I had a run-in with a bad marketer during my short lunch break today. I’m a big fan of supporting local businesses - they add character to the neighborhood where I work and I simply wouldn’t enjoy working there were it not for these businesses. So today I decided to extend my patronage to a local deli owned and operated by a single family.

My lunch break is the only time I get to spend outside in the wonderful Southern California weather on any given day, so I usually grab an outside table and bring a good piece of reading material with me. I ordered my food and began reading my book at my table outside; after a few minutes of reading someone starts speaking to me.

Bad Marketer: Excuse me, sir!

Aaron: (looks up above the fold of his book, not putting the book down)

Bad Marketer: I’m here to tell you about the local Chiropractic Practice which is offering a free back massage if you live or work in the area. Do you live or work in the area?

Aaron: No. (Resumes reading)

Bad Marketer: (Turning to the person sitting at the table next to mine) Excuse me, sir! I’m….

Yes, I lied to the guy. When dealing with bad marketers I always take the path of least resistance when it comes to getting them to shut up and leave me alone.

I proceeded to watch this guy pester everyone else who was sitting outside. He even went inside and started badgering the people inside the deli, including families with small children, and then he repeated the exercise with a small Mexican restaurant a few doors down. Most offensive of all, however, was when he approached an elderly couple who were just trying to get out of their car; he effectively cornered them between the parking lot’s fence and the other cars.

Maybe I’m overreacting here, but this really pissed me off - not because of what he was trying to sell, but because of these two things:

1. I didn’t appreciate the interruption and I’m sure no one else did either.
2. I felt like I was put on the spot against my will and basically cornered by the marketer; it really felt like an invasion of my physical space and my privacy. That, to me, is unacceptable.

I see people get more upset over spam emails than they do about this kind of marketing; spam emails are annoying, but they don’t invade your privacy or violate your physical space in the way that a solicitor does. I’m having one of my "am I wired differently than everyone else?" sort of moments; do most people assume that this kind of in-your-face marketing is so common that they don’t even react to it? And somehow spam email is less common and thereby more worthy of a negative reaction?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!