Petition interruption

A while ago I was walking and talking with a friend who is of Russian extraction. We were approached by a girl gathering signatures for a petition. I don’t remember the cause—stop coal, improve salmon self-esteem, elect Jesus, whatever. She asked us if we were interested in helping it. “Oh, I already signed that one,” I lied. Seemed like an easy way to get out of hearing about it. My friend had a more interesting response. “Sorry,” he said, gesturing toward me and obviously a bit put out, “but we’re in the middle of a conversation right now.”

I can’t imagine many Americans being that frank. It was refreshing. He was right that we were in the middle of a conversation, and that it’s rude to interrupt two people conversing. Until he pointed it out like that, I had never realized how often these petitioners violate basic manners. Nor had I realized how accustomed Americans are to it. We accept intrusive cause-hawkers the way we accept bad weather.

Maybe it’s worse in the Northwest than it is in other places. We have many causes. The environment is a big deal—there being rather more of it here than other places—and we have more college degrees than we probably need. It’s a recipe for lots of street-corner activism.

People like me only encourage the petitioners in their bad manners. I’ve been educated against my will to believe that causes and activism and awareness-building are endeavors to be solemnly admired. I’ve been programmed to feel ashamed to admit in public that I consider my own business more important than that of stopping squirrel poachers. So I wimp out and avoid telling the signature-collectors they’re intruding. “I already signed it” or “No, thanks” are about the best I ever do.

I wish I could be more like my friend and tell these people—politely and correctly—why they can go ahead and kiss off. Maybe it’s that Russians are raised on more traditional values. My impression has always been that they’re much more friend- and family-centered than Americans. They tend to get really involved in their conversations. For a stranger to insinuate that his pet political project is more important than two Russian men’s discussion of Moscow women versus Petersburg women? Highly insulting.

Most petitioners would probably counter that their interruptions are really for the benefit of the people they’re interrupting: “Invasive plant species affect you.” That may be true (though I take it all with a grain of salt), but it doesn’t excuse the interruption. Stopping people on the street is just bad marketing. It’s door-to-door sales and cold-calling and spam. Sophisticated sellers don’t use those methods. 

It doesn’t matter what the content of the interruption is. If I stopped two people in the park and started recounting one of my hilarious anecdotes, they would immediately find it rude (crazy, too) and maybe even call it out as such. Why should they react differently when an environmental science major tells them the sky is falling without their signatures?