I work part-time in retail and the other day I had a woman ask me about how I viewed the Bible. She then handed me a Bible tract titled with that same question and told me that it would only take a few moments of my time, but it could change my life.
This wasn’t the first time I was proselytized at work either. Last year a similar incident occurred and my reaction to both incidents was the same. I took the tract and thanked the person for giving it to me.
As much as I wanted to stand there and debate a customer about religion, I also don’t want to get fired. My job is to make the customer happy and to do my best to insure that they have a positive shopping experience.
Unfortunately, I might have done my job too well this time around because after she had handed me the tracts and walked off, she came back to find me to ask me if I could help her friend who reads the Bible to the blind. She wanted to know if I knew any blind people who could “benefit” from that service. I tried really hard not to laugh out loud at that one. I just smiled and informed her that I did not know any blind people who could… benefit… from that service.
How rude was it that this person came over to me while I was working to proselytize? I am a pretty outspoken atheist and yet I would never even consider doing anything even remotely like that.
In retrospect, I could probably have handled that situation better. I think that next time (and there almost certainly will be a next time), I should thank the person for the tract, but decline to take it (even though I love reading those things), and inform the person that I am not allowed to solicitations.
How would you handle a situation like this? Have you experienced similar situations and if so, how did you handle them? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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