Door To Door Solicitor Today

[sjfcontrol]

I live in a so-so neighborhood. I've had waaaaay too many "magazine salesmen" come to my door through the years. I do have 4 dogs, and when the doorbell rings, all heck breaks loose in my house! Of course, if you came in, they would love you to death, but the person on the other side of the door doesn't know that.

Some years ago, we had a repo man come to our door at 12:30am. He rang the doorbell and started beating on the door. My husband went to the door. He demanded to be let in. He was there to repo someone's car. We had two cars in the driveway, both paid for, neither one running, and neither the type of car he was looking for. He was screaming and yelling at my husband, who was yelling back at him through the window. He tried to push our door in. We had a 3 y.o., 5 y.o. and a 6 y.o. asleep, and I didn't want them awakened. The repo man would not go away. Normally, I would have gotten up and taken the 12 gauge pump to the door and pumped it so they guy could hear it, but I had shattered my leg and could only walk with a walker. Couldn't manage a walker and the 12 gauge, so I called the police, which were just 1/2 mile away. They sent 3 squad cars. The assured the repo man that we were not the people he was looking for. My husband told him to PLEASE take both cars in the driveway, as neither of them ran. The police said he was not breaking any laws (doing all this at 12:30am?) I told them he was breaking my laws if he woke my kids up. He got off our porch and sat in his truck in front of our house ALL NIGHT LONG. The police said there was nothing they could do as he was breaking no laws. This guy has us scared to death. He finally left at 4:30am. This freaked us out! I have NO TOLERANCE for unknown people coming to my door after this. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and church people are fine, everyone else had best stay off my front porch!

For what it's worth:

Awhile back I bought a reasonably high powered green laser pointer ($$$) and have had very good success with it in discouraging un-invited people who want to be in my yard at night (one of the hazards of living near a juvinile detenssion center). From inside of the house, well out of sight I can hold the green dot quite steady on a chest, shoulder or other body part. This is apparently so disconserting to the interloper that they seem to want to leave "faster than a speeding bullet" when I turn on the laser.

Gerry

The problem with green lasers is that the beam is so bright that it can easily be tracked back to the source. Unlike red lasers that just show up as a dot, green lasers are an arrow back to the pointer. If you are just scaring children and small animals it is not a problem. But if it is somebody that might shoot back, you might have a problem.

[Pitt]

Sadly, there wouldn't be any opposition if he had said the guys were Mexican or Black.

But I agree with what he did and I would have done the same thing.

I don't open my door for anybody. If I have a guest coming or expecting a package, I open the door. And everyone who comes to my house knows to call first or you might be standing on the porch alone.

Maybe someone says, what if it's a neighbor needing help. Well since they don't bother to speak after I say hello or acknowledge me, especially, after I've helped a few of them. I've done minor neighborly stuff like telling them the car lights left have been left on or garage door left open in the middle of the night, and delivering misdelivered packages (several big dolly sized packages left on my porch and I rolled them right inside their house). Yet, I can't even get a wave or nod to say I see you. So if they need help, good riddance. Done with them. I'll be packing if they come to the door too.

And oh, once when a package of mine was misdelivered to a neighbors house, they kept it and opened it. Only through tracking did I find out where is was misdelivered and had to go to the neighbors house to pick my my stuff.

This is not the projects or the hood. My neighborhood is only a few years old and all are homeowners. I bought my house only 4 years ago and was one of the first occupants. They're still building houses down the street and throughout the complex.

So don't judge a book by it's cover. Scum comes wearing many colors.

[Jim Beaux]

I blasted a hole through a door when I was around 20. It was 2 AM and I awoke to the sound of someone messing with the door. I shouted as loud as I could... "WHO IS IT?" . No response but the banging got louder. I shouted again... "WHO IS OUT THERE?". The banging sound quickened. I shouted one more time"I HAVE A GUN. YOU BETTER STOP!". The banging got louder and more frantic.. BOOM!!! I let one rip! Right through the door!

My first thought was... "OH, man, what did I just do?". My wife had been on the phone with the Plano cops from our bedroom and was giving them a blow by blow of the action (as she percieved it from the bedroom). The 911 lady on the phone told her to have me put the gun away, because the officers had arrived and were ready to aproach the house. I put the gun away and after my wife told the 911 lady all was clear... An officer from outside shouts through the door... "IS THIS YOUR DOG?". I open the door and a mongral dog is hopping around on the front porch like he was everybodies buddy. It was a stray and thought my house was his home. I figured he would get excited everytime I shouted and scratch at the door in response. I had aimed at head level(for a human) so he was not hit. Pretty dumb move on my part, on hind sight. Problem was, it was late at night and in my stupor I was not thinking clearly. Thank god I didn't blast some ignorant drunk who thought my house was his home. I have heard of that happening.

Too funny. Reminded me of the story of the drunk who knocked on a couple's door late at night asking for a push.

[03Lightningrocks]

I blasted a hole through a door when I was around 20. It was 2 AM and I awoke to the sound of someone messing with the door. I shouted as loud as I could... "WHO IS IT?" . No response but the banging got louder. I shouted again... "WHO IS OUT THERE?". The banging sound quickened. I shouted one more time"I HAVE A GUN. YOU BETTER STOP!". The banging got louder and more frantic.. BOOM!!! I let one rip! Right through the door!

My first thought was... "OH, man, what did I just do?". My wife had been on the phone with the Plano cops from our bedroom and was giving them a blow by blow of the action (as she percieved it from the bedroom). The 911 lady on the phone told her to have me put the gun away, because the officers had arrived and were ready to aproach the house. I put the gun away and after my wife told the 911 lady all was clear... An officer from outside shouts through the door... "IS THIS YOUR DOG?". I open the door and a mongral dog is hopping around on the front porch like he was everybodies buddy. It was a stray and thought my house was his home. I figured he would get excited everytime I shouted and scratch at the door in response. I had aimed at head level(for a human) so he was not hit. Pretty dumb move on my part, on hind sight. Problem was, it was late at night and in my stupor I was not thinking clearly. Thank god I didn't blast some ignorant drunk who thought my house was his home. I have heard of that happening.

Too funny. Reminded me of the story of the drunk who knocked on a couple's door late at night asking for a push.

Yep... That neighborhood was a track home sub division and there were maybe three or four home designs. Every other house looked alike. It would be real easy for a drunk to get confused. Heck, it would be easy for a perfectly sober person to get confused. Working the late shift, tired... not paying attention. Go to wrong door fumbling with keys and.....BLAM... you are shot in the face. I was fortunate I didn't shoot anyone. I would be typing from prison right now.

[RPB]

20 minutes ago;
Unfamiliar knock at my door
I peek out the little window in the door, no one on the porch
I have a window to the right of my door/around the corner
off to the right of the door I see a guy standing with a clip board;
not a typical looking fellow for the city in which I live; he's in a dress shirt instead of a work shirt, holding a clip board
I ask through the door what he wants
He wants to come in the house and clean my carpets

I think, how nice, I have this expensive Dyson vacuum and he doesn't seem to have one with him ...

I ask "Do you have a door to door soliciting permit from the city?"
He says he thinks his boss does when he comes around in the car he can ask ...

I said today isn't a good day, I have papers all on the carpet in stacks sorting them ...
He says ok ... trots on down the street to see who else might answer the door

"Hello Police ... Northbound on ____ Street a ____description of fellow in blue dress shirt with clipboard .... he wants to come in my house to clean carpets but has no cleaning machine and doesn't seem to be able to find a city permit to do door to door soliciting so I dunno if he's casing houses or what ...
there, zooooommmmmmm. there's the police car driving by the front window... thanks

[Excaliber]

20 minutes ago;
Unfamiliar knock at my door
I peek out the little window in the door, no one on the porch
I have a window to the right of my door/around the corner
off to the right of the door I see a guy standing with a clip board;
not a typical looking fellow for the city in which I live; he's in a dress shirt instead of a work shirt, holding a clip board
I ask through the door what he wants
He wants to come in the house and clean my carpets

I think, how nice, I have this expensive Dyson vacuum and he doesn't seem to have one with him ...

I ask "Do you have a door to door soliciting permit from the city?"
He says he thinks his boss does when he comes around in the car he can ask ...

I said today isn't a good day, I have papers all on the carpet in stacks sorting them ...
He says ok ... trots on down the street to see who else might answer the door

"Hello Police ... Northbound on ____ Street a ____description of fellow in blue dress shirt with clipboard .... he wants to come in my house to clean carpets but has no cleaning machine and doesn't seem to be able to find a city permit to do door to door soliciting so I dunno if he's casing houses or what ...
there, zooooommmmmmm. there's the police car driving by the front window... thanks

Well done!

[RPB]

A bit later on the scanner was

"Warrant out of Austin-Burglary"

Can't say for certain that was the same guy or not, I was busy; but I am pretty certain that after talking to 2 other neighbors from 2 different houses across and down the street later that that guy was no longer soliciting in our city.


Don't know if the clip board was so he'd "look official" and people would open the door, or if it was to draw floor plans for visiting "later" after gaining entry on the pretext of carpet cleaning or just to record addresses for later visits ... when no one is home or whatever.

One neighbor even said "Oh the carpet cleaning guy, yeah he looked shady..." I was like so why didn't you cal police to have them check him for a permit etc?

[smoothoperator]

Some years ago, we had a repo man come to our door at 12:30am. He rang the doorbell and started beating on the door. My husband went to the door. He demanded to be let in. He was there to repo someone's car. We had two cars in the driveway, both paid for, neither one running, and neither the type of car he was looking for. He was screaming and yelling at my husband, who was yelling back at him through the window.

At that point, he gets 2-3 seconds of bear spray if he tried that at our house. Even before he tried to commit that home invasion. Unless you're a LEO, standing on our porch and screaming at a family member is enough to earn a face full of bear spray, because we reasonably believe that's immediately necessary to terminate their trespass on the land.

[Keith B]

Some years ago, we had a repo man come to our door at 12:30am. He rang the doorbell and started beating on the door. My husband went to the door. He demanded to be let in. He was there to repo someone's car. We had two cars in the driveway, both paid for, neither one running, and neither the type of car he was looking for. He was screaming and yelling at my husband, who was yelling back at him through the window.

At that point, he gets 2-3 seconds of bear spray if he tried that at our house. Even before he tried to commit that home invasion. Unless you're a LEO, standing on our porch and screaming at a family member is enough to earn a face full of bear spray, because we reasonably believe that's immediately necessary to terminate their trespass on the land.

Why would you even open the door? That is a major tactical error.

[Jumping Frog]

Why would you even open the door? That is a major tactical error.

Unless you can spray down from the top of the castle walls, along with the flaming oil, I completely agree with you!

[sjfcontrol]

Why would you even open the door? That is a major tactical error.

Unless you can spray down from the top of the castle walls, along with the flaming oil, I completely agree with you!

Perhaps they have the "Peep-hole Bear-spray Attachment"

[ffemt300]

We had some interesting people show up at our door this past week. The other night my wife and I were sitting at the computer and a stray toddler wandered onto our front porch. We saw him through the front window and looked at each other to see if we had both seen the same thing. We both agreed that there was a small child on the porch. I went to the door and the child was alone with no adults in sight. He must have been about 3 years old, tops. I said said hi to him and he said "Tree!" and "Daddy!". I asked him where "daddy" was. I had some idea where this child may have come from so I took his hand and walked three houses down and sure enough they identified the little boy. They were unaware he had wandered off and were grateful that we brought him back. We live in a fairly quiet neighborhood but its adjacent to a very busy FM road. I'm glad this turned out the way it did. If he would have wandered three houses down in the other direction, towards the busy road, it could have been bad.

Then yesterday we had two school aged children come to the door selling things for a school fundraiser. Again, they were unaccompanied by any adults. Im no expert but don't schools discourage door-to-door fundraiser activities?

[RoyGBiv]

Im no expert but don't schools discourage door-to-door fundraiser activities?

Unfortunately, just the opposite.
We never allowed our kids to solicit door to door, even in our neighborhood.
Although I would consider it safe to do so, it's an annoyance to me, I'm not going to inflict it on my neighbors.

My wife convinced the PTA to have a "Check drive" one year... Tell us how much you need to raise to avoid any door to door solicitations and we'll write a check for what we can afford. Apparently it worked out well money-wise. More unfortunately, the next year the new PTA decided to switch back to the old way.... Not for us.

[RPB]

Why would you even open the door? That is a major tactical error.

Unless you can spray down from the top of the castle walls, along with the flaming oil, I completely agree with you!

Perhaps they have the "Peep-hole Bear-spray Attachment"

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[mamabearCali]

Another reason to tell those guys to take a hike. Not trying to take over the thread bu I was scammed by one of them about three months ago. Came to the door selling children's books. Rather nice ones for a reasonable price. I bought a few. Paid by check......the company has been taking $ from our checking account for services I said no to at leat 3 times (some website). Just found out this today. Makes me want to do the "get off my lawn" routine to any and all solicitors.