Just Be Nice
It’s Free and Easy
Masae and I learned a very valuable lesson walking down Kalakaua Avenue after dinner the other night. We were with Pamela and Hamo Alualu. Kalakaua Avenue is lined with “flyer people” handing out all sorts of leaflets and advertising. I have over the years developed a pretty good “waive-off” motion as they reach out to me. As we passed one of them, Hamo accepted his hand-out, and as we walked away Pamela asked him, “Why did you take that?” His answer had impact. He casually said, “Just to be nice.” Wow! Think about that. Masae and I found ourselves talking about that the rest of the evening. “Flyer folks” take a lot of rejection and hear some pretty abusive comments. After all, they are just doing their job, and the pay isn’t that great, what’s wrong with being nice? You can just as easily throw the ad flyer away once you are out of site, but in the process you made someone feel successful, even if it’s for a moment.
Mahalo Hamo for the lesson. I will be much nicer from here on.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I thought this act was truly one of KINDNESS. I too am guilty of the action of shunning the flyer people.
Put yourself in their shoes.
How many other people do we do this to in this society?
kiosk people, the newspaper sellers, the people soliciting donations at malls and grocery stores, etc.
I am forever changed by this story!
May 28th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Gives a good feeling that an almost rote exercise for me is worth something after all. i have always been in that direction, although i put it straight in my bag or pocket and read or dispose of it later, it depends.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:15 am
sorry to go against the grain, but i think our visitors deserve to be left alone to enjoy their vacaation. there is no shortage of info on things to do and sales and etc on oahu at their hotel and on the street stands. they dont need to have to do anything on their vacation. it may be that persons job, but they chose a kind of nasty occupation and chose to bother people IMHO. lets put some class back on the streets of waikiki.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I’m with the last guy. Just get the bums off of the street, not just in Hawaii, but everywhere.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I think the last two people to comment here missed the point of the blog. This is not about whether or not Hawaii should have flyer people, the quality of the job, or the value of the person doing the job. This is about treating people with “Aloha” regardless. I think the attitudes shown in these comments helps make the lesson even clearer that even in this place of Aloha we have people without it. Let’s all work on that.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
This is an interesting topic - as I think about it, it gets just a little deep. But, I must admit, I appreciated the specifics and practicalities of what vidsolve posted.
However, aloha guy, I really do get your point. Well taken.
Continuing with the flyer people and the specific situation they create, I will not be convinced otherwise, the flyer people make a walk along the street unpleasant (or maybe I should say “less pleasant”). Period. And, the behavior/activity that they engage in should not be encouraged. Visitors (and anybody else for that matter) should not have to face harassment.
Is there such a thing as “tough Aloha?” If not, maybe we can create it.
As Ron has written, EVERYBODY deserves to succeed and sometimes people need to be released so that they can go on to find success. The act of not taking a flyer from someone might not be exactly firing them, but it could be a little less inappropriate encouragement and may make his/her transition to success quicker.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Yes Richard it is a little deep, but not that deep. I don’t think anyone likes being hassled on the sidewalk, and I must say that as often as I go to Waikiki I never feel “hassled” by the people handing out flyers. In fact, most of them are pretty considerate and sensitive.
If there is someone to attack here, it’s the companies that have chosen this form of marketing, not the people they hire. I’m actually more turned off by the street “musicians” that do invade my space. I don’t go to Waikiki to listen to some dude pounding on his snare drum. THAT is a violation of “Aloha.”
May 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
wow! you people on oahu sound like mainlanders! so glad i stay big island where our ‘flyer’ people all have names and are part of our ohana. aloha is the love of god. it is for everyone.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I get it; there’s no downside to being nice to people; all people. I am going to work on this. I don’t want to tell my age, but I will say that I have lived long enough to have made this discovery before. Thanks.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
All People??? What are you nuts? What about murderers, rapists and robbers? Should we be nice to them too? This goody two shoes crap is just that, and you know it.
May 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Sorry but the flyer form of marketing sucks no matter how you dice it. the marketers choose to do their miserable style of marketing, and the workers choose to do the job. they are both irritating. its not a matter of aloha or loving Gods children. i dont hate the people, i absolutely dispise what they choose to do. we all choose what we do. anyone out there feel good about harrasing people with flyiers? i am ok with kiosks where folks can go up on their own free will and get info, but i dont like my free will of walking down the sidewalk peacefully being violated. nothing to do with aloha. choose a more righteous line of work. we all know what responsibility for choices means, right? lets not sugar coat things. i mght love everyone, but i dont sit back and condone the cow murderers, which are legal and have right to do their cruel deeds. you need to see things as they are without losing your equilibrium, but you also need to call a spade a spade.
May 30th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
WOW; listen to the anger here…
May 31st, 2009 at 8:05 am
The people who do this are many times homeless and this is their only source of income. Or, perhaps they have criminal records, or are some kind of substance abuser, and they do this instead of steal. They get paid by how many fliers they are actually able to put into the hands of people, and by depending on what increased percentage of people actually come to the venue or store, they may even get a bonus. If their business doesn’t do any business, they get nothing. If they pay some guy forty dollars to stand there and pass those things out, and it brings in a higher percentage of business than if they don’t, then it is worth it to them.
Personally, sometimes I take them, sometimes I don’t. At least it is an honest living, and they don’t like doing it any more than you like them for it. Just be grateful it isn’t you, count your blessings and say thank you or thanks but no thanks. It’s better than begging.
May 31st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Hello there all!
A flyer is like a delete button, you can use it or not.
I take flyers always, they tell a lot, inform, make offers, introduce stuff, spark ideas, new products, new services, new boys on the block as it were … there is no harm and a retailer or anyone can learn a lot about what’s going on in the area - and all given for free. Easy market research I would say as well. no harm in smiling as you take one either, never hurts. Many of the flyer companies here try to use the backs of the messages with useful info like a calendar for how many shopping days left before Christmas, or the bus times, emergency telephone numbers, pizza delivery contacts, how to change a tyre, once I even got a great recipe for a tunabake I still use today. No harm done as I said, just don’t litter on the way home!
Cheers
Lestie
Jo’burg.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 am
Here is the ultimate example of “being nice.” http://tinyurl.com/ot8qab