Get the fuck off my doorstep.

The BBQ Pit
41

I had a couple of those well dressed “Bible-Pushers” walking down the sidewalk today. You just KNEW their intent. No one else I know will walk down a suburban sidewalk in black pants with shiney loafers a starched white shirt and a tie…in the cooler months a jacket on.

Well, having a big dog that has a deep bark is a good deterant to uninvited guests. They kept looking at the house like “Should we attempt to go up there?” and with the slightest step towards the house from the driveway they changed their minds. Dog has a pretty deep and scary bark when you hear it, one of the many reasons I love my pup.

I have a “No Soliciting, DO NOT ring doorbell, varied shiftworker” notice on my door. (of course it excuses Fed Ex and UPS from ringing my doorbell – gotta get my goodies!) But it seems to have curbed most all solicitors from the bible-beaters to the ever clingy girl scout and all magazine/newspaper sales.

Peace to be at home is lived by a simple sign.

I recommend one for all those that wish to be left alone.

Oh and as for phone calls. Unlisted number, Caller ID, special ringing for certain numbers in your family and friends circle and voice mail.

42

I’m posting to defend the people who were attacked for attacking Hoosierdaddy who defended the people that Feynn attacked. Okay, all clear?

Sorry Hoosier old sport, but you’ve got people’s backs up for no good reason. Your central point is good

so why do you gum it up with how the door-knockers are going to help people

But the trouble is that’s not why those buggers are there knocking on the door. They just want conversions. They are NOT going to help with increasing people’s sense of responsibility. If that happens it’s a side issue.

And insulting Lady Ice’s grandmother (like, she’s not really a christian, and after all, she’s likely to die soon, so she’d better repent while there’s time) just makes you look like you’re attacking a poor defenceless old lady.

Why antagonise everyone? People are entitled to their privacy, especially older people who DON"T need a new faith, but are happy in their own.

Also, I suggest it’s a bit steep to suggest that Jesus went round knocking on doors, and that was the reason he was persecuted. This is quite clearly not accurate.

He preached and talked, and spent time with disreputable people, but the gospels do not record any door-to-door conversion-seeking. Perhaps He knew people had a thirst, and would come out looking for what he had to offer?

And finally there was NOBODY in this thread who fits this description

Hold it a minute - up all night doing telemarketing work? - but telemarketers don’t call people all night long, do they? - surely, they concentrate on the hours when people are awake… - ah, could it be? - by jove, I think it is!

Are you quoting an URBAN MYTH - on THIS message board?

An urban myth dredged from some awful christian door-knocking glurge? I think you are!

Words begin to fail me…

[gibbering…] Avaunt thee, thou cream-faced loon, thou arrant rogue and peasant slave! Infirm of purpose, put thy bonnet to its rightful use, and give me the daggers! Away, away! [/gibbering]

Welcome to the SDMB. You’ll get best results and have the most fun if you think (and preview) before posting.

Redboss

[sub]my first post was identifying a mustard spoon in GQ…[/sub]

43

Miller and evilbeth (and Tuckerfan and Redboss while I’m at it):

Thanks. That’s the type of response Hoosierdaddy deserves (and I’m not being facetious). I think, in response to evilbeth’s comment, that what rubbed me the wrong way was seeing three replies in a row, all dismissive, and all using the “first post” quote. Since I thought that Hoosierdaddy’s post was appropriately worded for the Pit (YMMV, of course), the responses seemed to be dismissing his statements based not on their merit, but rather on his newbie status.

And Hoosierdaddy: If you’re a serious proponent of door-to-door evangelization, dive in. Just realize that a)you’ll not have many supporters, and b)the Pit is primarily for venting, not debating, and c)it’s difficult to be taken seriously while being overly strident, so d)it’ll be a hard row to hoe. As a suggestion, peruse Mr2001’s participation in multiple (one two three) telemarketing Pit threads. Or, if you’re really serious, open a thread in Great Debates. If you’re not being serious, but are simply trying to yank a collective chain, don’t bother coming back.

44

Well, maybe cool is the wrong word. Thing is, they are all 18 or 19 year old kids out pretty much on their own in a foreign country. They are often the only Americans there that actually speak the native language.

anyway, in a place like Japan or Taiwan, where white guys stand out, the Mormons on mission would always come up and talk to ya.

Mormon one: “we’re here on a mission”
Me: “I’m not.”
Mormon two: “How about the Giants?”
and then we would talk about whatever and never again would religion enter the conversation.

45

Some of these door-to-door Jesus peddlers confuse me!

Case in point: my first year in Korea, I lived in an apartment building. The first Saturday I was there, at about 10 AM, there was a knock on the door. I opened it (still jet-lagged, and therefore somewhat bleary-eyed, dressed in a dirty t-shirt and shorts, and fresh from the sleep they had ruined) to find two Korean men in suits. They proceeded to start gibbering at me in Korean, and I understood exactly nothing of what they said. I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Korean!” They continued gibbering for another ten minutes or so before one of them tried to come into my apartment. A quick shifting of my footing effectively blocked him from entering (I should have played football in high school). Foiled, they continued to gibber at me for a few more minutes, then shoved some pamphlets at me. I took them, and the two guys left. I glanced at the pamphlets breifly before I threw them away (in Korean, so I couldn’t read them…).

The funny thing is that they showed up at my door at the same time every Saturday for the rest of the time that I lived in that apartment (almost 2 years!)! You’d think that they would have realized that I didn’t understand a word of what they were saying! (Actually, as I began to learn Korean, I did begin to understand more and more of what they said, but I pretended not to)

But they never gave up on me! God bless 'em!:smiley:

46

Hossierdaddy… heh heh heh … funny name.

He was right on the tongue thing, it’s physically impossible to swallow your own tongue, this comes from a guy (me) who takes care of a few people that can have some truly impressive and potentially life threatening seizures.

As for my door knocking, bible thumping, visually challenged visitors… they are probably pretty nice people who feel that they have some mission in life. They seem to working the neighborhood this week and no matter what people are selling at my door I do always try to be fairly nice to them.

My neighbour actually hides from them. Lola’s approach usually works in that she tells them that we’re adventists and she gave this advice to the neighbour.

It’s really the teething baby thing that makes Feynn a trifle cranky, we dads get pretty upset when our little ones are in such pain. Thankfully, it looks like the teething has abated and now my little “cuddlebug” is sleeping ten hours a night as she is going through a growth spurt. Of course this means that she’s up until all hours before actually sleeping…

It’s feast or famine around here when it comes to sleep.

Here’s hoping that I’m fresh when Saturday rolls around.

47

They stopped going door-to-door about 20 years ago in my neighborhood. Security issues, don’tcha know.

Astroboy, do you even look Korean? :slight_smile:

48

You decide:
-I am a pasty-paley white color.
-I have very round, hazel eyes (swoon now, ladies!).
-I am 6’4" tall.
-I weigh 320 lbs.
-I closely resemble “Fat Bastard” from the second Austin Powers movie (except that I’m slightly smaller horizontally, and have brown hair).

Trust me, I DON’T blend here!:wink: (if the People Pages ever gets working again, you can see a pix of me and Astrogirl there…)

Ah! I know! Picture a slightly younger John Goodman, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what I look like!

49

Hey, I remember reading something once about “try three times to tell them the truth, and if they still don’t want to learn, leave town, knock the dust from your sandals, and DON’T EVER GO BACK.”

Now where did I read that? I think it was in a big, black book…

50

I think it’s true that doorstep witnessers are after uncommitted people. If you demonstrate a commitment to any real viewpoint, they’ll write you off.

You can do that by displaying antagonism - the sarcastic responses described by so many of you (a friend of mine once saw off a couple of JWs by describing his religion as “practising Onanist”). Or, you can do what I do, which is to debate them on those issues of their doctrine with which you disagree. Granted, it takes longer, but I guarantee you, although they will tell you how much they look forward to continuing the discussion next time they call, there won’t be a next time. I’ve never been hit by JWs twice at the same address.

If you’re the sort of person who feels vaguely guilty about yelling at people, or otherwise being deliberately offensive, may I recommend the “polite debate” method? (If you’re not that sort of person, please do continue to post your witty comebacks here for our viewing pleasure…)

51

I politely tell “religious telemarketers” (heh) that I’m about as likely to suddenly swap religions as they are (which is, not at all) and they usually go away without argument.

However, the misguided JW bitch who appeared at my family’s doorstep to interrupt our Christmas dinner to inform us our heathen ritual would send us to hell got all kinds of ear-bashing from my Dad (a former Baptist preacher). The unmitigated gall – did she think we’d just look at each other and say,“She’s right, let’s burn our presents, remove our eyeliner and pretend this is a day like any other”?

When Mormons catch me on a bad day, I tell them, “I’m glad you’ve reversed your position on Blacks, but I haven’t reversed my position on Mormons. Bye, now.”

52

I thought the three replies in a row were kinda cool. Felt like I was part of an impromptu SDMB Un-Welcome Wagon. However, I can see how it looked like newbie bashing. It wsn’t. I think all of us were riffing on the “I’ll be back” part, not the “I’m new here” part. (Still waiting on that, BTW) Actually, I’m glad you spoke up. I had planned to dismiss HD out of hand, but it was much more fun systematically destroying him like that. And I probably wouldn’t have bothered if you hadn’t spoke up! So no hard feelings all around, alright?

53

Well, I poked my head in here for the first time in a couple of days. So I suppose I have to reply to this, eh?

I could care less about whether HoosierDaddy is a newbie or not. I was one and in some ways I still am. New posters are fantastic-they bring greater variety to these boards.

Perhaps I could have posted my irritation with his attitude in a better way. But it was 5AM or so, and I saw:

To me, this dripped arrogance along with his desire to be a complete and total asshole in his posts. Yes, his post was appropriate for the Pit, and that’s great. But, as I understood his post, he implied that the fine people who do not subscribe to the door-to-door beliefs are not going to be productive members of society or that they don’t take responsibility for their own lives. To me, this proclaims an arrogance that I haven’t encountered since the Left Behind boards.

shrug that’s the way I saw it.

54

Hey, no hard feelings here. I just felt that HD deserved some sort of response-in-kind to his comments (or at least an explanation of why people thought he was dismissable) rather than a series of roll-eyes. Particularly since he was the only dissenting voice in the thread. Lo and behold, my wishes were granted, in spades. Now, will he carry through on his promise and return?

55

Grandma and I are ready for another round.:slight_smile:

[Grandma gets a cup of coffee, opens the curtains, and sits down in chair]

56

No hard feelings here, either.

However, the above quote is where you and I disagree. I don’t thing he “deserved” anything. He knew exactly why people responded to him like they did–he was being an ass. While the polite approach might have been to ignore him or kindly explain why we felt he was behaving less than appropriately, he didn’t warrant the time and effort.

You, on the other hand, I have no qualms with and consider a good poster. For you I clarified my position. Hope you enjoyed it! :wink: