During a break in the rain tonight, I was able to do a little fundraising. The street traffic is obviously down when it's wet outside but there were still several cars out as it was commute time.
I had only been out about 5 minutes when a woman rode by on her bike and yelled, "THAT'S OFFENSIVE!!!" I told her I was sorry but she repeated again, "THAT'S REALLY OFFENSIVE!" I can only assume she meant the side of my sign that said, "Like boobs? Donate to the Avon Walk!" The other side reads, "Donate $1 to fight breast cancer!"
My initial reaction was sadness. I didn't make my sign to offend anyone or poke fun at breast cancer. But then I got mad. Out of the hundreds of smiles, thumbs ups, words of encouragement, I get this one grouch that yells at me! Then...I got scared. What if she came back and tried to destroy my sign?!
About 10 minutes later, a car drove by with their donation hanging out the window. I waited for traffic to stop, ran across the street to collect it and ran back to my staging area. As I was running back, I saw a police officer in the line of cars. Whoops! I always get nervous when I see the police because I don't know if I'm breaking any laws. Sure enough, he pulls up next to me and rolls down his window. "Did a woman pass by here earlier?" he asked. I told him what happened and he said she had called them because of my offensive sign. He told me his wife participated in the walk a few years ago, found nothing wrong with my sign, wished me luck and told me to have a good night.
I could feel my knees shake as he spoke to me. The only trouble I've ever been in was in the 5th grade when I got my name on the board! Needless to say, I was relieved when he found nothing wrong with my actions.
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