Last night i answered a knock at the door to find a young man selling various household items from a bag. He showed me his identification and explained that he had recently been released from prison, and as part of his probation he was selling the enclosed items to raise money for college fees.
Firstly i commend the lad for his willingness to belittle himself in order to hopefully better himself. Secondly i think it takes a lot of courage to admit you have wronged, walk the streets and knock on strangers doors and tell them you have been to prison.
It is probably a probationary requirement to have to explain his reason for calling, but i felt utterly awful for him, not just for having to tell me about his past, more so the fact that he has to repeat himself each time someone answered the door.
I purchased a couple of items and not because i felt sorry for him, but because as a disabled person he actually helped me out by bringing the wares to me. What did make me feel bad was when he said that after two hours on the street i was the first person that let him say more than, “I’m sorry to disturb you”. He asked me if the houses in this area had a lot of people knocking on their doors as this was usually the cause for being discourteous. Initially i felt obliged to defend the residents of kirby, however instead felt a little ashamed. Is there really a need for rudeness? i like to think i was brought up better than that.
I answered the door to one of these lads and he just told me that he was on a work creation scheme, with no mention of him having just been released from prison.
Maybe it was one of his colleagues or maybe it was the same lad but he had changed his story.
I agree that what they are doing, is very commendable but at the same time we constantly hear in the news about confidence tricksters and muggers and consequently people are very wary of doorstep traders.
I get particularly annoyed with the Betterware and Kleenezee people that keep putting catalogues through the doors and then asking for them back again.
Then there’s the “happy clappers” that come round wanting to discuss your inner most private religious beliefs at the most inopportune moments.