Cute little Cubs

Ah, Cute Little Cubs...but beware the telephone iron fist!

Increasingly we are seeing appealing images on our screens, especially in the afternoons, of cute leopard cubs that need saving, desperate children that need feeding, disasters that need supporting.  If we give just £5 per month or even £3, we will be making an enormous difference.  AND we will receive a cute little toy or regular newsletter...

What we are not told is that we will also receive persuasive telephone calls: telephone calls that try to re-assure us they are just giving us exciting new information, or an update on the campaign.  What the 'phone calls are really about is asking us to give yet more money.  Psychologically these calls or promotions feed into an area of our brains that feels we have not done enough, rather like those school reports that merely said 'Could do better'.

Furthermore, is it really allowed to make such calls at 8.45pm to pensioners living alone?  A recent example illustrated how trapped people become in these situations; a pensioner's daughter answered the telephone as her mother was unwell, and when challenged was told coyly, 'Is it really that late - I AM so sorry - we will we ring your mother in a few days'  When asked not to ring, the same coy voice said that only the pensioner in question could make that request!

Yes I could do better, and be more of Friday's Child who is loving and giving, but I am a pensioner, too,  and Saturday's Child who has still to work hard for a living!