What you do when stranger comes to your door?

[Bestwifeever]

We have a no-soliciting decal from our town on our front door, but DH will answer the door no matter who is ringing the bell. I peek out a window first and open only to people I know or to kids.

 

[Ronstar]

It drives DW nuts, but I answer the door. Usually it's a woman passing out religious info. Only happens about once a year.

 

[comicbookgujy]

My best story involving these kinds of folks goes all the way back to my college (undergraduate) days:

• Saturday morning knock on the door as I was stepping into the shower.
• I assumed it was one of my housemates who had not taken their keys with them the night before; that was a regular occurrence.
• I answer the door wearing nothing but my towel, at first timidly peaking out at the well dressed ladies on my porch; then, opening the door widely and inviting them in when they asked me if I would discuss their literature with them. (I thought I was being very polite.)
• They quickly backed down the front stairs apologizing for bothering me. (I did assure them it was no bother.)
• I am not sure if that house was ever visited by this particular organization again; I know it was not for several years.

If there is an afterlife, I am hoping for a sense of humor and benevolence from the proprietor.

Now that I am quite a bit old and much less indestructible, I am also much more cautious about opening my door to strangers. But, I generally still find out if it is someone in genuine need of 911 type assistance before turning them away or ignoring them.

Never thought about that! Next time someone knock, I'll just answer in my underwear while holding a Pabst Blue Ribbons and ask in a slurring voice, " Who is you be looking for? Bob... Stop asking me. I done did already done told his PO where he be ain't at. Ain't my problem he be violating his parole"

 

[Koolau]

I don't recall anyone coming to our door except the resident manager or someone we have escorted from the parking lot (repair person, contractor, etc.) who has called us ahead of time. If someone did come to the door, they have to ring a bell (can't get close enough to knock). They must stand behind a steel gate to wait for us to see who they are.

Where I used to live, I probably would not have even locked the doors in the daytime except that DW was raised to do so and would not feel safe behind an unlocked door. Parents (in same town on mainland) never locked doors - even at night - until middle '70s. YMMV

 

[obgyn65]

I live in a condo. No solicitors are allowed to come in and visit condos by the reception guys in the lobby. Not a single visit from solicitors in the last 5 years I have been living here.

 

[Walt34]

I figure a double barrel 12 gauge should make a big enough racket to discourage all but the most persistent sales persons or evangelist.

I'm kinda partial to the Remington 870 myself, there's just no mistaking the sound it makes.

Seriously, usually I just ignore them but have been known to open the door and ask if they read the sign at the development entrance reading "No Solicitors" and then immediately engage in a debate as to why it doesn't apply to them.

That does the trick.

 

[steelyman]

One option may be to don a hockey mask and get the chain saw out, then open the door.

 

[Major Tom]

There's a story in my family about one of many times that Jehovah's Witnesses rang our doorbell. Our mother came to the door, and they asked her whether she would be interested in eternal salvation. "No thank-you" she replied, "We're Catholic".

It even brought a smirk to the face of our parish priest when told the story.

 

[brewer12345]

It is rare that anyone knocks on the door we do not know. The dogs go nuts and we look out the window. Often we do not answer. Colorado has a make my day law, so you have to be foolish to try anything when someone is home.

 

[HFWR]

One local preacher I knew closely resembled the late Conway Twitty. He called on folks in town as part of his weekly visitation, and to occasionally solicit donations.

Being often mistaken for Twitty, he usually just shrugged it off, but one day while canvassing the neighborhood, a lady answered the door, wearing only a towel. Upon seeing the Conway Twitty look-alike, she threw her hands up, causing the towel to drop to the floor, and screamed "It's Conway Twitty!"

Whereupon the preacher exclaimed "Hello Darlin'"...

 

[Meadbh]

Sometimes strangers who knock on your door genuinely need your help.

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[martyp]

So that is my new technique, grab the phone and tell the person through the window that I cannot open the door as I'm busy and so sorry but bye.

I open the front door blinds. If it is someone with a clipboard, religious materials and someone I don't know I just shake my head no and close the blinds. I'm not quite sure why you would need an excuse, such as a phone, to decline to open the door. Anyone going door to door is familiar with non-responses.

Sometimes (rarely) someone will shout something to me through the door and I ignore them. However, I can say that once or twice someone has shouted something useful, such as I left my car lights on, that I've appreciated.

 

[Lsbcal]

I open the front door blinds. If it is someone with a clipboard, religious materials and someone I don't know I just shake my head no and close the blinds. I'm not quite sure why you would need an excuse, such as a phone, to decline to open the door. Anyone going door to door is familiar with non-responses.

Sometimes (rarely) someone will shout something to me through the door and I ignore them. However, I can say that once or twice someone has shouted something useful, such as I left my car lights on, that I've appreciated.

I just am trying to find a "nice" way of letting people down.

After reading of one creep who got in and tortured the occupant, I'm not going to open up to complete strangers. But most door-to-door people are just trying to earn a meager living or are true believers and I don't want them to feel too bad about that.

 

[JustMeUC]

The only thing I miss about my old house was that it had a fence around the entire property that no one dared to enter seeing as I had 2 German Shepherds who sounded like they would nothing more than to eat any visitors for lunch. The truth was they were both all bark and no bite but they sure sounded ferocious, LOL. Anyway, I had an electric gate I came and went from and had a security camera and 2 way intercom that any visitors had to use to come in. Most solicitors got the "thanks but no thanks" and they heard the "click" that I had signed off...

One of the best inventions ever!

 

[eytonxav]

In our city, anyone going door to door selling something, must have a city license. If they do not, I explain that to them, and they ususally go away quickly. If someone looks unsavory, I follow-up with a call to the PD.
Nevertheless, being polite is always a good idea.

 

[eytonxav]

If you have fear of robbers coming to the door, you can deploy one of these:

 

[HFWR]

If you have fear of robbers coming to the door, you can deploy one of these:

This is fairly obvious from comparing my little "shanty" to all the McMansions in Stepfordville...

I don't treat anyone rudely, but there is no rule that says I have to answer the door or the phone, particularly for an unsolicited visit/call from an unknown entity...

 

[ls99]

Years ago I explained to the the witnesses, that they need to keep a map with my address and a note; I do not wish to discuss the state of affairs of the world with them.

It worked.

One other solicitor was a guy in an overcoat, necktie, greasy spiked hair and huge grin. He rang the bell, I opened the door. He said with a big grin: I see you have the old style windows.

I promptly cut him off with saying: You are an idiot. They are two year old Marvin triple pane, low E. Goodby, and shut the door in his stunned face.

Otherwise we rarely get solicitors.

Edit add: Good to live in PA, with the castle doctrine.

We keep a modern version of blunderbuss in easy reach, just in case.

 

[Marita40]

It is rare that anyone I'm not expecting rings my doorbell. Usually they are the bleeding heart greenpeace types with clipboards asking you to sign on to a cause. If the bell rings after dark I won't respond. I do regret, however, the night my bell rang repeatedly after I was already in bed. I was half asleep and assumed it was just kids playing so didn't respond. A few minutes later I was awakened again by unfamiliar loud noises on the street and glanced out to see my car being towed away. Seems I was parked in front of a neighbor's driveway and the kindly cop tried to rouse me to move the car before the ticket/tow. Had I responded I would have saved several hundred dollars.

 

[mpeirce]

I can't recall any religious folks coming to our door.

Usually it's neighbor kids fundraising for their team/club/troop/etc. and I always buy something from them. Most of the time it's useless to me (coupon books...) but I like to help them out.

Sometimes there are kids who are dropped of in the neighborhood to sell stuff. Rarely will I buy from them, but it's happened.

 

[unclemick]

When I lived in the city some years ago, I just didn't answer the door. Now that I'm in the country, no one ever knocks on the door. It could be because of the barbed wire fences and/or the no trespassing signs at the gate. Seems to work pretty well.

I'm retired - so I overwhelm them -giving them my religion involving BACON, animal sacrifice and dancing naked around the campfire - in winter.

heh heh heh - of course it never works - the hard core stay on message - but sometimes I get a chuckle.

As for the other stuff - last year was two PTA discount cards(eating out), two boxes of popcorn(Boy Scouts) and one box of Girl Scout cookies.

 

[Letj]

We have a wireless security camera to see who is at the door. If it is someone we recognize but were not expecting we'll look out from the second floor window. If we don't recognize we don't answer. With our alarm system and the 2nd Amendment, we think we have everything covered.

Wow. Where do you live? Afghanistan?

 

[travelover]

It is funny that religious solicitors seem to cause the most concern.

I'll stop now.

 

[UserRequested]

It is funny that religious solicitors seem to cause the most concern.

I'll stop now.

Religious solicitors?
Are these Christian lawyers knocking door to door looking for business ?

 

[Sun456]

I have a sign that says "No Solicitors. The Dragon is Full." It can be seen at my front gate while my "Beware of Dog" sign is in the background. I had the sign custom made on the Internet for $12 including shipping. The No Solicitors wording is in a blood red typeface. The Dragon is Full wording is stylized after the Munsters or Adams Family. There is also an Asian Dragon picture and a couple of large dog paw prints. Ever since I put it up I've gotten exactly zero solicitor doorbell rings. We used to get them quite frequently.