New school and pushy sales-talk

This morning, my big girl attended secondary school for the first time. She suddenly looked older in the new uniform. Good that she was happy.
While children were introduced to their teachers and had a tour in and around the school, we (parents) were in the dining hall sipping tea and listening to teachers giving us a briefing. I found myself the only non-European looking person there, which was unexpected but not surprised/scared. Everything went alright. Even had a chance to say hello to the principle, who looked a man of power but sounded very easy to speak to.
Oh, there was a funny moment. When a teacher was finishing the parent briefing, he told us where to wait for our children. He said "Children will be released at 12:00...", which sounded as if the kids were locked up in a prison cell. None of us could keep a straight face, of course.

Recently, I am annoyed with salesmen/women. Since this country's economy started going downhill, I have been offered credit cards in shops, and people from charity organizations/a telephone company have knocked my front door and asked for donations/subscriptions. They must be desperate because they are quite pushy and try to make you feel stupid/heartless for refusing them. Many of them make me feel like saying "Do you think you are funny/clever?" For example, one of them ever try to get my name and address by saying "I will have to ask if you are over 23 years old because this (credit card) is for people over 23 years old" when I was in a shop with my daughters. And another started a talk, "We need to raise £100,000 pounds for deaf children in the local area. Do you have £100, 000?..." with a big grin and an "Aren't I a funny man?" face. I wouldn't mind listening to them for a minute and getting an information leaflet. But all of them wanted me to sign up their offer or give them my contact details before saying good-bye. I often found my self biting my lower lip just before interrupting their sales-talk. Yes, an f-word nearly came out of my mouth. I wish they knew that my husband used to call me "Scottish Jew".