One of the black guys came by our house. He was nice, did his demonstration and speech. When I told him we weren't interested in buying the cleaner, he said "Thank you for your time", turned and walked away. Guess we got the nice salesman. As for the religion, when the lady and young girl came by to invite us to the Easter program that their church was putting on, I said "Thank you" and took the brochure that the girl offered. When someone came back the next day when no one was home and left the same brochure under the door mat, not a problem. The problem was, instead of backing out of our drive, they decided to turn around in the yard, leaving some lovely muddy ruts where the ground was wet. Now the question would be, do we really want to go to this church after their representatives didn't bother to care about the damage they did to our front yard? Don't know why we bothered to pay all that money to get gravel put on the drive if we wanted people to drive on the wet lawn. What were we thinking?
We have that and we still get them. They do not seem to care about covenants and a no soliciting policy.
Not exactly on topic, but a shopping center near where I work put up a "no solicitation" sign where the panhandlers hang out- now they hang their coats on it while they panhandle...
There is a black guy with a couple teeth missing that stops by almost on a yearly basis. I remember him because he will taste the cleaner to show you it isn't toxic. I think he recently had a child. In any case, he has been doing it for a long time and probably knows it isn't worth being agressive. I bought girl scouts cookies one time and after the woman delivered them she did the same thing. When I went outside to say something to her she "floored it". Where did this lack of caring come from?
That's the guy, did the taste test and talked about being a first time daddy. As for the lack of caring, wherever it came from, it is being passed on to the next generation very quickly. I bet the woman that delivered the girl scout cookies was wondering why you didn't buy any the next year from her daughter?
When they went to our neighbor's house, they had both their vehicles outside the garage, in the driveway. The gentleman was sitting outside on his front porch. They didn't even come to our house, on the next street over....but then again my husband was outside and they probably wouldn't have gotten too far with him.
3 vehicles in the driveway, windows and doors were open because it was windy and I didn't have the air on yet.
That's the guy that came to my house. He was crazy as a bedbug and made me feel uncomfortable with his jokes. Didn't like that I said no either.
Creepy door to door guy... He came by the shop a couple of weeks ago. Very aggressive and persistent. I got the impression that he was working as a salesman as part of a halfway house program or something. He definitely seemed to be either on a drug or recovering from a drug problem. Clear meth mouth. In college I spent a summer as a door to door salesman selling educational books. It was a heck of an experience. Salesman are taught to ignore no solicitation and no trespassing signs. Back when I was 18 and naive I actually believed the lines my trainers were giving me, "People put those signs up because they can't say no to a good product, so go right on in!" The "I need to use the restroom" thing is also just a tactic to get in the house and give him/her more time to establish rapport with the potential customer. I only had that job for one summer, the money was good but it made me feel dirty with all the "tricks of the trade". If the product is good and people actually need it, you don't need any tricks... The best way to get rid of a door to door salesman is 1. be rude and close the door in their face or 2. Politely but firmly interrupt them and tell them thank you but no thank you, then ask them to leave your property immediately. Method two is what I do because I know what its like to get doors slammed in your face all day, but sometimes it just encourages them to be more assertive if you are nice to them. If method two doesn't work then you may have to resort to method one. If all else fails I just open the door far enough for them to see that I never answer to a stranger without my weapon in hand. For what its worth, I don't think they are casing the neighborhood for future robberies... The company I worked for would often drop us off in a town at 7AM and pick us up at 9PM.
One of these guys came to my home last year, and really scared me. I was home alone with my two babies getting ready to take them to a doctor's appointment. The guy walked into my garage where i was loading them in the van with his spray bottle. I felt incredibly vulnerable, as it was 1 pm when most people in my neighborhood aren't home and he was all the way in my garage where the people who were home couldn't see us. I just told him I was in a hurry to make an appointment as I jumped in my car and backed out. I found it odd that he was trying to sell products with no labels on the bottle in the middle of the day when most people wouldn't be home. It felt like he was casing houses, but i would much rather him steal all of my stuff than hurt me or my children so i just got the heck outta there. I always have miXed thoughts about answering the door for strangers. On one hand, they could be waiting to make sure noone is home so they can break in, in which case I should answer the door so they know someone is home. On the other hand, they could want to do harm to me and my family, in which case I shouldn't answer the door. I don't have dogs because DH is allergic, and I don't own a gun because I might end up shooting the wrong person. I think I'll just start answering the door with my finger on the pepper spray trigger.
I wonder if they dont' try intimidating you on purpose, so you will buy whatever it is they are selling just to get them out. I'm a lot more assertive than I used to be and I have no issue running them off. We had some woman last year wanting to do a survey (not census) stop by at least 4 times on subsequent Saturdays. I finally called her employer and told them if she came back, I was calling the cops. :evil:
he came by here in Walkers ridge last Sunday. He wanted to show me a card trick because I was playing a game with my kid. I politely shut the door. It's times like these I wish I had a shock guarded door. Give em a little Tesla Shuffle!
My dad handles salesmen and telemarketers by asking them lots of dumb questions and trying to get them to give him something for free. They eventually get exasperated and go away/hang up. I know it is scary to have them come to the door, though; I never have to worry about that anymore b/c my dogs are always lunging and growling at the door.
