Do you answer your door?

[kenny]

We don't.
All our friends and neighbors know to call first.

Anyone ringing our doorbell is selling goods, services or religion.
No thanks.

 

[bunnycat]

We don't.
All our friends and neighbors know to call first.

Anyone ringing our doorbell is selling goods, services or religion.
No thanks.

same here.

 

[NOYFB]

Unless I'm expecting a visitor or package...nope. We have the luxury of looking outside our window to see who's there because we're on the 2nd floor and there's a fence around our building. Our buzzer rang tonight, in fact. I looked out and saw a woman holding a bunch of papers. I ignored the buzz.

 

[CharmedOne]

No and I have a "No Soliciting and yes that includes you." Sign on the door. My DH will snatch the door open which scares the heck out of people. But you can see them before they see you and just ignore them

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

I wish. We have a stained glass type in the front door and people can see through. Plus, it faces our living room. I guess I could just sit there watching tv and ignore them staring at me

 

[yssie]

Not unless I see someone I want to answer for out the window. I see it as a safety thing.

 

[kenny]

I wish. We have a stained glass type in the front door and people can see through. Plus, it faces our living room. I guess I could just sit there watching tv and ignore them staring at me

Stop wishing.
Start doing, rather not doing.
Yes, let them stare at you, or frost the glass or install a curtain.

 

[manderz]

Wow. I will claim that single, solitary yes so far. I just do. It's not like it's often that the doorbell rings, anyway. 90% of the time, we're expecting it anyway.

 

[Missy]

I usually do but I really dislike guests who don't call first. I think it is rude. We don't usually get solicitors or religious people going door to door in either place we live.

When my dh and I first started dating his friends at the beach would just show up without calling. I hated it. Over the course of a number of months my dh finally told them that now they had to call before just dropping by. They thought I was weird with that and my dh had always loved it when they just popped on over without notice. It's a different culture down there but hey, I need my privacy ya know? OMG, once his good friend was ringing the bell when well, let's just say it was an inappropriate time to be receiving guests. Needless to say we did not answer lol.

 

[kenny]

Rarely a friend or neighbor will knock, after seeing both our cars.
I won't answer, even if I hear someone call out, "Kenny, it's Sally your neighbor."

If they later ask about it I'll remind them I want to be called first.
I feel no obligation to answer the door.
Nobody has the right to barge in without calling first.

 

[ame]

Only when we are expecting a delivery or someone. Otherwise no, and I don't give a rats behind if I can be seen by someone knocking.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

I wish. We have a stained glass type in the front door and people can see through. Plus, it faces our living room. I guess I could just sit there watching tv and ignore them staring at me

Stop wishing.
Start doing, rather not doing.
Yes, let them stare at you, or frost the glass or install a curtain.

I know Kenny. You're right.
At keast DH doesn't care. He just looks at them, gives them the peace sign and just continues to do what he was doing. People always tell me I'm too nice and that it might be my downfall. Who knows, what if I open the door to a killer. There was a guy going around acting like a directv dude that went into people's homes in my neighborhood... Scary

 

[Missy]

Rarely a friend or neighbor will knock, after seeing both our cars.
I won't answer, even if I hear, "Kenny, it's Sally your neighbor."

If they later ask about it I'll remind them I want to be called first.
I feel no obligation to answer the door.
Nobody has the right to barge in without calling first.

Kenny, I admire your strength of conviction and your strong sense of self. I really do.

Just want to add though there are always exceptions. Here's one time where my dh did knock on a neighbor's door without calling (though I did ask him to call)...I cut myself badly taking the pit out of an avocado and my next door neighbor had training as an EMT during the war (LOL sounds pathetic but I don't do well with blood). Anyway, the blood was gushing and I felt myself about to pass out (really pathetic) and I told my dh to get Al (but to call first) and he just went and got him. Anyhoo, in an instance like that it is understandable I think to just knock without calling but in normal situations, no. Please call. It's just you never know when someone is having an emergency and I guess that is why while I hate people dropping by without calling I will answer the door. And we rarely have this problem anymore because all of our friends know to call first.

 

[chemgirl]

I never did until I moved into this house.

My neighbour is elderly and she lives with her adult son. Her son has some kind of impairment (never asked, but he can't drive and shows some extremely odd behaviour). I feel like if there was an emergency he might come here for help so I make sure to answer the door.

 

[GemFever]

What an educational thread for me... I usually open, though I never want to. I do it because I feel bad. But after reading this thread... I think I might just change than behavior! I feel strangely empowered.

 

[Enerchi]

We do, but we also have 3 loose dogs in the house and can see who's in the driveway and at the entry, courtesy of a lot of windows and a stained glass window in the door. We live 2 acres apart from our neighbours so if one is wandering all the way over to call unannounced, its usually for a reason. If it is a sales person or religious visitor, we just dismiss them - and the dogs are good at looking intimidating!

Mind you, they'd shed all over them and sniff someone to death... but they LOOK impressive!

 

[lucyloo]

No, I think I've seen too many Oprah shows!

 

[Laila619]

Not unless I see someone I want to answer for out the window. I see it as a safety thing.

Me too. In this day and age, I don't open the door for any unexpected people. I read true crime books, too scary! We've got a window-less front door with just a peep hole, and a good dead bolt, plus a screen door that locks too. Call me paranoid!

 

[ruby59]

My husband and I both come from large families. We have 3 children who each have a lot of friends. And we live in a close-knit neighborhood. My front door is Grand Central.

 

[GemFever]

My husband and I both come from big families. We have 3 children who each have a lot of friends. And we live in a close-knit neighborhood. My front door is Grand Central.

Like! That's what our house was like too when we were younger. Friends coming and going all the time.

 

[Dancing Fire]

we always answer the door b/c burglars will ring the door bell first to see if anyone is home before they break in. We have a frosted glass type of front door that people can see through. i just wave my hand at them w/o opening the door to let them know that i'm home.

 

[marcy]

I generally do but I sure don't like it when I am home along. Our old house had a peep hole and I would not answer it if it was someone I didn't know. Our new house has a side light window that I've put a curtain on but the window at the top of the door is open. We definitely need to get a no soliciting sign to hang up; we've had more people come to our new house selling things in 3 months that we have lived here than we had in 5 years at the old house.

 

[monarch64]

Yes, but that's because we know most of our neighbors well and they all understand that there are appropriate times to knock/ring the bell, and if we're expecting a package we know FedEx is a PITA i.e. not giving you two seconds to get to the door causing extreme delays with deliveries. We have a ton of windows all around the main floor and a beagle, so we can see people coming onto our property even before they knock/ring. There has only been ONE time in the past two years we've had a solicitor and I gave her absolute hell for bothering us after my husband answered the door because our neighborhood has "No Soliciting" signs posted at both entrances.

 

[JaneSmith]

I answered no, but if I see that it is girl scouts selling cookies or a neighbour, I'll open. One time the doorbell rang after 10pm, our neighbours were locked out with their son sleeping inside and needed to borrow our tall ladder to get in through an open window. I must admit to being momentarily annoyed at someone dinging at that hour, but figured I'd answer to either a. yell at stupid kids, or b. help neighbour in trouble. Glad it was b.

YT, if your door opens inwards, a closed curtain makes it surprisingly hard to open the door, an ancillary benefit.

 

[Phoenix]

I usually do but I really dislike guests who don't call first. I think it is rude. We don't usually get solicitors or religious people going door to door in either place we live.

When my dh and I first started dating his friends at the beach would just show up without calling. I hated it. Over the course of a number of months my dh finally told them that now they had to call before just dropping by. They thought I was weird with that and my dh had always loved it when they just popped on over without notice. It's a different culture down there but hey, I need my privacy ya know? OMG, once his good friend was ringing the bell when well, let's just say it was an inappropriate time to be receiving guests. Needless to say we did not answer lol.

BIG DITTO!

I had a "friend" who would turn up to my house unannounced, and our front door is mostly clear glass and we used to leave my front gate unlocked (where I live, almost everyone has a front gate if they live in a house). She'd just turn up at whatever time AND would insist on staying, regardless of whether I was alone or with DH and regardless of whatever I was doing! Once she came at 10pm and DH and I were having a late supper and she asked for 5 mins and ended up staying for an hour!

Needless to say, I dumped her sorry a** after 3.5 months, not just because of this (though this was enough) but also because she a real cuckoo-head (doing all sorts of weird things to herself and her husband and she has/had some serious psychological problems)!

Oh and now we lock our gate all the time!

 

[mayerling]

Kenny, I think you might have asked this question in the past; or was it 'do you answer your phone'? Anyway, yes, I do, unless the baby is asleep. DH does not.

 

[justginger]

Holy smokes, this thread is quite a strange one for me to read. I never knew people felt so strongly about something as simple as answering the door!

People in Perth are 'poppers by.' It seems to be very much the norm here - but having been raised in the States it took a while for me to get used to. I've mentioned to a few people that it would be nice if they called before coming over, and most do that now. If you make a big deal out of it though, you're the one who seems weird, not them.

I always answer my door. Always. It wouldn't even cross my mind not to do so.

I open the wooden door, and still have a deadbolted, barred screen door between myself and the other person. It's pretty simple to ascertain who it is and what they want. If they are religious/salespeople/pollsters, I just say I'm not interested or am busy, thank you very much. I don't need to avoid them, I can happily turn them down face-to-face.

 

[JewelFreak]

Usually yes. This is a close-knit neighborhood in a very low-crime area (knock on wood!). We get lots of FedEx deliveries & such. If it's a neighbor, they're usually dropping something off & don't even come in, or stay only a few minutes if they do. When I'm upstairs I can look out the window to see if it's anybody I know -- if not, I usually ignore them. I told the religious people to stop coming. In spring & fall people frequently ring doorbells hawking pine straw or offering a new roof or tree-cutting -- those I don't answer.

--- Laurie

 

[stargurl78]

Nope, not usually unless we are expecting someone. We have this decal on our door so people know that they will get eaten by a dinosaur if they continue to bother us :

http://www.etsy.com/listing/102763474/no-soliciting-vinyl-decal-t-rex-dinosaur?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=dinosaur+soliciting&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

 

[jazzoboe]

Generally I don't.

I have a funny story about this, though.

About two weeks ago my doorbell rang while I was home alone. I just stayed where I was in the living room and waited for them to leave, but this person was ringing incessantly over and over again. I peeked out the window, and couldn't really see the person at the door, but I could see their car in the driveway. It was a silver SUV I didn't recognize with a logo on the side that looked like it said something like "Cookies by Design." Well, heck, I certainly did not order any cookies and I know DH wouldn't have either. So I continued to ignore. The ringing stopped, but after about 15 minutes I realized the car was still there. Then, all the sudden, I hear noise on my back porch. Now I should add hear that we have a fence, and the gates are tied shut because our dog can push them open otherwise, so that means this guy had to JUMP THE FENCE. By this time I was totally freaked out and moved into my bedroom where I couldn't be seen from any windows, and was very seriously thinking of calling the cops, when my husband calls and says "hey, this guy just called told me he's trying to deliver some cookie thing, and he left it on top of the air conditioning unit under the back deck... Will you go get it and see what it is?" I made him call the guy back and ask him to leave before I went outside, though, because I decided this guy is a major creeper, even if he really was just trying to do his job. Turns out some of our friends had sent us a cookie cake to tell us they were thinking of us after DH's father had been in the hospital the week before. Who knew some delivery people could be SO determined? Now granted, it was raining, so I understand why he didn't want to leave the thing on the front step (though that didn't stop the fedex person who left my important paperwork for my new job out in the middle of a rainstorm last year They didn't even knock the door- I was home when they made the delivery!! The papers got completely ruined because I had no idea they were there...) Meanwhile, our friends think it would have been an even better story if I had called the cops and had the cookie delivery guy arrested for trespassing