door to door salesman

[rainbabies]

interesting. a nice looking young man just came to my house trying to sell me kids books and CD's. he is from estonia and i had a hard time understanding him. he said he is here for three months staying with a family...and a business. :huh: (i asked him if he was here as part of a church group. my friend has a girl from belarus (a chernobyl kid) that has been coming for years..thought he was from the same group and being pimped out by his host family. )

i asked him a few times what the sale was to benefit...and i still didnt get it.

he was very nice and tried real hard, but i didnt buy.

im amazed that people other than girl scouts go door to door. :huh:

[planet]

We had that happen a couple of weeks ago. A young man came to the door selling educational books. I sat down and looked at the books while asking him a few questions. He said it was a summer internship and he was going into his third year of med school and going to be a pediatrician(now knowing he was at a resident's house). Obviously he got a bit flustered when I asked more specific questions, like why he had the summer off rather than being in clinical rotations. He then said he had some family problems and was taking a year off. We didn't buy anything and stayed on the porch. Neighbors out on a bike ride had stopped by shortly before his arrival to warn me...that's the kind of street we live on now.

I'm not so comfortable with door to door sales. If I want it to come to the house I'll order online.

[SuzySunshine]

We pretty much don't answer the door when the door bell rings and I'm sure I'll answer it even less when I'm a SAHM. Molly goes ballistic when it rings so they can just think there is a crazy dog inside. Our neighbors know we don't answer the doorbell so they'll usually ring the bell and then knock or ring it again after a minute or so. I wish I had a peep hole that would make it easier b/c right now I can't see my front door from anywhere else in my house. If I see a UPS or mail vehicle in front of my house that is about the only time I answer it if I'm not expecting someone.

[rainbabies]

well, cheri..its kinda hard when im outside trimming my roses and the kids are riding their bikes...and the dogs are barking like mad, rabid, vicious killers.

but yeah, when im inside and the garage door is closed...totally ignore peeps who knock or ring.

[SuzySunshine]

well, cheri..its kinda hard when im outside trimming my roses and the kids are riding their bikes...and the dogs are barking like mad, rabid, vicious killers.

but yeah, when im inside and the garage door is closed...totally ignore peeps who knock or ring.

Yep, I've had that happen to me to. I'm short and to the point, door to door just really bug me.

[GrayMatterWife]

We pretty much don't answer the door when the door bell rings and I'm sure I'll answer it even less when I'm a SAHM. Molly goes ballistic when it rings so they can just think there is a crazy dog inside. Our neighbors know we don't answer the doorbell so they'll usually ring the bell and then knock or ring it again after a minute or so. I wish I had a peep hole that would make it easier b/c right now I can't see my front door from anywhere else in my house. If I see a UPS or mail vehicle in front of my house that is about the only time I answer it if I'm not expecting someone.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR TO SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE PREGNANT. WE HAD TWO OF THOSE SICK-O "UTERUS ATTACKS" ON MOMS HERE IN MY AREA!!!

Get DH to put in a peephole. It is not difficult. Or call a handyman.

[SuzySunshine]

O beleive me I'm going to become very cautious about a lot of things when I get further along and there is no question that I'm pg. Someone asked me why I wouldn't travel home alone (six hours one way) in October when DH can't go with me. No frickin way!

We just don't answer the door, doesn't matter if I'm pg or not.

[Momo]

Sometimes these individuals are part of larger con groups, like the Irish travelers. then there are always those that are casing the joint!

I haven't had the educational book sellers. I did get the "buy a magazine from me so I don't join a gang" ones for a while.

Like Janet said, if I want it brought to the house, I'll order it on-line. Sometimes I answer, sometimes not. I liked having a storm door that locked at our old house. I would usually just keep that locked.

One time I had some door to door visitors who didn't see me but were having fun making the dog bark with repeated knocking. Not the best advertisement for the religion they were peddling, huh?

Cheri -- definitely get a peephole! That way you can make sure someone leaves.

[Cumberland]

Sometimes these individuals are part of larger con groups, like the Irish travelers. then there are always those that are casing the joint!

As a small hijack, the area we live in has the largest population of Irish Travelers in the US. They tart their little teeny kids up to look like Jon Benet Ramsey,makeup and all. It is very strange.

[GrayMatterWife]

I was JUST talking about this today. We don't have people peddling junk but we DO have people stopping by ALL THE TIME about home improvements. Some guy stopped by today about the state of our bathrooms, he's selling those one-day installation one-piece bathtub thingers. We have a dead tree in the front yard and some weeks every day or multiple times a day the tree folks who cruise the neighborhoods stop by and let us know about the dead tree. Thanks for the heads up. We've had estimates ranging from $350 (today) to $1700. The husband here was in forestry in New Zealand for about 10 years so he's renting a cherry picker and doing it himself. Hrmph.

I was wondering where the people have been with vacuums and encyclopedias for sale.

Be really careful...If someone stops by your house, unsolicited, offering to do home repairs, they very well could be a "Traveller." Travellers are members of a hyper-insular clan culture whose members are generally of Irish descendent. They "wander"--hence the door-to-door business--and don't usually own houses (live in RVs, mobile homes, etc.) Their kids don't go to school and you don't marry outside the clan, etc. It is a totally freakish existence... In the South, a lot of them are from S. Carolina and Louisiana. I know a really common Traveller last name is "Carroll" (I know this because some of my family--we are NOT Travellers!--has the last name "Carroll" and are from Louisiana...and it has occassionally resulted in some issues for them).

Anyhow, Travellers run scams on people to rip them off, often on home repairs--like branch removal, driveway repairs, etc. My recommendation is NEVER to hire anyone who shows up at your door. If the work is done by a Traveller, it will be awful, if done at all.

If anyone watched "The Riches" on F/X, the family it's based on were Travellers.

I learned about them from a Law & Order CI

[rainbabies]

i saw the dateline special on the irish travellers a few years ago.

[peggyfromwastate]

We get a lot of solicitors here and unfortunately we have these window things on the side of our front door, so they can see into the house. Maybe I will start to deadbold our storm door, but I just find it a bit hard to not answer the door when they can see me. My kids will open the door for neighborhood friends, which drives me nuts. Once, my daughter, who was 5, opened the door for a total stranger, and since the lady only spoke Spanish, let her in my house. I was giving the twins a bath. I could not believe this person came into the house, and I could not believe DD let her in! We had talked and talked and talked about it. SHe is not even to answer the door let alone let anyone in. It was all ok, I guess, this person was looking for DH for something related to his previous job. I was so mad though, at both parties (DD and the intruding person entering a total strangers house.)

Peggy, I used the stormdoor deadbolt and that worked well for us. I could let light in, keep people out, kids in, etc. I kept a key high up and nearby.

We had a lot more solicitors at our last house than we do here. After a while, I didn't care if they saw me in the house. If I don't want to answer and they see me, I just shrug and shake my head no.

That is scary about your daughter letting that woman in AND that the woman came in the house!