Something I've thought about doing for some time:

[Lauritz Melchior]

I'm afraid that I'm the bad guy in this story.

M: Me, villain
S: Hapless solicitor

So, I'm a freshman in college, which means that I receive lots of phone calls from solicitors. Everybody whom I know calls me on my cell-phone, but solicitors call at least twice a week. For the longest time I would answer every call. Occassionally my roommate's parents would call. They live in India so we don't want to miss when they call. However, after this phone incident, I have not answered a single call. It's a waste of time. So the phone rings:

M: Hello?
S: Is this Daniel Liebeskind (mispronounced of course), Freshman at Emory University, Turman North, room 326?
M: Um, yes.
S: I'm calling on behalf of Visa College Student Credit Cards. If you sign up then you'll receive $100 free on your new Visa College Student Credit Card. There is no obligation, and you can cancel whenever you want. However, if you sign up today, you'll receive an extra $50. We at Visa believe that college student are unable to fully experience college without a credit card, and therefore are offering this special deal to freshman across....
M: Do you believe the bible?
S: ... yes.
M: Do you believe that you are supposed to se-pa-rate the precious from the vile?!
S: yes.
M: ... Good. Thank you.

And I hung up. I got those lines from Fred Phelps (asshole extraordinaire) from the Laramie Project. It was one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. My roommate was laughing his ass off, but my stomach was turning. I felt really akward about the whole thing, and the more I thought about it, the worse I felt for the solicitor. I just don't answer the phone now, so that solves most of my problems.
I think that solicitors have one of the worst jobs imaginable.

[Ganonfro]

Don't feel sorry. They're payed to pretty much butt into your life to see if you want to buy something that if you had any interest in, you'd have bought it on your own. I have no sympathy for solicitors. There's a difference between you walking into a shop and an employee throws a sales pitch at you, and one coming to you out of nowhere and bugging you, at their convenience.

[Zemyla]

I don't like solicitors, either. Barristers are another story. <p>-----
Do not taunt Happy Fun Zemyla.

<span style="font-size:xx-small;">I think boobs are the lesser of two evils. - Inverse (Pervy)
Dammit, Dan, I'm not dating a damn NPC! - OOC Will (Will Baseton)
Of course! Anything worth doing is worth doing completely wrong! - Travis English
Ultimately, wizards and clerics don't say, "Gee, I want to become a lich because weapons hurt less and I don't have to worry about being backstabbed; that whole 'eternal life' thing is just a fringe benefit."-Darklion
But this one time I killed a walrus with my bare hands, and I suddenly understood spherical coordinates. - KnightsofSquare
Also, when you've worked a 36-hour shift as an intern you too just might pour yourself a catful of coffee and sit down to cuddle with your travel mug. -eirehound
</span>

Adventurers! | RPG World World | The Phantom Lord's OT Board mkII | Indie Madnesse | Brotherhood of Elitist Bastards</p>

[PriamNevhausten]

Having been one, although less of a "buy our stuff" sort and more a "give us your money, no we won't promise anything in return" type (college donation solicitation, not scamming!), I can say, Yes. Yes, solicitors do have awful jobs and have to deal with some awful and awkward situations.

Though, to be fair, after you're around for a while you get to appreciate the humor value in what some people have to offer you in the form of misdirections and witty reparte. But you have to be *good* at what you do to be so enlightened. <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;">"It's in the air, in the headlines in the newspapers, in the blurry images on television. It is a secret you have yet to grasp, although the first syllable has been spoken in a dream you cannot quite recall." --Unknown Armies</span></p>