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Re: Tricky Tray/Chines Auction
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Posted by little j on February 23, 2004 at 20:03:29:
In Reply to: Tricky Tray/Chines Auction posted by jakki benson on January 27, 2004 at 23:12:51:
Hi! Our Elementary school just organized it's first "tricky tray" ever. the PTO president happens to be my best friend and she went and volunteered me to be on this commitee so I was in the same boat! I didn't even know what a "Tricky Tray" was!!! Once it was explained to me I felt a little less stupid. . . then I was told that not only was I supposed do all of the promotion, artwork, flyers, and advertising for this thing but i was expected to go out and SOLICIT DONATIONS. . . . . .
AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a quiet individual who chooses to keep to keep to herself and my rather small circle of friends ( 2! ). . . . . . suffice it to say that I was mortified by the idea of going from business to business, walking in on strangers, and begging them for free stuff.
I thoroughly expected to get thrown out on my tush and told never to darken their doorways again. . . but being the brave ( & stupid ) soul that I am, I persevered, swallowed all of my pride and dignity and headed out. . . .
yes, I was mortified. . . . yes, I was scared,...
did I get donations??? . . . You bet your sweet yazoo I did!!!! It was UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Growing up in New Jersey and New York City made me a VERY jaded young woman. ........
The people in Pennsylvania were totally different! Store owners and managers were giving me stuff left and right without even calling the PTO to see if I was legit!!! One store just handed over $60.00 in Beanie Babies and wished me good luck! I couldn't believe it! It is both wonderful and horribly frightening to learn that people are so trusting. Being the jaded little j that I am I could not help but feel pangs of guilt and shame for the trust that was being bestowed upon me. Let's face it , . . . it's just not something that I'm used to!
Yes, I am trustworthy to a massive fault, but there are some dubious individuals of, shall we say, "sub-standard" morality that could harp on a scam like this and run with it?!?!?!?
I'm sure that somewhere, at sometime somebody went around soliciting, or pretending to!, for a PTO/PTA and just kept all of the stuff! I know that people are just too scummy sometimes! Everytime I asked for a donation I felt like a leach. I was raised NEVER to ask for handouts or accept charity. Better to starve and die than to admit defeat . . . yeah, your basic old-world-southern -Italian- only-immigrated- to-this- country-within -the- past -80-years-type-mentality. So here I was doing what I was told, apparantly doing well, getting heaps of donations, and feeling like crap. . . . . . go figure!. . . . . I hope that I never have to do this again. . . but to be quite honest I am really looking forward to the event, and I am glad to have been a part of it. I've raised a couple of hundred dollars worth of stuff for the school too! Do I have any advice for others going out here??? well,. . . . don't overlook the businessess that you might not think of at first but are an intrinsic part of the community. . . places like auto parts stores, bowling alleys, tire stores, etc... there are plenty of fathers getting involved in their kids' schools now so their interests should be acknowledged in school events such as the "tricky tray", too! Heck! I even went into a place to get a gift certificate from a sexy lingerie/adult novelty place! Wipe that look off your face!!! It's all good! I know at least a dozen moms at the school who go into that place regularly but won't admit it openly and who don't have the "cajones" to solicit a donation from them! The same goes for tattoo parlours, funeral parlours, local tarot readers, etc...! Don't be afraid to go into anyplace and everyplace! Chances are if these places are in business then SOMEBODY must be going to them!!! You would be surprised to find out what some of your friends and neighbors get into behind closed doors!!! I'm also a Brownie Girl Scout troop leader and I was quite shocked to find out that more than half of my troop's parents had tattoos! And that's just the moms!!! Even more than half of the dads have them!!! And that's just a quiet little Pennsylvania town!
Well, I digress, anyway, good luck and I hope that all goes well with your event! I'm sure that it will be a grand success!
XXX OOO little j
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