soonerchef
- 1,523
But now, with the below Q&A that I found I am not so sure. This is just what we needed...
"Dear Miss Manners,
I have a question concerning the proper response to some "invitations". The invitations to which I refer are not those in which potential hosts request that you attend a party, or perhaps a dinner. They are invitations from friends, turned sales representatives or independent consultants, who are inviting you to attend a sales presentation for cosmetics, candles, baskets, kitchenware, etc.
I know that the proper response to an invitation is to reply with a yes or no within a couple days. But are we obligated to respond to these sales invitations in the same manner? Does having RSVP on an invitation require us to call with our regrets concerning a sales presentation for which we have no interest?
Do the rules regarding invitations to social engagements apply also to invitations to what amount to business engagements?
Gentle Reader,
No, they don't. If they did, you would spend your life penning gracious responses to every store that sent you a flyer inviting you to attend a sale and every real estate company that invited you to look at its properties.
But in the case of your friends, you may want to follow that rule anyway.
Miss Manners shares your distaste for commercial coercion under the guise of sociability. These events depend on the guests' feeling obligated to buy things they might not otherwise want the way a good guest at a real social event tries to go along with the plans and expectations of the hosts.
Nevertheless, the people issuing these invitations are your friends, and obviously they do not distinguish between friends and customers or between their living rooms and a sales showroom. They are therefore expecting the same sort of reply as if to a party invitation.
It would cost you little to comply. You needn't give an excuse for declining, but after doing so on repeated occasions, you could gently say, "I really don't shop that way, but I'd love to get together purely socially." Then if they don't get it—if they insist that these really are parties—you may have to go back to declining these invitations to shop, one by one."
You know...I'm sorry but is it really that difficult to call up your friend and say "Sorry, can't make it I have plans" and as much as I love PC and don't sell anything else, there is a time and a place for all DSA's. I would much rather do my shopping with a bunch of friends than fighting with some stranger at a customer packed store!
"Dear Miss Manners,
I have a question concerning the proper response to some "invitations". The invitations to which I refer are not those in which potential hosts request that you attend a party, or perhaps a dinner. They are invitations from friends, turned sales representatives or independent consultants, who are inviting you to attend a sales presentation for cosmetics, candles, baskets, kitchenware, etc.
I know that the proper response to an invitation is to reply with a yes or no within a couple days. But are we obligated to respond to these sales invitations in the same manner? Does having RSVP on an invitation require us to call with our regrets concerning a sales presentation for which we have no interest?
Do the rules regarding invitations to social engagements apply also to invitations to what amount to business engagements?
Gentle Reader,
No, they don't. If they did, you would spend your life penning gracious responses to every store that sent you a flyer inviting you to attend a sale and every real estate company that invited you to look at its properties.
But in the case of your friends, you may want to follow that rule anyway.
Miss Manners shares your distaste for commercial coercion under the guise of sociability. These events depend on the guests' feeling obligated to buy things they might not otherwise want the way a good guest at a real social event tries to go along with the plans and expectations of the hosts.
Nevertheless, the people issuing these invitations are your friends, and obviously they do not distinguish between friends and customers or between their living rooms and a sales showroom. They are therefore expecting the same sort of reply as if to a party invitation.
It would cost you little to comply. You needn't give an excuse for declining, but after doing so on repeated occasions, you could gently say, "I really don't shop that way, but I'd love to get together purely socially." Then if they don't get it—if they insist that these really are parties—you may have to go back to declining these invitations to shop, one by one."
You know...I'm sorry but is it really that difficult to call up your friend and say "Sorry, can't make it I have plans" and as much as I love PC and don't sell anything else, there is a time and a place for all DSA's. I would much rather do my shopping with a bunch of friends than fighting with some stranger at a customer packed store!
