I have learned to not answer if I don't know the person. Twice I did this and it was those shady as fuck "magazine salesmen" who sell you a whole song and dance about how if they sell $X worth of magazines they get to go to Australia! And then you give them money and never get your magazines. I never give money to solicitors anyway, but I hate having to sit there and listen to the spiel and then the desperate pleas when I say "no thanks."

In college I answered the door for Mormon missionaries and they KEPT COMING BACK. They'd ask me to pray with them, they gave me a Book of Mormon and asked if I'd read it (hell no) and eventually, someone from their church called me. They were so nice that I felt bad but eventually I had to just say I was never going to convert, ever, and they were really mad and I said, "Do you want your Book of Mormon back?" and they went, "Ugh, no."

And, I've gotten served to. With a subpoena to show up and testify in a divorce hearing. No thanks. Now I only answer if it's a delivery person. And if I'm expecting a repairman of some sort, DH always tells me to call him when they get there so he's at least aware of the time frame they are in the house. Then I call him when they leave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what do you all do when someone comes and knocks on your door? Run and hide behind the couch? Tell the kids to get in the closet?

I don't understand this kind of question. IT'S MY HOUSE. MY PROPERTY. I don't have to hide or be ashamed that I don't want solicitors at my door. I work all day and when I'm home it's my family time. I may ask who it is, if it is a new neighbor coming to introduce themselves, great, come on in! If they are selling something or soliciting for a donation or educating me about a religion, I simply don't have to engage. I'm polite, and if it's a cause I'm interested in I ask them for a web site. But I don't have to answer the door.

I'm not sure why the person knocking on my door has more rights to me and I have to hide.

Because you are a woman. It's ok for a man to assertively do all the things you just mentioned.

Anonymous wrote:Holy sh*t I cannot believe how paranoid people are. Maybe i just feel safe because I live in an urban environment. But it would never cross my mind to not open the door.

For me it's not about safety, it's about I don't want to politely listen to what they are selling.

Anonymous wrote:So what do you all do when someone comes and knocks on your door? Run and hide behind the couch? Tell the kids to get in the closet?

I don't understand this kind of question. IT'S MY HOUSE. MY PROPERTY. I don't have to hide or be ashamed that I don't want solicitors at my door. I work all day and when I'm home it's my family time. I may ask who it is, if it is a new neighbor coming to introduce themselves, great, come on in! If they are selling something or soliciting for a donation or educating me about a religion, I simply don't have to engage. I'm polite, and if it's a cause I'm interested in I ask them for a web site. But I don't have to answer the door.

I'm not sure why the person knocking on my door has more rights to me and I have to hide.

THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.

Holy sh*t I cannot believe how paranoid people are. Maybe i just feel safe because I live in an urban environment. But it would never cross my mind to not open the door.

I always answer and like one of the PP, have a glass storm door that is locked, but the main door is open. We have a dog with a loud, deep bark. Some solicitors knock and then back off the porch once they hear her. 99% of the time its one of the neighbors or neighborhood kids.

Anonymous wrote:I don't watch the local news since our t.v.s were stolen in our supposedly safe neighborhood in broad daylight. Guess I shouldn't have bought that magazine at my door the day before, huh?

Because without having opened your door, no criminal could ever have guessed that there were tvs inside!

Where does everyone live that you are constantly interrupted by solicitors knocking on your door? I live in Old Town and if you read some of the forums I mine as well live in South Central LA, but rarely does anyone knock on my door. Occasionally a guy asking if I need wood on the weekend, the mother/child Jehovah witness, and in the summer a college student or two saving the world but no where near the "scary" level of stuff you describe.

I don't watch the local news since our t.v.s were stolen in our supposedly safe neighborhood in broad daylight. Guess I shouldn't have bought that magazine at my door the day before, huh?

Anonymous wrote:"Living" is very different here than your hometown, PP. So YES, it is being very naive if you think part of "living" is supporting crime by blindly opening the door. You are ruining it for the rest of us. If we all get peepholes (I install mine myself and I am not at all handy) and don't open unless we know the person, we are all safer.

I have lived in at least ten different cities while in this area over the past two decades or so, including MD, VA and DC, all "the nicest" of areas. Each and every time without fail there have been solicitors who turn out to be shady. Why subject yourself to it? Letting others case your home is "living"? My definition is different.

DC is hometown. I wasn't aware that not being afraid at every turn is "supporting crime". No doubt you heard about all these shady solicitors on your local news.

14:17 - EXACTLY! For us grown ups

I "live" my life by determining when and if I will be interrupted or when I get to just keep doign what I want to be doing in my house. If I don't want to be interrupted, I don't open the door. I call this living. Not being interrupted on someone else's timetable.

I answer it unless I can see it's the PIRG kid from down the street. Then we just avoid the hallway until he moves on.

Also agree that it sounds like testers, in which case the dog will be a fine deterrent. There were a number of daytime break-ins in our neighborhood a few years ago and you definitely want people to know that you're there AND that you have a big dog AND that you won't open the door to just anyone.

"Living" is very different here than your hometown, PP. So YES, it is being very naive if you think part of "living" is supporting crime by blindly opening the door. You are ruining it for the rest of us. If we all get peepholes (I install mine myself and I am not at all handy) and don't open unless we know the person, we are all safer.

I have lived in at least ten different cities while in this area over the past two decades or so, including MD, VA and DC, all "the nicest" of areas. Each and every time without fail there have been solicitors who turn out to be shady. Why subject yourself to it? Letting others case your home is "living"? My definition is different.