# Who are these guys I always see in the neighborhood? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055 "2014-08-31T16:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/1 "2014-08-31T16:42:51Z")
Two young white guys, college-age-ish, wearing black or dark gray slacks, white shirt and a tie, carrying backpacks and riding bicycles. Not always the same two guys, I’m sure, but there’s always a pair of them around somewhere nearby. I assume they are religious folks of some sort out proselytizing, but for some reason they never come by my house. I’ve even come home from work and seen them down the street, and figured they saw me pull into the driveway and that they’d be at the door at any moment, but it never happens. So who are these guys? Mormons? Jehovah’s Witness? Something else? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/2 "2014-08-31T16:43:58Z")
Probably JW’s. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/3 "2014-08-31T16:46:10Z")
Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/4 "2014-08-31T16:47:42Z")
Definitely Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/5 "2014-08-31T16:51:34Z")
Absolutely, positively Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/6 "2014-08-31T17:13:56Z")
Jehovah’s Mormon Witnesses for Latter-Day Watchtowers? ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/7 "2014-08-31T17:15:55Z")
Have they got name tags? Around here, the Mormons have name tags. And the JWs tend to wear their Sunday best, whereas the Mormons have the the white shirt/black tie thing going on. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/8 "2014-08-31T17:17:14Z")
Definitely Mormons. Post [Rumspringa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/9 "2014-08-31T17:21:01Z")
Geeks. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/10 "2014-08-31T17:30:38Z")
How many Dopers have “[Who are the People in your Neighbourhood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=V2bbnlZwlGQ#t=45)” running through your head? :raises hand: ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/11 "2014-08-31T18:08:52Z")
Mormons don’t do Rumspringa–you’re thinking of Amish (who don’t go door to door). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/12 "2014-08-31T18:08:58Z")
Since it’s not really possible to know the answer without more information, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/13 "2014-08-31T18:50:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since it’s not really possible to know the answer without more information, let’s move this to IMHO. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator Well, if they’d come to my door, I’d have more information! (But then I wouldn’t have needed to start the thread. :D) OK, so most likely Mormons. The pattern is weird though. Most times when people are canvassing the neighborhood, they go from door to door, up one side of the street and down the other. With these guys it seems almost random. Are they targeting specific houses rather than the usual shotgun approach? Any Mormons out there who have actually done this before that can provide more details? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/14 "2014-08-31T18:54:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Jehovah’s Mormon Witnesses for Latter-Day Watchtowers? :golfclap: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![justanothermike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@justanothermike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justanothermike)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/15 "2014-08-31T19:15:30Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Well, if they’d come to my door, I’d have more information! > > (But then I wouldn’t have needed to start the thread. :D) > > OK, so most likely Mormons. The pattern is weird though. Most times when people are canvassing the neighborhood, they go from door to door, up one side of the street and down the other. With these guys it seems almost random. Are they targeting specific houses rather than the usual shotgun approach? Any Mormons out there who have actually done this before that can provide more details? Not a Mormon myself, but from what I was told once they kind of go where the spirit takes them. They kind of feel led to this house or that, so they don’t go to every house or person. I may be wrong, but that’s what I was told. And yes, that was probably Mormons that the OP was referencing. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/16 "2014-08-31T19:25:55Z")
Honk your horn, swerve at them, flip them off and see if they wave and smile like they just watched their first born take his/her first steps. Yes? They’re Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/17 "2014-08-31T20:03:02Z")
Mormon checking in (as well as, briefly, a missionary). Given the description of the uniform, they definitely sound like Mormon missionaries. As far as going door to door, that is soooo 1980s. Really, today LDS missionaries only go door to door or “tract” as a last, extremely unproductive resort. Most try to spend their time with people specifically referred by other members. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/18 "2014-08-31T20:21:34Z")
Short sleeve white dress shirts? Clip on ties? I’d say LDS missionaries. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/19 "2014-08-31T20:30:08Z")
They may be visiting members of the LDS community (having conversations, doing some chores for people with disabilities, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055/20 "2014-08-31T20:50:29Z")
I don’t follow any organized religion, but the Mormon missionaries I’ve met have all be nice folks. If I was working in the yard they’d offer to help. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-these-guys-i-always-see-in-the-neighborhood/697055.md?page=2)