Opening Doors for Strangers

[RangerDeon]

Mommy always told me not to talk to strangers!

I ask em what they want through the window. If it's something I don't care about I say "not interested" and walk away.

That's ....actually a good idea. I should start doing that.
Because I'm so frakkin nice (too nice) I open the door and listen to what they say, sometimes even agreeing....I almost became a Mormon, I almost bought three different types of home security thingies, and I almost joined the army. And we're not even talking about when they call you.....

It's so hard for me to say no. :/


I should do what you do from now on.

[Chris_Lightfellow]

We have a front door and a screen door, so I'll just open the front door and talk to them through the screen door until I figure out who they are.

[avenger]

being the co-boss of this forum, your actions of opening the door and talking through the screen door is inadiquit. they can bust through and that's it. it's all over kay?

[Hirathien]

I got a peephole to look through.

[avenger]

that's better, that reminds me, my grandfather on my mom's side, once got a dude at his door, and they said they were delivering something to him. well all he did was open his slot on the door and said , "ya see this?" it was a gun, and the so called delivery guy ran away.
back in his day doors had slots that you could open to check to see who was knocking.
me and my mother always laugh when we talk about that..kay?

[Noraibah]

That is very funny......

[tachikoma]

As a big fella I never really get worried about opening the door but if it is a religious zealot I just tell them I already worship the Space Hamsters and have no need of they childish ideology.

[Rooks]

When I was a kid, some random guy broke into our house and left a butcher's knife on my pillow. That being said, I don't lock my doors when I am home, I have no peephole, and I open the door to those who knock with a smile on my face. Sure, tragedies happen from time to time, but there is nothing more tragic than living in fear. If you really want to live your life, you have to overcome it.

In terms of religious people, I usually invite them in. The Mormons came by a year ago last summer, and since they were riding their bikes around in the heat, I invited them in and gave them both a glass of orange juice. Really sharp kids actually, we talked about economics, because one of them was reading Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" at the time.

[Oppenheimer]

I've never even considered not just opening the door regardless of who is was. I do lock my door however. My parents don't lock it during the day though, but when I moved out on my own I was never really comfortable with that.

[dragonmasterx]

In Japan, people from the national TV broadcasting station(NHK) will come knock on your door regularly begging for money, showing you a pamphlet saying it's the law to pay up if you own a TV. Just owning it, even if you never use it/never watch their channel/only use it for video games(like me), means you have to pay. I was a fool to open the door. I haven't opened the door for strangers ever since then.

I've heard the UK has a similar system of having to pay a monthly fee just by owning a TV, and that there are actual consequences there for not paying.

[DoReMi_Vampire]

@dragonmasterx
Same thing in Sweden. Or well, it's kind of a mixed system here with both public-service and commercial channels. The money they collect goes to financing the public service-channels. The downside is of course that you pay lots of money, but the upside is that there are no commecial-breaks since it doesn't have to finance itself on such things.

on topic though, it would be funny if someone knocked on the door of some Jehova's witnesses and said "Hi, I come from ordinary people And I'd like to tell you a bit of how we live our lives".

[Nikisaur]

The doors going outside in my house are all glass sliders. I really can't pretend to not be home, or that I didn't hear/see them. I open the door and politely tell them I'm not interested.

[dragonmasterx]

About Christians knocking on my door, I find that they're not as obtrusive in Japan. They don't ring the bell a million times, and only give me a short message, give me a pamphlet and go on their way.

In the US, I sometimes get the impression they're trying to tell me their whole life story and seriously trying to get me to go to church.

[Hirathien]

I had a visit from Jehova's Witness people once, it wasn't bad. They were two elderly women and they talked. Gave me some papers and then were on their way. I don't see why people don't open their doors to them, at least not in Sweden.

[Belle]

About Christians knocking in my door, I find that they're not as obtrusive in Japan. They don't ring the bell a million times, and only give me a short message, give me a pamphlet and go on their way.

In the US, I sometimes get the impression they're trying to tell me their whole life story and seriously trying to get me to go to church.

Pretty much.

Once, I had two young men stand on my porch for half an hour during a cold drizzle, telling me about how much they were saved and how enlightening their experiences were, all while giving me this look of sad puppy dog eyes.

In retrospect, it was probably more rude of me to let them stand out there all that time instead of making up some lie and retreating somewhere. Oh well, they haven't been back since.

But now I just don't open my door unless I know the person. This isn't simply because of people trying to get me to convert to their religion. One time, I found myself face to face with an odd bird who apparently had a man-crush on my brother and was sort of stalking him. It took ten minutes before I was able to convince him that my brother didn't live there anymore but that I would pass along his e-mail address.