I went shopping with my son Michael this afternoon, and just before I got back and parked in front of my condo, two older men got out of a car in the spot next to me. I didn’t think anything of it and began to gather the shopping bags when I noticed they were going up my stoop. Curious, I turned around and feigned looking in the backseat for something while I waited to see what they did. They opened the storm door, knocked on the front door, LOOKED IN MY MAILBOX, peeked in the front window and waited for a response. When I realized they weren’t going from door to door, I gathered up Michael and the bags of food and walked around to the back of the building. They smiled at me, but didn’t catch on that I was the resident. I set the food on the back porch and when I came back around to the front, they were gone, and literature from the Rock Hill Baptist Church was wedged in my storm door.
I have to say, that was really scary, and I’m really pissed that they looked in my mailbox like that. It’s bad enough that they drove all the way to my neighborhood just to talk to ME - I don’t understand that at all - but they invaded my privacy and I’m pissed as hell. I’m calling them tomorrow to let them know I did not appreciate that at all and I had better not receive another visit from them.
Is this standard procedure for Baptists? I don’t know the specifics of the church, but I didn’t know they proselytized like that. The only thing I can figure as to why they visited me is that I’ve gotten a lot of mail for some previous resident from the church and they decided to check up. Maybe they’re from the Baptist Mafia and they were there to bust some kneecaps in the name of Jesus.
Meh, Maybe they just looked in to see if you were (probably) home. If the mail box is full of crap, its usually a good indication that the resident is gone.
I agree its still wrong though.
I hope they weren’t going through each piece of your mail as opposed to a quick look see in the box.
Do you have a babtist friend? Who might have put you on a “visit/prayer” list? This does seem odd. Please update tomorrow, after your call. I’m fascinated.
I agree that they probably just did a check to see if you’re like to be out of town. From the way you described things, it sounds like they just checked to see if your mailbox was full. It’s not as though they rifled through your mails to see who was writing to you, did they?
Also, I think the thread title is needlessly inflammatory. If someone posted a thread titled, “Atheists looked through my mailbox!” or “Homosexuals peeked through my window!”, you can be pretty sure that a lot of SDMBers would be crying holy terror.
These individuals looked in your mailbox (without scrutinizing the contents, it seems), and they happened to be Baptists. Let’s leave it at that, without making needless insinuations.
I know that it’s quite likely a joke, but given the deep-seated disdain that some SDMBers have expressed toward religion, I wouldn’t be quick to assume that it was. Indeed, the mere phrasing of the thread title demonstrates how people can malign churchgoers in distasteful ways.
Moreover, what if someone had said the same thing about atheists, or blacks, or homosexuals? You can be pretty sure that this thread would be filled with cries of outrage – joke or no joke. The humorous intent does not entitle someone to a free pass.
The only other slightly innocuous reason I can conceive for the guys to check your mail is to verify they have the right person at the right address. Obviously they had the address; maybe they just wanted to make sure the person they were trying to visit lived at that address.
Regardless, I think it’s an invasion of your privacy to check your mailbox like that.
Any malignity has been brought upon themselves. They were Baptists; they looked through her mailbox. Title seems pretty descriptive to me.
Also, any particular reason a Baptist couldn’t be a thief? Not leaving anything valuable in your mailbox is a good idea on general principles, you never know when a Baptist thief is going to wander along. Or an atheist thief, or a black thief, or a …
Maybe they were dressed like Baptists carrying around literature, while instead casing houses for valuables/owners out of town so they can find places to break into at night?
