Mar 28, 2014

No Soliciting

I'm seriously considering putting up a "no soliciting" sign. Do those things actually work?

I've hesitated about doing anything that drastic for years because I don't want to discourage my cute little neighbor kids with their school fundraisers and of course I need to buy Girl Scout Cookies. :) But I just get so tired of those random rude salespeople that refuse to get off my porch until I slam a door in their faces.

OK, maybe I'm not that mean. But sometimes I think I should be.

So today I was working on the computer when the doorbell rang. My little ones are off track so all four of them immediately ran for the door. "Mom! Door!" Scout yelled, but I was already halfway across the office, heading in that direction. The kids had quickly backed away from the stranger and his half-used bottle of cleaner, and he wisely kept his distance until I appeared in the doorway.

This one was easy, I thought. I only bought stuff from the "cleaner" guys one time. They had this amazing product that took oil off my driveway and tarnish from my door knocker. I shelled out over fifty bucks when we could hardly afford to buy milk! Yeah, that salesman was long gone when I discovered that my "magical formula" was nothing more than tap water.

I was so disappointed! And annoyed... those guys would never get my hard-earned money again.

I tried to get rid of this guy politely, after all, he is not the one who scammed me a dozen years ago, but he just kept asking stupid questions and no matter how nicely I declined, he still stood at my door.

I finally but firmly told him, "I don't like cleaning that much anyway." I started to shut the door, but he put a hand against it to give me his parting shot. With a nasty grin he confirmed, "Yeah, I can tell!"

Even sharing this story with all of you makes me angry all over again. He had no right to judge me just because I wouldn't buy his worthless cleaner...

Now where can I find me one of those signs?

12 comments:

Dog-Walker said...

That's rude of that guy. That's flagrant! We don't accept flagrancy from salesman that want the money! I would buy that sign, because some people who come up to your door and try to force you to buy something is totally flagrant. Call the police if that ever happens! (Just a suggestion).

Denise said...

Wow, he was really rude.

ShanaM said...

Yeah, rude eh?
We don't get many people coming to the door where we live but we get a lot of phone calls from people trying to sell stuff!!
UGH!

ShanaM said...

Check out this sign!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/66780322/wood-sign-unless-you-sell-girl-scout

Anonymous said...

Most of my neighbors have signs no solicitors of any kind at all and they don't answer their front doors at all...I don't blame them most of the time when I am home alone I don't answer the door at all for safety reasons..Went to a police safety fair, they said don't answer the door if you are not expecting anyone at all. I do not..that was pretty rude of that fellow to say such a thing, too bad you don't have the name of the company you could call and pitch a fit indeed..what the nerve of that fellow..have a great weekend anyways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marci said...

WOW! I really don't appreciate when someone comes to MY door, trying to sell me something and then is rude when I don't want to buy it. If I was interested in a certain product or type of product I would seek it out on my own! I especially dislike when they come while I'm prepping dinner, or when Emma is asleep and I get a few minutes to think about whatever I want!

I don't have a no soliciting sign, but because I got sick of solicitors ringing the doorbell (especially when Emma was asleep) I do have a "please KNOCK, baby sleeping" sign. I keep it up 24/7 and it works. I did have some punk kids that was scamming people while selling magazines (he'd been around before, he prefers people to pay in cash, and neighbors complained that they never got their subscriptions...) ring the doorbell once, and as I opened it Emma started screaming from her crib. I wanted to smack him so hard, but instead I yelled at him and told him he needed to learn how to read and that he needed to get off my property before I called the police because I knew he was scamming people. As I shut the door he called me a nasty word. I called the non-emergency police line anyway to let them no that there was a solicitor without a soliciting permit (our city requires permits for soliciting, weird right?) and that he had previously scammed my neighbor. Don't know if they did anything, but I felt better.

Wow. Sorry, that was quite the rant! I feel strongly against soliciting apparently :)

Anna Banana said...

I just put up a neatly typed/laminated teeny little sign, and it has mostly worked...except that people soliciting for "charity" sometimes don't realize that charity is still soliciting. Still, in the 9 months since I've put it up, only 4 solicitors...not bad.

LeAnn said...

Oh, my gosh i can relate to this one. I have got so I don't answer the door if I don't think I know them. I think the salespeople now-days are just way pushy.
Keep on enjoying the moments with your children; blessings to all!

Leighannn said...

How rude! I can't believe he had the nerve to say that!

Shell said...

We probably average about 4-5 salespeople a week here! It drives me crazy. I'm considering a sign, too, even though I'm not sure it will work.

Unknown said...

I've considered putting a sign on my door too. I used to put a sign up that said "baby sleeping do not ring bell".

KristinFilut said...

I guess there is one advantage to living in the frozen Minnesota tundra! Haha!

I've worked hard to get my kids to NOT open the door for anyone they don't know so we can avoid these leeches. Maybe get a big dog? :)