The Mormons recruiting around George Square need to chill

The library is never more full than it is now at the height of exam season. If the sun even threatens to break through, hoards of students flock to the Meadows.

Central is buzzing. It’s the time of year when everyone remembers that part of being a student is actually studying. As a result, George Square is packed.

Come to think of it, it’s probably the perfect time of the year to sell or promote things outside the library. We students are too busy working to spend time promoting something ourselves, so there’s no competition and the library is full by midday.

One group in particular have taken advantage of this. The Mormons.

They’re all over George Square. They approach you with a wide, friendly smile and ask you how your day’s going. As something perfectly harmless and very nice of them to ask, many of us will engage with them and tell them how it’s going.

Just as you tell them how busy you are with revision and the only reason you’re leaving the library is to get food from Sainsbury’s, they ask you the most natural thing you say to someone you’ve just met.

“How much do you know about Mormonism?”

For me, it was particularly bad because I’d just told them I study Theology – in their eyes I must have been keen to know everything about their religion (they were right to an extent, I was slightly interested in what they had to say, but that’s not the case for everyone).

A girl in front of me who had her headphones in and was looking down, clearly did not want to talk to them. They still approached her and after she said she wasn’t interested they immediately asked for her number so they could arrange to meet up for a coffee.

Giving over your number is a disaster unless you think you’ll genuinely be fascinated by what they’ve got to say. My friend who was interested gave them her number and despite not responding to their texts for a few months, they proceeded to call her instead. I’m pretty sure that’s borderline harassment.

Take the hint mate

I understand that they feel it’s their duty to tell other people about their faith and to convert, but they just need to chill out a bit. When people are obviously desperate to work and avoid conversation, being so in our faces actually just comes across as a bit rude.

What can be particularly annoying is how they seem to be polite, but they’re only being so nice so they can engage with you. You soon begin to realise that they definitely have a script they work off, because they also seem to agree with everything you say. Last week, I was pretty ill and I told one of them that. He responded enthusiastically saying: “No way, me too!” even though he was perfectly fine.

One of my friends actually met up with the Mormons and she said that they’re perfectly nice. She said: “When you meet them, you realise they’re a pretty normal bunch of young people with normal hobbies, girlfriends and families.”

No one thinks they’re bad guys, it’s just I think we’d all appreciate it if they were a less in our faces and they wouldn’t take advantage of us working hard around George Square.