Somebody just stopped in our driveway, and rang the doorbell. What did they want?
Her: Do you know somebody that’s deaf and uses sign language? Saying this while moving her fingers around.
Me: No.
Her: Thanks goodbye.
Me: OK.
I think she was looking for someone to hire her, not casing the house.
:dubious:
Yesterday afternoon, in a fit of laziness, I opted to take the elevator down the two floors from my office, instead of the stairs like I usually do. I had it to myself. During the short ride down, the elevator’s telephone rang. Not what one expects- very much a what the? experience.
I debated about starting a thread asking for ideas on how I should have answered the call.
ETA: Not sure if it was the OP’s intent for the thread to discuss his random what the? or an invitation for the rest of us to provide our own. I sort of commandeered the thread in the latter direction. Please uncommandeer as necessary.
It won’t be a thread if we stick to what was said when I opened the door. People should add experiences to this. I think both of our experiences were not a normal occurrence.
The other night, I went over to a friend’s house. She lives in a rough neighborhood and said that, on warm days, they just sit out on the porch and watch what’s going on. So we did for a while.
It was pretty entertaining. There was a lot going on.
My favorite was the cat. We watched a whole bunch of people- probably a dozen or more guys- walking down the street following a cat. They weren’t chasing it or anything, just following it. Then, a little later, they walked back… and the cat was following them.
Some guys came by who knocked around our entire house. That’s odd, but not the reason I’m posting. I finally give in and answer the door (I sleep during the day), and it turns out they want to buy our scrap metal. We, like good rednecks, had two cars out in our yard that no longer worked, as we never had the money to get them towed. They gave us some money for them, and went along our way.
Later on, I found out where they took the metal, and, knowing the owner, I discovered that they didn’t get back nearly as much as they paid us. And here’s the kicker–they called to get an estimate while we were going, and he told them the same price then.
So these guys took our cars for more money than they knew they would get out of it. 
They may have stripped them for resalable parts before scrapping them.
This happened to me too, it turns out it was some sort of outreach thing for a local church.
I also noticed that in my old neighborhood, which was more socioeconomically disadvantaged than my current one, there was a lot more observable outdoor activity (especially among the kids). Simply put, when you have less money, you can’t afford to go out as often, and you can’t afford to sit inside playing expensive computer games in expensive air conditioning while you’re there. In my current neighborhood, people spend most of their time either gone or indoors. I NEVER see people outside. In my old neighborhood, you couldn’t leave the house without walking past a pile of screaming kids. Of course I vastly prefer my new neighborhood. But it’s interesting.
One time someone came up behind me at my work cubicle while I was on the phone and just stared at my back for 10 minutes. I was talking to a customer and typing what they said on my computer, so I couldn’t turn around and ask “WTF, mate?” After my call I turned around and the chick asked me if my name was Rachel (Lastname). I said, “Yessss…” (and it was weird because my full name is already on a placard on the side of my cubicle, so who the fuck else would it be?). When she was walking away I muttered “Weird,” not caring whether she heard me. About 20 minutes later I found out she was one of our account librarians with a special project for me, but I have never found out why she was weirding her way around my cubicle like that. I HATE having people look over my goddamn shoulder!
I can think of 3 possibilities.
If it was the last one, it wouldn’t matter what you said. The first two have possibilities, but I can’t think offhand what you should have answered.
Our office PA system has a phone number, so that anyone can pick up any phone and make an announcement. For awhile the PA was getting calls saying that it’s car warranty was about to expire. That could have been the call that your elevator was getting. You wouldn’t want to ride in an elevator with an expired car warranty, would you?
Maybe some neighbours were sick of the cars in your yard and thought it was worthwhile to make a loss getting rid of them - dunno otherwise
I was waiting at a city bus stop a couple years ago when a couple of young-20-something or late-teen types who were canvassing the area approached me. I think they were with a religious organization, but I never got all their information. They were asking random people on the street, “If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?”
I answered, " To speak, read, and understand every language on Earth."
Then my bus came, and I couldn’t be bothered to skip it and wait for another one to continue the conversation. I left them speechless on the corner and never did figure out why they were asking, or what kind of pitch they were going to make depending on my answer. I still wonder about that.
Jehovah’s Witnesses? They try to actively find Deaf people to recruit them. Ugh. Somehow some JWs found out that I’m deaf and kept coming over, even thou I showed NO interest whatsoever.
The last time they came over, I was in the living room. Trilly raced upstairs like a monster was after her…I followed her upstairs, and looked out the window and saw them. Smart cat! 