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This last Wednesday, there were several people casing our neighborhood for a crime of opportunity.

Yesterday, on my door, was a notice from the neighborhood association of an account of the incident.

One guy was walking door to door pausing 30-45 seconds per house, ringing door bells on our street.

Meanwhile, a vehicle with two people entered the alley behind our house and drove slowly, pausing between houses.

The police found the vehicle at a nearby apartment complex and are investigating whether they are connected to anything
in the neighborhood.

What I keep replaying is "Where the heck was I".

I work out of the house and the answer to that is that I was home at my desk as this happened at approximately 11:15 am.

There is no doorbell on the house so he would have had to knock, which definitely did not happen.

I also have two big dogs, so if he did approach the door, they would have barked and probably made him go to the next one.
They occasionaly bark during the day at passing dogs or whatever. So I would not have paid any attention to that.

I always keep a gun either in my desk, on my desk or on my hip. Coincidentally, I walked the dogs earlier that morning and
disarmed at my desk of the gun that I carry for dog walks so sitting on my desk was my G27 and XD45.

I keep looking at getting a camera and DVR for this very situation.

Between this incident and the thread running on the incident in Cedar Park, I am becoming much more aware of what is going on around me.

I admit to being a "cave man"...the cave being my garage on the inside corner of the only through street in our neighborohood. I see "solicitors" come and go, some more suspicious than others.
Two young ladies, "can we come in and show you our floor cleaning products?"
Me, "No thanks, my floors are quite clean. Do you have a permit from the city to sell door to door?"
Them: "We need a permit?"
Me: "Yes, and it has to be displayed."

They were grumbling as they left, calling me names.

Guy pulls up, blocking my driveway with a freezer in the back of his pick up: "Hey, how you doin' today?"
Me: "Fine, but not interested in buying any meat"
Him: "You're pretty rude, I just wanted directions, that's all"
Me: "Whatever you say, man....your truck is pointed the right direction.....away from here."

Sometimes I feel like the old guys from Secondhand Lions, where they sit on the porch all day just waiting for the salesmen to show up........

Edit to add: In keeping with the topic, there are situations where "salespeople" are simply scouting out the house. I've seen them ring on doorbells and knock on doors where there are no cars in the drive, and pass by those houses with cars. When I see that, its time to call the non-emergency number and let the pros handle it. These kinds will deliberately avoid my house when they see me in the garage. If they want to sell something, shouldn't they find actual customers?

lonewolf wrote: Sometimes I feel like the old guys from Secondhand Lions, where they sit on the porch all day just waiting for the salesmen to show up........

Off topic, but GREAT movie.

On topic, I have a No Soliciting/No Handbills sign at my front door. I am amazed at the sales people who still ignore it. Had a guy not long ago from a roofing company in the neighborhood that was doing a roof on another house and thought he would try to find more business by offering 'FREE roof inspections.'

When the doorbell rang and I answered it, he told me what he was doing and I pointed to the sign and said, 'Did you not see this?' He says, 'Oh, I'm not selling anything, just offering to inspect your roof.' I stated, 'Well, if you find damage, then what are going to do?' He tried to weasel out of it. I then asked about his permit and he had the same song about 'We need a permit to inspect roofs?' I told him to hit the road and make it quick. He got huffy about it, and tried to argue with me, so I told him he had 10 seconds to be down on the main sidewalk and leaving my property. As he headed out, I followed him to get the newspaper. I had forgotten that I had my Kahr PM9 in a slide holster at 5 o'clock and no cover shirt. I bent over to get the paper and looked up as he had turned back toward me from the sidewalk. He got a really funny look on his face and turned and made a hasty bee-line down the street.

However, even though I still periodically get a handbill or two, or a salesman once in awhile, the signs have helped cut down on the volume.

Keith B wrote:On topic, I have a No Soliciting/No Handbills sign at my front door. I am amazed at the sales people who still ignore it.

In college I had a short stint as a door to door salesman.
We were trained to ignore the signs.
The worse that can happen is they ask you to leave.
And that's what usually happened.
Surprisingly, many times people answered the door like the sign wasn't even there and never mentioned it.

PappaGun wrote:

Keith B wrote:On topic, I have a No Soliciting/No Handbills sign at my front door. I am amazed at the sales people who still ignore it.

In college I had a short stint as a door to door salesman.
We were trained to ignore the signs.
The worse that can happen is they ask you to leave.

The sign that my roommate's got up on the door references civil penalties, but that might be wrong, a local law, or new since you were in college.

Keith B wrote:

lonewolf wrote: Sometimes I feel like the old guys from Secondhand Lions, where they sit on the porch all day just waiting for the salesmen to show up........

Off topic, but GREAT movie.

My "No Soliciting" sign is prominently displayed right above the doorbell. One intrepid visitor knocked instead. Now there will be another sign posted. Eye level, middle of the door. Maybe even translated into Spanish.....

Sometimes these dedicated persons don't even look into my open (when I am in it) garage as they approach the door. Bear in mind they have to come up the driveway right to the garage door to get to the front door. I've scared the beejeezus out of some simply by saying, "Can I help you?"

lonewolf wrote:I admit to being a "cave man"...the cave being my garage on the inside corner of the only through street in our neighborohood. I see "solicitors" come and go, some more suspicious than others.
Two young ladies, "can we come in and show you our floor cleaning products?"
Me, "No thanks, my floors are quite clean. Do you have a permit from the city to sell door to door?"
Them: "We need a permit?"
Me: "Yes, and it has to be displayed."

They were grumbling as they left, calling me names.

Guy pulls up, blocking my driveway with a freezer in the back of his pick up: "Hey, how you doin' today?"
Me: "Fine, but not interested in buying any meat"
Him: "You're pretty rude, I just wanted directions, that's all"
Me: "Whatever you say, man....your truck is pointed the right direction.....away from here."

Sometimes I feel like the old guys from Secondhand Lions, where they sit on the porch all day just waiting for the salesmen to show up........

Edit to add: In keeping with the topic, there are situations where "salespeople" are simply scouting out the house. I've seen them ring on doorbells and knock on doors where there are no cars in the drive, and pass by those houses with cars. When I see that, its time to call the non-emergency number and let the pros handle it. These kinds will deliberately avoid my house when they see me in the garage. If they want to sell something, shouldn't they find actual customers?

...after years of being polite and getting obnoxious and rude behaviour in return, I'm very curt and rude now...salesmen aren't welcome...nor are salesgirls...hungry bums...welcome...but I don't get many...