Won’t you think of the children?? :rolleyes:
True, I should have qualified that with the fact that our office is pretty tight knit. Our industry itself just seems to have this sort of closeness in all of its various companies (with one notable and much warned about exception, you usually cut your teeth on “ABC” environmental, then escape at the first opportunity. You’re not allowed to even smile there).
Because it’s always been a waste of my time. It’s adults trying to scam me or people trying to get me to worship their god or wanting me to sell my house or trying to get me to vote for them. Sometimes it’s kids selling shit for their group but that’s rare actually. That’s why I just stopped answering the door.
If someone is in trouble, they can use their cell phone or just shout for help. If I hear someone shouting for help, I’ll come running.
I’m another one who has taken to ignoring the doorbell if I’m not expecting someone. Mostly, it’s because every time I answered, it was either someone soliciting signatures, someone selling stuff I don’t want, or someone out-and-out asking for money.
I also remember having to sell stuff year after year for school or 4-H. It was never stuff that people wanted to buy. 4-H had us kids selling (not all in the same campaign) Christmas wreaths, car washing fluid, and some kind of super-duper light bulbs. School had us flogging citrus fruits, cheese-based holiday foods, and ad space in the souvenir program for the homecoming football game.
I hated every minute of it, and so did my neighbors. I hated having to pitch this crap to people who didn’t want or need it, and I hated hearing “No, thanks” at door after door. I can’t imagine that the kids selling wrapping paper and tins of popcorn today like it any more than I did. Why should I be yet another adult who flips through the catalog of stuff I don’t want and then says, “No, thanks?”
If somebody with a blocked or garbage call display phones me, it COULD be someone dialing at random trying to find someone that will help them out of a bad situation. Since that is pretty d–n unlikely I still won’t answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number. The equivalent situation applies if someone is knocking on doors in person, as is being discussed here. The person with a hurt child can still make his/her presence and needs known, assuming they don’t also have a bad case of laryngitis.
The Scouts get 70% of the price of the popcorn that is sold. That’s not to say that the popcorn provider (Trail’s End) is not making a good buck too. Popcorn has always been a good product to charge a high markup on - that’s why they sell it at the movies.
Am I the only one who thinks that Trail’s End popcorn is actually really good? OK, the pre-popped stuff is about the same as any other pre-popped popcorn, but the kernels you have to pop yourself (microwave or stove) are much better than any other brand I’ve tried.
And the most productive way to sell isn’t door-to-door, it’s in the coffee-and-donuts mingling Sunday morning after church. I’ve seen kids walk away from one of those with a dozen orders in as many minutes of work. The bulletin board in the breakroom at mom and dad’s work is good, too: Not as quick, but almost no work.
I have an avoidant personality, am nearly a recluse, and walk around feeling guilty about something all the time. I also dislike popcorn, cookies, vats of cookie dough, and so on and so on. (I mean, look at me! My sweatpants are already tight, do I have to buy your junk food and so go up a size?) I simply don’t have wads of spare cash in my purse, every dollar is spoken for, and buying something at the door will require my hitting up the bank in my busy day tomorrow. Also: no graceful way to say, “no, thank you anyway” (it’s just me, I feel bad for the seller, and start blathering about why I can’t purchase something, and then we all feel bad. And annoyed.) (Though I’m getting better because Mr. Sali will often materialize behind me, cut me off with a firm, “No, thank you”, close the door, and then demand to know why can’t I learn to do the same?)…When my kid was in Scouts, I was glad to chaperone the cookie sale at the grocery or the mall, but I flat out refused to take her door-to-door selling cookies, or school fundraising stuff, around the neighborhood. She could go with another kid and their parent, or Mr. Sali could rouse himself to get up and go, but I didn’t think MY afternoon should be taken up with that stuff.
When I get home from work, I take off my clothes and put on my lounge clothes. If it’s warm enough, that means I might only on have a skimpy pair of boxers and a tank top (nipple action).
I don’t want anyone seeing me this way.
It would be nice, I guess, if everyone opened the door for everyone else. And maybe we would be more welcoming if random visitors weren’t all trying to sell something. But they are. Every single one of them. It doesn’t matter if the salesperson is a middle-aged Avon Lady or a ten-year-old boy. I don’t want to buy anything from them. Nor do I want them peering into my house or giving me their sales pitches.
No mean no. Not answering the door clearly means no. What is so hard to understand about that? How about teaching kids to recognize and respect “no”.
I still have a tin right by me. ETA: it’s been empty of popcorn for at least a decade.
But are 10 year olds Boy Scouts!? I though that was Cub Scout territory? Is he in sixth grade? Or is it shorthand in the OP for “under the BSA umbrella”?
I don’t think joining the Boy Scouts is a bad thing, whether you disagree with the policies or not. But I don’t answer my home phone and I don’t answer door to door people for the same reason.
Who is not respecting ‘no’? Do you have scouts refusing to leave your doorstep when you don’t answer, or decline to buy anything?
We basically have an unwritten ‘policy’ here at work that if your child is selling something and you want us to buy from them, you have to bring the child in to do the actual selling. None of this crap where the parents do all the work and the child reaps the rewards.
Sometimes when the school was selling stuff, the kids were far too young to manage filling out the order form, collecting the money and so forth. So essentially, the parent had to do it for them.
Respect, as in respecting “no” rather than being “APPALLED”.
Ah, gotcha. I thought you were talking about the kids, I didn’t connect to the OP.
When my kids were young and “required” to sell door-to-door, I’d just buy whatever the minimum amount happened to be. I’d then either take the crap to work and share it, give it away, or throw it out. Now that they are grown up I feel no guilt in answering my door only when expecting guests.
This is an example of psychotic fury at a person knocking at the door. You seem to be confused over the deference between psychotic fury leading to murder and mild annoyance leading to not answering the door.
Teaching kids to respect “no”. As in the parent in the OP should have taught the kids to respect “no” rather than teach them to be “APPALLED”.
I did get a “shocked and appalled” look from a Boy Scout’s mother when I said no to his popcorn selling.
It was harder than I than I expected to say no-thanks to him. The kid gave a spiel and asked if I wanted popcorn. I smiled and said in my nicest voice “Oh no, I think we’re good…thank you!”
And the kid just stared and stared, wordless. The mom glowered at me from the end of the driveway. I thought that this would be the end of the dialogue, that they would turn around and say “Have a good evening!”- or something, but instead, just more staring.
I didn’t know what to do because I wasn’t about to close the door in the kid’s face, but nothing was happening to end things.
So I finally just said “Ok…thanks anyway!”…“ok, bye!” and very gently and slowly closed the door while the kid still stared and mom still glowered. It was massively awkward. Later, my husband said that they were probably paralyzed with confusion because I was the first person to ever say no to the kid.
It was so awkward that I doubt I’ll ever answer the door again if I see a boy scout out there.