Are You Nice to Randoms That Come to the Door???? IM NOT!

No, I usually have to get pretty nasty. They are so pushy and don't want to stop at no thank you. I try not to answer the door, but sometimes they ring the bell relentlessly.

I have three 100 lb. German Shepherds. They are sweet dogs, but they bark like mad when someone they don't know pulls in the driveway. Most people take one look at them and change their minds about coming to the door.
Good puppies :)

Yes, I am nice. I just politely say, no thanks. If it's a little kid selling something for a fundraiser, I always buy it. And if it's a teen or young 20-something, I usually give them a few bucks and tell them to keep it for themselves, so I don't have to buy the product so they can get their commission.

And if it's someone selling religion, I just smile, say thanks, and take their pamphlet.

These people are just trying to make a living, or share their passion, I see no reason to be rude to them.

I tell sales-people "Not interested" and immediately close the door before they can up the pitch unless its kids selling stuff, in which case I will buy if I possibly can.

If the person on the other side of the door is holding a Bible or an armload of "Watchtower" magazines, or has a name tag that reads "Elder ___," I answer the door naked.

Ugh, I can't stand door-knockers. One day a man knocked on my door, more accurately, BANGED on my door. I was staring at my peep hole through him, scared, because he was acting very strangely. I yelled through the door "go away, I'm calling the cops", and he left.

Two days later, this man murdered a woman in a neighborhood not far from mine. I recognized him on the nightly news. Very scary.

No, I don't open the door for ANYBODY!

And persistent sales people are just plain annoying! No means NO!

we have a big sign NO SOLICITING on our front door. And then below it we put I SAID I AM NOT INTERESTED. THANKS!

it helps

Good for you!!! A girl did that SAME thing to me last year. I think it's a scam. I wouldn't even open the door for her, just talked to her through the window and told her that I was NOT interested. She came back three times and I told her that if she came back again I would call the police.

And YES, it does infuriate me! I am totally with you!

I think it's nice that so many poster's are kind to the people knocking on their door. I want to clarify that I am always courteous until the people get obnoxious. Also, I have no sympathy or compassion on the Jehovah's Witness or Mormon missionaries that come to my door. After an instance where they tried to let themselves in my door, and another time where they lied to try to get in my house, I have zero respect for people who use underhanded and manipulative tactics to spread their religion. All the same, I am absolutely kind until they disrespect my request that they leave.

I agree. It's a scary world and I have kids in here. I don't believe people need to come and go unless I know in advance.

I don't like visitors period. I have a sign on my door that says if you don't have an appt with me or aren't expected at my house, go away! I will not answer the door and if our blinds are closed, we are sleeping--don't knock. We have had lots of issues with solicitors in our area so I have to be witchy about it. But on the off chance I do answer the door---I am direct and too the point. I am friendly but firm. I say " Hi- Are you a solicitor?? Are you trying to sell something? (legally by phone they have to say yes/no--I am not sure about in person) but it works every time. They say yes. I say---and point to the thing on my door. NO solicitation! No exceptions. I dont tell people about my kids or family etc. THats a perfect opportunity for them to steal my identity or to gain info that they don't need. Its not their buisness. So....you are completely right to not have to be super friendly!!! I am not.

I get irritated when they see I have two sleeping children and the follow me to my car asking me questions and I have to say--I am a busy mom, my kids are sleeping. I am not interested in seeing any information, or buying anything. Have a nice day! GL

M

I don't have to worry about it. My front door, which WE don't use, but solicitors go to, has a poster from the shooting range on it, bullet holes and all. They don't bother with the side door ;) Our UPS man knows us, so it's okay with him!

Fraud.
Scoping out your house for illegal things.
A Robber.
Or worse.

I would have, taken her picture and documented this.
Then told her that she has NO credentials or VISA or Green-Card.... (ask for it), and no PROOF of any of this.

I would report her.
And told her this.

I don't even answer the door, unless I'm expecting someone.

My moms motto is "It's my door and if I want to open it then I will. I have no obligation to the person on the other side"...and I live by that rule.

Case in point last Thursday night door bell rang...thought it was our neighbor...opened NOPE...lady on the other side says she's the new neighbor on the corner and proceeds to say "is that YOUR basketball goal in the driveway? Cause ours is missing and looks just like it. Do you think someone put it in your driveway thinking it was yours?"...

I looked at her and said "It's ours"...and shut the door right in her face. She better not ever need me to help her out cause she burnt that bridge.

If it's a small child selling candy bars for school, I will answer the door and I'll always buy a candy bar. (But then, I know a lot of the kids in our neighborhood because my kids go to school with them.)

For pretty much any other purpose, I just don't answer the door. I don't care if they can peek in and see me through the side-lite window at the front door, I just won't answer. I mean, I screen phone calls and won't answer them if I don't recognize the caller ID, so why would I answer the door? One time I answered because I was expecting a friend to come over, and it was some student from Europe (yes! I'm thinking now, what a scam!) who wanted to come in and talk to me about learning materials for my kids. Same thing they told you! I said, "No, thanks" and started to shut the door, but this guy stepped INTO my house! I shoved him out the door on pure adrenaline! I mean, WHO steps into someone's house like that if they aren't a total creep with bad intentions?! Ugh.

It frustrates me too, but I don't have the balls to slam a door in someones face. So I sit there and listen to them and continue to say sorry I can't. I wish I was more like you and flat out tell them what's what. But I've never been that way. :( Go you!

5 times? Oh, i would be pissed! Just because I am home does not mean I am obligated to answer the door for someone unannounced, especially a stranger! You have every right to be upset. If it was a child say 8 or younger, I would not be rude.

I try to be and decline but if they get too pushy then I get rude and close my door. It's annoying when the religious types, randoms, and vacuum (kerby) sales people come to your door and can't take "no" for a answer!
I understand you are trying to either spread the word of god or whatnot or work off of commission but I don't want it so go away! So yes, it does infuriate me also!

We DO NOT ANSWER the door if we are not expecting company. 9x out of 10 we don't even look to see who it is! My 4 year old son knows this, and so he knows not to run to the door, etc. like many kids do. We live in a very tight knit community, so our friends tease us that they can't just walk across the street to talk to us... but they CAN'T!! We know that anyone we would want to see at the other side of the door knows to call first.
It is my point of view that this is MY HOME. I have absolutely no obligation to stop my schedule, family time, etc. to open my home for anyone, especially to try to sell something, collect information, etc.
On a side note, several people I know have been burglarized by the SAME PEOPLE that seemed to be in their home selling something completely legit.

I have a window up high in my front door, and my kitchen window looks out at the sidewalk so I see people coming a lot of the time. I will talk thru my door at times. I keep it locked most of the time so I feel safe enough, but I sometimes will open it a little and have my foot against it so just in case they try to shove the door open they cant. Im always nice to them. Religious groups, I know they bellieve what they believe and its nice they want me to go to heaven with them. I always say "thanks, Ill take your pamplet, Im a born again Christian and will pray for you, goodbye" and shut the door. When a little kid comes to the door selling stuff, I can see the catalog, and usually a parent in the street waiting. I always go outside and sit on the step and look at the catalog. I always tell them how they should never go in a strangers house and its good the M. or dad is with them. Always a small safety lesson just in case they havent been told. I almost always buy from the first kid who comes by so I can honestly tell all the others that I already bought stuff. But yes Im polite and nice to them all, I just dont invite them in.
Whats really awful is that a lot of the time, a break in occurs when one of these solicitors knocks at your door and you dont answer. Its a dead give away you arent home, and thats what they are looking for. They actually have a scam, line to say if someone answers the door, to make it look like they really are selling or polling homes. But in reality they are looking for empty homes to rob. So, if you are one who doesnt answer the door, be sure to at least let them know you are home. Or you could end up in the middle of a home invasion instead.

I used to be be very nice to them until I became a SAHM and they constantly came during naptime. I tried a No Soliciting sign on the door, but that only cut down on about 1/2 of them. Then I added a homemade "Shhh, baby sleeping" sign and they stopped COMPLETELY! Haha, I keep it up 24/7, but did make sure to tell my neighbors that it wasn't intended to stop THEM from ringing, just the undesirables :)

It says..."Shhh, Baby Sleeping! Please do not knock and do not ring!"

Nope, I always check the peephole and do not even open the door for strangers in the first place. I have called the cops on dubious solicitors before... sometimes it's a ruse to find out whether people are at home...and when no one answers they will burglarize the home.
I think you handled it just fine.

We started having so many "visitors" knocking on our doors selling things or asking for donations, that I finally bought a cute "NO Solicitors" sign and put it on the front door. Visitations have gone down dramatically! Also, I don't open the door for anyone that I don't know. Ever. I just yell, "No thanks!" from inside the house. I live in a super safe city/neighborhood, but I'm not about to become a statistic. Also, before we put our sign up, we had about 3 different teenagers hitting us up on different days for donations on some trip they were taking through their school -- but none of it seemed quite official, you know? Finally, we wised up and I googled it and found out it's a known scam. After that, we had one more kid come to the door and I opened it, heard his spiel for a moment, then asked "Would you like me to call the cops on your little scam?" I've never seen a kid run so fast off my property -- lol!!

Yeah, that's a little weird. It could be something more than her story. A call to the police wouldn't be a bad idea, even if you just inform them that a person from this "group" was harassing you by ringing your doorbell constantly and not leaving. Generally I'm pretty nice. I don't answer the door either, but our house is so dark that I do sometimes leave the door open so light can come in and it's hard when they can see you...I can't just ignore them! From what I've found, the really pushy ones are usually on the less-legit side.

I don't get many salespeople coming to my door but I get TONS of Jehovah's and Mormons. If got so bad that I wrote up a "No Religious Solicitations" on Word and taped it on my door.

okay let me get this stright shes a student from europe wanting to teach mothers learning tools? ahhh nothing like having someone w/o any combat skills leading the troops into battle. I love telling jehovahs Im on the short list of flames but good luck in getting to your 4th level. they look at me like im crazy but it works.

I try to be as polite as possible, but yeah I find them annoying too. I seldom opened my door in our previous neighborhood, but everyone in our new neighborhood are so nice and social, I feel like I have to see who it is. By then I am busted!!! We don't get too many people here because we have a no solicitation policy through our HOA. You could post a sign on your front door.
A.

I really hated that when my boys were little and someone would wake them from a nap! I taped a plastic cover over the doorbell and people tried to push it in anyway!
I never answer the door for strangers. Now we have an intercom so I use that or don't answer at all. If I do happen to answer, I try to be polite, but I tell them I don't buy from solicitors in person or on the phone.

We seldom have solicitors, but the times we have, if I choose to answer I don't go to the door. I answer from a window where I can see them, but they can't see me. I talk in a very flat manner and tell them that I am not interested in whatever it is. I always grab "Mike" when a stranger comes around. So, if someone somehow makes it into my home, they won't make it very far.

Nope and I'm getting bitchier about it all the time!

Our area has had quite a bit of storm damage and the roofing companies have been thick! I won't go into that whole story except to say I don't NEED a new roof. I put up a NO Soliciting sign AND a big sign that said if you were a roofing company I did NOT need your services. Which of course the annoying pest guy pointed out that he wasn't a roofing company but could he still leave a card? Really?

I live out in the country, so I usually won't open the door. I'll open a nearby window and ask if I can help them.

I'm nice to the Jehovah's Witnesses that come once a month, mostly because sometimes they bring their little boy and I dont like to be rude in front of children. Plus they're always really nice and it doesnt hurt me to take their reading material, even though I've told them I'm Catholic and not looking to change.

Others dont get the same treatment. Because they generally come when I've just sat down to dinner after a long day of work. I tell them no thank you, if they're pushier, I shut the door. I want to make a no solicitors sign, but I dont want to scare off the girl scouts. :-)

oooh if someone comes to my door and starts pushing when I say NO - I close the door...I tell them to have a nice day and close and lock the door.

i would call the police...we had an event here about 4 years ago - two men were walking around trying to "sell" vacuum cleaners...however, they had EMPTY back packs and NO VACUUM cleaners... they weren't dressed professionally - so I called the police...it appears they were casing our neighborhood to see who was home during the day....

I do not open the door to anyone I don't know or am not expecting.
Honestly, I wonder why anyone goes door to door anymore...just not safe...for us or them. :(

I would have been pissed too and if she continued to knock I would have called the police. You did the right thing, I hate telemarketers or door knockers! Get a big dog, that helps!

That's just freaking scary. It's a dirty shame we can't trust anyone anymore but if my hubby is home, he answers the door. Unfortunately we don't have a peephole (we're in an apt.) but we have a side window we can try to look out of to see who it is but our landlandy usually identifies herself as does the handyman. We've had previous trouble w/ppl coming into our yard area, once some punk kid was looking in our windows! I told him he needed to leave & he just stood there acting like I was gonna let him! I finally threatened him enuf that he finally left but my heart was pounding inside & was hard to keep calm w/some punk trying to, I think, weezle his way in. But no, I don't think I'd answer the door unless I saw someone prowling around & my threats don't run them off & then hafta threaten w/police. Guess it's time that WE got a big dog.

I am. I don't invite strangers in. I go OUT onto the porch to chat and sometimes (if it's hot) I offer a bottle of water.

I bought a "No soliciting" sign from our local office supply store for like $2 and put it right next to our doorbell. That has pretty much solved our problem. That combined with the "no soliciting" sign at the front of our subdivision would make me very comfortable letting unwelcome visitors know that I'll be calling the police. But frankly since I put up that sign about a year ago it hasn't been an issue.

I do agree with some other respondents that I never open the door for strangers - ever. I don't care how much they knock. Of course, my large male dog barking viciously also helps...

Wow, we get a girl every year from Europe asking for money. In the beginning I asked her if she begged for money in Europe to get over here. Then the last visit I had hubby answer the door and tell her NO. Now I look through the peep hole and say I'm home but not interested and I can call the police if needed. Then the dogs bark. We had robbers in the past and I saw him through the peep hole and the police and dog found him. I'm very cautious answering the door if I have too. Most of the time I yell through the door to let them know I'm home and don't care what they are selling.

I made a little sign to go by my doorbell. It says "absolutely no solicitors." In our community, you have to be registered to be going door-to-door, and one of the restrictions is that if people post a no soliciting sign, sellers are supposed to honor it. Not all of them do. When I do answer the door, I point to the sign and say "sorry, but I don't have time to talk," and shut the door. If they are pushy or rude, as some of them can be, I just shut the door on them.

It is NOT just you! We live in a "No Solicitation" community and I told my husband that the next man selling meat off the back of his pick up truck or guy trying to sell a security system to me is going to be warned that the cops are on the way (the police actually tell you to call when your community is like this). I cannot STAND people like this!!! (And I am normally a very sweet, social person...)

I usually answer, but don't feel I HAVE to. If I answer, I try to be nice -- firm, but nice.

I have 2 good sized, loud, protective dogs. At least one sounds like she'd like nothing better than to rip your throat out. I find she's good at keeping unnecessary conversation kind of short. ;)

I try to be nice but firm.

Which means I open the door, take one look and explain that I am not interested in whatever they are selling. Then I smile and close the door.

I also have lots of little barky dogs which I know don't bite, but their barking is a nice deterrent to repeat visits. LOL

But, yeah, so annoying. But I try to be compassionate because, really, what a horrible job to go knocking on doors and facing rejection time and time again.

I work in Direct Sales. When I see a No Soliciting sign, I immediately leave. This sign tells me not to waste my time or yours. When someone does answer the door and is not interested, I ALWAYS thank them for their time and give them my card or flyer to pass on to their friends and politely leave. Sales is an honorable profession.

Alot of times I don't open the door to strangers when I am here alone with the kids bc our neighborhood is pretty quiet during the day and I guess I have watched one too many episodes of Criminal Minds! But yeah, if I open the door then I am pretty nice. I might listen and then say I am not interested or I will say that my husband makes the decisions about our finances and spending and they are welcome to call back later in the evening when he will be available, they never do. Sometimes I just smile and say it's a bad time I am busy with my kids they can leave a card and I'll call if I am interested. I guess I have some sympathy as my husband is in sales and cold calls all the time to businesses, it is so hard to do! I did live in Mexico for several years and I will say that other cultures have very different views than we do and often there may be less violence in other places. The city I lived in only had 7 murders in a year one year, and this was like 2002, not when I was a child or anything. People came to the door daily selling tamales, tortillas, asking for worn out clothing, selling everything you can imagine. I would talk to them, everyone would, you would practically be friends by the time they left. And the poor came all the time and I would always have something to offer them, just a really different view of life in other places. We are a very individualistic society and we do see being approached by others as somewhat offensive, it's just how we are. We work long hours, live pretty high stress lives and don't want to be messed with in the peace of our homes. If this lady is European, her culture could be where the clash came in. I said ALL that to say, that I don't often buy whatever it is, I mean I did buy from the Boy Scouts but who can resist a cute little boy in his uniform??, but I am nice. Take care!!

I always answer, and am always polite until I have to not be. I talk to them through the screen door and never, NEVER, let anyone into my home. I like keeping the screen door closed because that way I can say "I have to go" and close the door with out it being right in their face or with out them trying to put a hand or foot in to keep it open. I do get a little rude if they simply will not take no for an answer.

Depends on what they've interrupted.