"Do You Have A Minute For Greenpeace"

The Greenpeace street soldiers have one of the most insidious selling tactics around. They swarm a neighborhood asking everyone "do you have a minute for Greenpeace?"

And what are you going to say, no? Its a hard call, your traditional instincts are thrown off, to just say no is like saying "no, I don't have even a minute for Greenpeace, because I'm scum who doesn't care for the environment". But if you say yes they are going to beg for money and take your time. Over and over again. They've been at it for a couple years now, I assume that means its quite effective.

Me, I've developed a rote response, a substitute for no. "Not at the moment", works like a charm. Of course I have a minute for Greenpeace. I used it to put a link at the top of this post. But I sure don't have that minute on the street, love.