't mean that you know anything about their character.

when I ask what exactly the money is going for, the cashiers never know. Even at PetSmart, who I know gives a lot to legitimate charities, they don't know which rescue it's going to. I prefer to make my donations to groups I've researched. And on my credit card, so I get 1% back, and getting a receipt, so I can take it off my taxes, so that way I have more money to give next year.

On edit: I also think it's cool that companies get involved though.

Perhaps he chooses to support other causes. Perhaps he's already a donor to the hospital. Perhaps he's a full-on philanthropist.

Perhaps he thinks like I do - that the donate-at-the-register slips are a scam. (I'd bet money that more than one somebody is getting their cut of the funds raised via checkout transactions.)

Or, maybe he's not any of these things. Maybe he's just another Joe, with a Rolex and a lot of cash and a fat ride and a headful of his list of things to do and people to see and bills to pay.

Whatever it is - is it really our business to idly speculate and talk shit about apparently rich people? Really, haven't we better things to do with our time and with our thoughts? It is not a crime to be rich. It is not a crime to say no to unsolicited fundraising requests.

Instead of petty, unconstructive criticism, perhaps shooting a little charitable energy in his direction might help next time.

For all we know, maybe he passed one of those twenties to the homeless woman on the corner holding a sign.

The guy was full of himself and he was pissed that I saw him stiff the woman at the cash register...

How do you know he was pissed? Did you say something to him?

I'd flip some crappitude too if a total stranger shot me the stinkeye just because I said no to the cashier. I do say no, btw, every time I shop.

If he was in jeans and a t-shirt and a Target watch, you wouldn't have given it a second thought. It's so good to know that the only thing that's sparing some of us from your judgement and criticism is a rolex and the kind of car we drive.

From now on, I'll remember DemocratSinceBirth's Code of Conduct for the Apparently Wealthy: If I look rich enough, I must donate at the register, otherwise a total stranger will post anonymous and nasty things about me at an online message board that I've probably never heard of.

:scared:

:spray:

:rofl:

eom

"He shouldn't have looked at me...It's a free country"

:crazy:

My retort was it's a free country and I can make any face I like and if a person doesn't like the face I make then he or she she doesn't have to look at me...

What part of that don't you understand?

How somebody can come on to DU and post some bigoted, prejudiced bullshit and then expect to rally support for doing so. Face it, such support will not be forthcoming from many (if any) DU members and, therefore, *you* can safely conclude that *you* were wrong.

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."

-John Stuart Mill

you are insisting that other people think the same way you do, not simply that you have your own opinion. That, and you're casting wide, wide nets applying grossly under-researched judgments.

Last time I checked, that was a touchstone of some other political party, not Democrats.

He shouldn't have looked at me...It's a free country and I'm allowed to make any kind of face I like...He could have said something if he didn't like my stinkeye...

And your last comment is beyond absurd... The man in quetion has no idea that his behavior was cited on this board or any board... Your argument would only have credence if I posted his picture...

then what gave you the right to not only look at him, but also to judge him and then come here and talk about him behind his back?

Just curious, I'm really interested to know how these rules work...

But I reserve the right to look back any way I want...

Talk behind whose back...

The guy that was shopping at one of the thousands of Albertsons in the United States...


He was a archetype or composite character...

"He shouldn't have looked at me." And you should have been looking at him?

You seem to think that it's okay to shoot baleful and glaring gazes at total strangers justified on the grounds that they are Apparently and Excessively Wealthy, but it's not okay for these people to look back and actually see that Your Stinkeye Deathray is pointed in their general direction.

He said no to the cashier.

He did nothing to you.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "slippery slope?"

Anybody is free to look at me and I am free to give any look back...

What part of that don't you understand?

I asked how you knew he was pissed at you. You said, "He shouldn't have looked at me."

In this heartwarming exchange that you've shared with us here today, I am now sensing that there are some fleeting and subtle moments of personal expression, whether verbally, physically, or psychically transmitted, that you've not made clear to us.

Perhaps if you retold the story, you might elicit a more sympathetic response.

But as it stands, it comes off as petty and hateful.

I was just bemused by the transaction...

I had a look of bemusement...

Call it what you will. You passed judgement on a stranger and you based your criticism on his apparent wealth. You came here to share it.

It seems that not many share your "bemusement."

If I added he had a Thompson, Guliani, or Romney 08 bumper sticker...

I should have looked...

I agree with other posters. There are valid reasons and you shouldn't judge someone without even knowing what they are.

Albertsons is committed to being a good neighbor. We wish to improve our communities by giving back to our neighborhoods where we live and work.

Criteria

Our donations provide funding in the following areas:

Hunger Relief
Youth & Education
Health & Nutrition
Environmental Stewardship

How To Apply

Albertsons supports 501 (c) (3) tax exempt nonprofit organizations that are charitable in nature and schools within our areas of operation. In addition, Albertsons only provides funds to organizations and programs that pass our on-line eligibility test. Preference will be given to requests that offer volunteerism opportunities.

Instead of asking customers to donate a dollar, maybe Albertsons should say, "Would you like Albertsons to donate a dollar to XYZ on your behalf?"

If I want to donate to XYZ, I will, but I do not need to be solicited for random donations while I'm trying to buy some overpriced food items.

Stereotype much?

You have no idea if or how much he donates to multiple causes. In fact, for all you know he could donate far more than you do. I donate a ton of money to different causes but do so under my own terms and my own guidance. Sometimes I donate to the supermarket type drives when asked, but many times I don't. But when I don't, that doesn't mean I'm not donating to other places or even the SAME organization, but doing so directly and securely. Fact is, ya just don't know. To judge this person as you are shows a bit of knee jerk unfairness on your part, and as a society we'd all be better off if people just stopped judging others so quickly and readily without merit. I would wager that if the person was wearing cheap clothes and driving a cheap car that this wouldn't even be posted here. But the fact that the person on line simply was successful financially does not give legitimate reason to judge him any more harshly, especially given such little details about the person.

And I always laugh at the "I bet they were a republican" remarks. They are always so monumentally short sighted and stereotypical. Are we to believe that no Democrats drive a lexus? That there are no financially successful Democrats? C'mon now, what hogwash.

I dunno. :shrug:


:rofl: :rofl: :hi:

I choose when and to whom I donate, I don't like to be badgered. While you may be right about this person, you also may be wrong, you never know about people.