Having just walked along the Strand I feel compelled to blog what I have seen. We all know about Big Issue sellers, they get their pitch and they stay their relentlessly. I'm not sure if you've noticed but in some cases Big Issue sellers seem to be becoming better and better clothed.In fact I have even heard a tale about one such seller who had an iPod (which must means he had a computer somewhere too). However, today made me laugh even harder when I saw one that had his badge around his neck and it said "Trainee Vendor". How exactly does one become a trainee vendor of the Big Issue? Are there courses in how to have friendly banter? How to be too aggressive? The mind truly boggled.
Having said this, when I mentioned it to the lovely Trixy she noted that she once saw someone with a badge on that said "Professional Leaflet Distributor". Does this mean there are some sort of qualifications in shoving pieces of paper into random people's faces? Is it an NVQ? A GNVQ? An HND even? I need answers dammit, I really do.
8 comments:
Once when there was a french market in the market square my father reported having seen one enterprising salesman in a Beret touting "Le Big Issue..."
Local govt have been cracking down on careless flier distributors and their employers. They need to get licenced, paying a fee according to volume etc, and they need to clean up within 100 yards or whatever of their pitches.
Not a bad thing, surely? And I think we all know it is possible to be a good Big Issue seller and to be a bad one. So training is not such a bad thing.
Perhaps the Big lot could start training some of the chuggers and churglars who are a right lot.
Perhaps it can be studied as a degree at polytechnics. Those who feel horse studies and golf course management are not for them can become leaflet distribution graduates. Well, even if it has no intellectual merit at least it has a vague relevance to the real world, unlike business studies!
I think this is great, how refreshing if the numpties at westminster had to wear badges describing what they do, I suggest
"total twat of a meddling politician"
"expenses cheat"
"professional exponent of manipulating allowances to finance a second home , ps also married to Brown's best buddy and responsible for the HIPS fiasco"
The Big Issue sellers in From have all been imported from Eastern Europe. Long way to come to be homeless, would you not say?
A few months ago a 'homeless' man in the Hyde Park Corner underpass asked me if I had any change. I said," I was just going to ask you that" and walked on. He then ran after me and gave me 50p in small change. It seems to me there's scope here for an sub-class of beggars to live off the beggars.
And no, I don't look poor and needy. He spent 50p to demonstrate that he was more generous than me.
I passed a begger oin Oxford one evening who asked me for a pound.
It was only a few yards later on I realised that if he could find 5 more gullible people an hour than me he would be bettering the national minimum wage, tax free.
There was a bigger who had a regular pitch at the corner shop 10 yards from my flat, back when I first started working. We used to say hello to each other and I'd sometimes stop for a chat, usually I'd give him some money as well. As time wore on, I became a bit of a cash cow for him.
One day he seemed quite chuffed and told me that he'd just managed to get a council house. He still carried on begging though.
A few weeks later, while we were chatting, he told me that he'd managed to get £40 begging that day (this was at about six o'clock, and he wasn't an early starter). I worked out that with his housing benefit, unemployment benefit plus his begging, he was on significantly more than me (recent graduate, working in IT). Now I know this is probably not very representative of the majority of beggars, but it did make me a bit more cynical about them.
Post a Comment