Knock on the doorsill. If I hear someone knocking on my actual door, I automatically assume that it’s someone who doesn’t know me. Anyone who does have business knocking on my door will know to NOT open the storm doors because my cats are sneaky beasts who think they want to run outside and then hide in the bushes.
I don’t usually bother to get up and look out the window at people who knock on my door. The only time I do that is when I’m waiting for a package or a repair guy, but I am expecting them. If its a random door knocker who isn’t carrying a package or wearing the uniform of the plumber I called, I just go back to whatever I was doing.
In this interaction, its not your opinion that matters.
We consider it valuable information about our commercial partners. But the difference is, we’re posting *our *valuable information on the website that *we own. If you don’t like the ads we put on our website, you are free to not visit our website. Similarly, if you want to wallpaper your own house with political fliers, you are absolutely free to do so.
But if the SDMB started leaving links to commercial websites on your desktop, I suspect you’d be pretty unhappy with us, right?
(*And by “we,” I mean, “People in Chicago whom I’ve never met, and who have no idea I exist.”)
But you do get some complaints, which would indicate that there are other people who are bothered, but not enough to track down the responsible parties to indicate that fact.
There was a city council candidate in my neighborhood who tried that trick. It ended quickly when two of his fingers were nearly severed when the inner door was opened and a large dog was on the other side who was determined to protect his young owner.
You open the screen, knock, then close the screen, step back and wait. You do not stand there like a marauder with a stranger’s screen door wide open, allowing insects in, and potentially letting pets or small children out, if the occupant doesn’t expect some jackass to be standing there holding the screen when they open the inner door.
Continuing the “open the screen door” line of thought, there are times of year when the big, heavy inner door is left open so that cool air can circulate through the house through the screen door. If someone opens that screen door, they are, for all my intents and purposes, in my house.
Same thing happened at a house I rented in college - we had a screen door to the enclosed (glass windowed-in) porch, then one door between the porch and the house. A USPS carrier opened the screen door to leave a package, then backed off in surprise when she saw the inner door was open and I was there; she apologized for not knocking and I said it was fine. Since the inner door was open, she was essentially entering the house.
Had one last night; the nice young gentleman looked flustered when I asked him if he had seen the sign; you know, the one you stood and stared right at while you were waiting for me to come to the door. Jackass.
Given how many people have said this, I’m just thankful I live on a street that no one seems to realize is there–I’m the only house on it, even delivery drivers get lost and end up across town when looking for my address.
How far does this attitude extend? If I had a fence with an unlocked gate with a No Soliciting/No Trespassing sign, would you open that and walk up the yard?
I just basically never answer the door. Who would randomly knock on my door without calling ahead except for people I don’t wish to talk to? If I’m expecting someone to pick me up I tell them to call me from the car - why bother parking? If I’m expecting someone to visit I’ll unlock the door and tell them to just come in when they get here. The package people don’t usually bother knocking, but if I’m expecting a package I’ll just look out the window. I’ve told my housemate who tends to forget his keys to knock on my window.
I get most frustrated by the Mormons because they always send their most attractive sweet young fellows to my house, and of course Jesus is the last thing on my mind when I see them.
Yeah, but church people NEVER want to pop inside for a quickie, even if your wife yells from her office that it’s okay with her as long as you clean up afterwards and don’t scare the cats.
Hey, I never got visited by THAT pair of church ladies again, though.
Absolutely!
Our volunteers are going out for the purpose of talking to voters at their doors. So they are told to open gates and go up to the door (after looking for dogs).
Ugh. Dude, stay off my damn porch. If you’re opening a gate with a no-trespassing sign on it, you’ll be lucky if I call the cops instead of just running you off myself.
(this will involve a lot of the kind of yelling only a hairy 250-lb man can deliver)
Yes, they do. Real human neighbors coming to the door to explain why they support these candidates is much better than TV political commercials or newspaper ads.
Last election, we won 25 of the 27 races that were on the ballot. We think 93% victories is pretty good.
And remember, we are NOT going out blindly knocking on every door. We only go to selected doors, where we know that the residents have show an interest.
Enjoy your third-degree misdemeanor, my man. 18 PA SS3503 b.1.ii and iii once you open a fence gate with a no trespassing sign.
And you’re actually in violation if you ignore a “No Trespassing” sign and knock on my door even in the absence of a fence.
It’d be pretty funny if that belief landed you with 90 days in the clink, although you’re more likely to get the minimum fine of $250 on a first offense.
About three decades ago, I realized that if someone was initiating a sales pitch to me at my door or on my phone, it was never to my advantage to buy whatever they were selling. Doesn’t matter if it’s magazine subscriptions or getting home repairs, I can always find a better deal if I go out and do a bit of research before buying or voting. So I simply made a policy of NEVER buying anything that was pitched to me over the phone, or door-to-door. So far, I’ve been able to save myself a lot of money. And I’ve heard from my neighbors that the guys who wanted to repave the driveway, or wanted to reroof the houses in the area were really, really good at getting money to buy materials, but not so good at showing up to do the job.
The surest way to make sure that I’ll never buy your goods or vote for your cause/candidate is to call me up or show up at my door. I was ready to vote for one city council member, I liked his positions on the issues much more than I liked his opponent’s…but his partner owned a political telemarketing company. That was enough to poison him in my eyes.
