San Fran is stingy (and more on giving)
Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt wrote a little about the 20/20 show Cheap in America that was on last night. I admit to not watching a lot of live tv and even less of tv news, so I’m glad she wrote a follow up.
The shows unscientific study showed that San Francisco was stingier then Sioux Falls, that conservatives give more then liberals and that the working poor give more then others.
Tricia talked about the sense of community in relation to San Francisco vs Sioux Falls – and I totally agree. I grew up in South Dakota, I have an Aunt and various friends that live in Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls might be a city, albeit a small one compred to others, but it is small enough that you feel like you know everyone.
I remember living in Washington and still being attached to South Dakota. Of course, when does one get over saying they are from the place they were born and raised and lived for 20 years? I suppose when 20 more years have passed and they haven’t lived there. I digress ~
I remember getting phone calls from the firemen (or maybe it was the police) fundraiser people. They were selling tickets to a ball or a party or something. I was prepared to have to say no a few times, I try to never be rude as I know fundraising is important. I remember this incident because I was so surprised by the end result!
I told the gentleman who called that no thank you I wasn’t interested because I have family who are fireman and we donated to their stationhouse. He politely asked which station it was and I said it was in South Dakota. His tone immediately changed, he asked what was I thinking supporting a firehouse that far away. I said (again) that my family worked there and we regularly supported them. He said I needed to think about my priorities and I had to donate to them. By that time I was getting mad and said I just was not interested. He remained rude and said something along the lines of he hoped my families station helped me the next time I needed it.
I was beyond shocked! I called the number that came up on the caller id, told the supervisor what happened and said I wanted my name and number removed from any list of theirs. We never got a call after that.
I probably would have donated another year. Like I said we had just moved there, didn’t know anyone and were not involved in the community. I suppose donating could have jump started that involvement, but I wasn’t comfortable.
I’m sure they did fine – a new firestation was built about a year and a half later with state of the art equipment.
I have no problem donating (though I admit we haven’t done a lot since we are paying off our credit cards) but I was shocked at how rude the person become once I said I couldn’t.