Roy Tang

One of my pet peeves is people coming up to me cold/unsolicited and trying to sell me things:

People who try to grab your attention or hand you fliers in a mall are the popup ads of real life

Like my tweet above says, it’s like advertising spam in real life. I’m sure it bothers other people too, but it annoys me a bit disproportionately. I’m an introvert by nature so every unexpected interaction – even just the effort to shake my head at whatever they’re handing out – takes away from my precious pool of socializing points. In addition to those people trying to flag you down as you walk about the mall, I also dislike it when salespeople in a store approach me unsolicited while I’m browsing, offering their help. If I need help, I’ll ask for it! If I’m interested in what your stall has, I’ll approach the stall myself!

It’s also probably because most of the time if I’m walking around in a mall, I have a specific purpose in mind, whether just to get from point A to point B, or to go to X store to buy Y thing, or trying to catch up on daily walking. Sometimes I’ll be in a “exploring” mode, and will probably be more amenable to that kind of thing, but that’s a bit rare.

I understand of course that people need to make a living and that stuff needs to be told and there are actually people who could use help or might be interested in that condo flier. I wish there was some way to “opt out” of unsolicited marketing in real life. Maybe some sort of statement shirt I could wear that says “Strangers: Don’t talk to me unless I talk to you.” Since there’s not, I just try to avoid contact and maybe have a scary expression on my face. It rarely works though.