# For Christ's Sake, Stop Coming to Our House! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516 "2005-09-01T00:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/101 "2005-09-03T00:25:02Z")
I missed the link to **Wang Ka** Ignore my post. all of em ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/102 "2005-09-03T00:32:16Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > 1. Thanks just SO much for giving me the opportunity of visualizing you engaged in hot man-sex and then pausing briefly to attend to the unwary visitor (probably a Jehovas Witness no less!) on your front porch in your hairy alogether. I won’t be right all week now. 😃 You are ever so welcome! It just warms the cockles of my heart when I make someone’s day a little brighter. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/103 "2005-09-03T00:35:11Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > There was/is a doper ( whom I forget his username, but GAH…the story cracks me up alot whenever I think about it) who after a long 24 hour day of playing D &D with his buds, went to bed and was woken by someone knocking on the front door. > > I forget if he though it was a prank or knew on the other side of the door was a Jehovah lady (and her daughter, I think), but he answered the door naked, in a screaming berzerker rage with an umbrella in hand. > > We all could learn a lesson from this. > > Who the hell was that? Pssst. See post 89. 🙂 A friend of mine at work has a Blackberry. That thing is poison. He went on vacation for three days and I kept getting e-mail replies from him. His wife finally took it from him and hid it. He’s admitted checking it _while he’s driving_. We don’t work in medicine. If we don’t handle something right away, nobody is at risk of dying. I can’t imagine being that tied to work being healthy for you. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/104 "2005-09-03T00:36:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Or? Didn’t you mean “and”? > > Regards, > Shodan Excuse me? Do _you_ have sex while watching TV? That must be some boring sex life. And if you’re up to your elbows in bread dough at the time, well, remind me not to eat anything you’ve baked. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/105 "2005-09-03T00:39:01Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I missed the link to **Wang Ka** Yeah, I miss him. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/106 "2005-09-03T02:06:10Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > I’m in the same city as MoonIndigo. > > Based on his/her remarks, please don’t conclude _all_ of us are assholes. The name is MoodIndigo, not Moon. Thanks for your remark, it’s rather rare to find someone so self-aware as yourself, but you really shouldn’t put yourself down that much. Even assholes can improve once they’re aware of their failings. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/107 "2005-09-03T02:12:45Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Yeah, I miss him. ☹ \ Why did he leave? Was it part of the **TubaDiva** fiasco? (Feeling very clueless) \ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/108 "2005-09-03T02:34:08Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > Thanks for your remark, it’s rather rare to find someone so self-aware as yourself, but you really shouldn’t put yourself down that much. Even assholes can improve once they’re aware of their failings. I’m sure your “I’m rubber and your glue” rebuttal will seem really impressive the next chance you get to use it at recess, but you’re still an asshole. Fortunately, the vast majority of the residents of Montreal are not, and the same can be said of the vast majority of residents of the Unites States. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/109 "2005-09-03T03:34:00Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > You are ever so welcome! It just warms the cockles of my heart when I make someone’s day a little brighter. 😛 Icky!!! Look I really don’t care what you do on your own time, but please, I DON’T want to hear about cockles in your heart…or where ever else it is you people put them! Bleh! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/110 "2005-09-03T04:09:13Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > I must say that I side with\*\* kambuckta\*\* and\*\* Laurange \*\* on this one, and a lot of you really seem too full of your own importance: self-centred, cranky, whiny prigs.\ Bite my shiny metal ass. (I miss Master Wang-Ka too. ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/111 "2005-09-03T04:22:50Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > There was/is a doper ( whom I forget his username, but GAH…the story cracks me up alot whenever I think about it) who after a long 24 hour day of playing D &D with his buds, went to bed and was woken by someone knocking on the front door. > > I forget if he though it was a prank or knew on the other side of the door was a Jehovah lady (and her daughter, I think), but he answered the door naked, in a screaming berzerker rage with an umbrella in hand. > > We all could learn a lesson from this. It wasn’t an umbrella, it was a Samurai sword. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/112 "2005-09-03T04:25:14Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > It wasn’t an umbrella, it was a Samurai sword. :smack: Ignore this, too. I didn’t see the third page until my post appeared on it. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/113 "2005-09-03T04:29:23Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > A salesperson? Come on. Why even open the door. I crack it and before they can even start to speak I say, “sorry not interested” shut the door and walk away. I’m afraid I fail to see how this is less rude than simply ignoring them. I do sometimes leave a radio or the TV on when I’m not home, either because I forgot to turn them off when leaving, or because I will be gone for a couple of days and I think the cats like to hear the music. We also have more than one car, so the fact that there is a car in the driveway is not proof that someone is home. I also prefer to “keep them guessing” as much as possible, if only to avoid having potential thieves scouting my habits. Opening the door to acknowledge the presence of an unwanted salesperson only to shut the door in their face is pretty much the equivalent of answering a telemarketing call by saying “sorry not interested” and hanging up without hearing the spiel. My phone has both caller ID and an answering maching to help me screen calls without being rude. My door has a peephole that serves the same function. In any case, I can ignore either of them if the situation warrants it. Callers can leave a message. Salespeople can leave a note. For that matter, _neighbors_ can leave a note if they really need to contact me about something. Friends and family members should learn to find out if we are going to be home before they drop by for a visit. Everyone else can send e-mail (which I can delete if I am not interested in replying, and I can refuse to send the “Read receipt”, too). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/114 "2005-09-03T04:32:47Z")
_:😭:_ That’s why I love the dope… \* ::wipes tear::\* I love you people. Actually I had this weird feeling that maybe \*\*Lissa \*\*is my _alter ego_ posting under another name, down to this: > [@](#): > > And Christ help me if it’s the neighbor lady. I could tell her my dog was on fire, and she’d still stand there, yapping, increasing the speed of her words until she sounds like a auctioneer, clutching the screen door desperately. There’s a pit thread lying around somewhere that I started last year about my neighbor, who can be described using those same exact words (except that I don’t have a dog). Mercifully she’s left me alone. I fucking hate when people show up unannounced. Like I have to stop my life to pay attention to them. I usually just ignore the door if I am not expecting anyone (first I have to get dressed to answer the door), sometimes I check through the peephole and then just go back to whatever I was doing if it is someone I don’t want to see. Sometimes I even ignore the intercom, and have gone as far as telling repeat offenders (actually a cousin who had a nasty habit of “been around in the neighborhood”) that I was too busy to see them. But you know what is worst? My husband. My dear, otherwise beloved husband, who believes we must answer the phone as soon as it rings, no matter what I am doing at the time. He goes so far as to bring it to the table while we have dinner, or worse when I am breastfeeding the baby. Sometimes I have pondered about the merits of widowhood. And the worsts… those unannounced visitors that I do open the door to and fucking linger for hours without even noticing that I have a newborn infant that has to be tended to. I need to stop here… my blood pressure is rising. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/115 "2005-09-03T19:49:46Z")
> [@SpaceDog](#): > > Up to your arms in raw chicken? I don’t even what to know why anyone would ever have that much raw, slimy chicken. SpazMan and I have recently issued an edict to our friends: DO NOT CALL AFTER TEN P.M. (Emergencies excluded). People still have not figured out that we will not answer the phone after that time. We are _tired_. We want to _relax_. We do not want to get involved in your petty dramas after 10 p.m. Eastern. Yet every night at 10:01? Ring ring. SHUT UP. GO AWAY. I’ve often wondered what would happen to society if we could hear what people are yelling at the phones when they don’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/116 "2005-09-03T20:04:03Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > If you are not inclined towards casual semi-nudity in your own home, I suggest a peephole. When Unwelcome Visitor shows up, remove most (or all, if you dare!) of your clothes, grab the handgun, and then answer the door. Please let us know of your results. I think we’re gonna need a larger sample size, though. Anyone else gonna volunteer? I have PMS and a machete. Would that be adequate for me to join in the experiment? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/117 "2005-09-03T21:05:49Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > SpazMan and I have recently issued an edict to our friends: DO NOT CALL AFTER TEN P.M. (Emergencies excluded). We’ve gotten calls as late as 2 AM. Of course, I have to answer those, because who in their right mind would call that late UNLESS it was an actual emergency? Apparently, the definition of “emergency” differs greatly depending on who you ask. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/118 "2005-09-03T23:45:10Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > SpazMan and I have recently issued an edict to our friends: DO NOT CALL AFTER TEN P.M. (Emergencies excluded). People still have not figured out that we will not answer the phone after that time. We are _tired_. We want to _relax_. We do not want to get involved in your petty dramas after 10 p.m. Eastern. > > Yet every night at 10:01? Ring ring. SHUT UP. GO AWAY. My brother and his wife actually turn off the phone ringer at 10, or sometimes earlier, if they go to bed before 10. If anyone calls, they get the answering machine. They live in Seattle, and most of the rest of the family lives east of the Mississippi. Their logic–which I agree with completely–is that even if they did hear about an emergency involving a family member at 2am, there wouldn’t be anything they could do about it until the next morning, and it would probably even take a day or so for them to get somewhere that they could help. Neither of them have jobs that would ever expect them to take care of problems in the middle of the night, either. We also turned off the phone at night for a while, when my mother was going through a phase when she _had_ to talk to people in the middle of the night when she had insomnia. As I told her over and over again, her insomnia shouldn’t be used as an excuse to keep others awake, so we simply turned off the phone at night until she learned that she wouldn’t be able to get through anyway. We don’t do it anymore simply because no one calls us that late. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/119 "2005-09-04T00:23:05Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > I have PMS and a machete. Would that be adequate for me to join in the experiment? I am too chicken to deny a request from anyone who has PMS and a machete. So sure, go for it. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516/120 "2005-09-04T10:46:12Z")
…So we’re rude if we refuse to enable the rudeness of others? My phone is there so that people can have unfettered access to me? I thought that I was paying for my phone so that I could actually call others as I see fit. More properly, so that the people with whom I communicate can communicate with me. Not so that I may serve as staff/lackey to anyone who calls. My time off-the-clock is mine. My door allows me access in and out of my residence. It is not a magical space-time portal wherein various and sundry miscreants can use to demand my time and physical presence. There is public, and there is private. Private is permeating public, rather badly. I’ll be damned if I willingly enable public to invade private. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-christs-sake-stop-coming-to-our-house/319516.md?page=7)