No Cash Hand your Card to a Stranger

It had been quite some time since a I had been stopped by a HariKrishna offering me books or their materials. I think the first time was when I was 18 and in the Army.

Yesterday while going to lunch we got stopped by a HariKrishna offering us some books in Exchange for a donation.

Is it Really a Donation?

When you ask for a donation I would call that a Business transaction especially when the person is not really interested in donating to your effort. It makes it even worst when they say it was free. The individual was prepared for me to say I have not cash and took out an iPhone ready for me to swipe my card.

Security Issues

On the other side we run into the fact that handing your credit card to a random stranger really makes me uncomfortable. I guess when I get back from SXSW I will have to do some research on validating Square vendors.

I guess if you are going to bump into this type of situation I guess Austin would be the place.

Would you have donated and given your card to a stranger?

 This post was possible thanks to the support of the San Juan Marriott who is Gold Sponsor of my SXSW 2012 trip