Mowed/edged lawn in the morning. Visited model homes in afternoon.
While Rebecca took her afternoon nap, some jerk rang the doorbell, despite the No Soliciting sign on our door. To keep him from ringing it again, I opened the door and told him we had a baby napping and to please just go away. But Rebecca was already awake, so my wife trotted out and gave him a tongue-lashing.
Later in the day, the guy had the gall to come back while we were outside in the evening. That time I actually chased him off our property.
It’s not this specific guy that I was upset with, but the fact that they keep coming. Our first week in the house, we must’ve had two dozen salespeople ring our bell or knock on the door, at least six of them in one day. We have a strict policy of never buying anything from anyone who knocks on our door (only known exception is local children with fundraisers for school). After putting up the sign, they slowed down a bit, but that also might have been because they’d all already been here. But they keep coming back. One company has its salespeople come through the neighborhood every two weeks. The local Avon lady finally quit leaving her catalogs on our porch after we complained to the company on environmental grounds. If their product/service is something I want/need, I’ll find it at the store or in the phone book.
At the model homes, we had a good time, especially Rebecca. She likes to trot around exploring on her own. I tracked her into a small bedroom and found her sitting at a desk with an open notebook and a pencil, trying to write. The pencil was just for display and hadn’t been sharpened. So my wife got a pen out of her purse and Rebecca drew for a little bit. When we returned home, I found a notebook and a pencil and Rebecca drew for a bit. She doesn’t try to draw on the table or walls or furniture; just paper. Of course, I supervise her closely.
I was impressed that she’d figured that out on her own, and very quickly.
For supper today, she had two grapes. I didn’t say she ate them. She just held one in each fist and squeezed them until juice ran down to her elbows and started soaking her clothes. She thought that was hilarious. She did eventually eat some crackers.
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Wow, that is bad! We’ve had a few here for security systems (we already have one) or pest control (already had a company for that too, but haven’t needed it in a while). I’m glad we don’t get a lot of that, because our dog completely goes nuts when the doorbell rings and it takes a while to calm her down. I think most companies have learned that door to door selling only annoys people and have found other ways to do things. I wonder why it’s such a problem there in your neighborhood. What was the guy selling that came back after being yelled at by Marline? Brave fellow. lol
I have no idea what he was selling. We’ve quit waiting to see; just run them off. His car had Illinois plates though, which means he’s either (1) very new to the area, (2) violating Texas law that requires changing plates after 30 days of residence, or (3) driving a rental car.
(I guess it’s also possible: (4) borrowing a friend’s car or (5) driving a stolen car or (6) not actually living here and drove down from Illinois to sell stuff door-to-door.)
I think one reason it’s so prevalent in this neighborhood is that it’s still under development — new people moving in all the time — and the salespeople assume that folks are new to the area and don’t know how/where to acquire this stuff on their own. Also, there are probably a couple of people in the neighborhood who actually purchase stuff from these people.
It’s kind of like email spam. If no one was clicking on the links and buying stuff, there would be no more email spam. If no one ever bought stuff from door-to-door salespeople, they’d quit knocking on our door during toddler’s naps or dinner time.
(We’ve even had a few knock on the door as late at 9 p.m., when it’s completely dark. I assume they’re scoping the neighborhood for future criminal behavior.)
9:00?! Wow!! That’s insane. Our neighborhood is similar in that it is new and still building (one last set of town homes to be finished and then it’s done). The difference is that because they are town homes, a lot of stuff is covered that we don’t have to pay for so they can’t sell us those services. Like lawn care for example.. it’s all taken care of for us. The things they know we might need like security systems and pest control is about all they try to sell here. I haven’t gotten anyone selling magazines or cookies or anything like that yet. I did put up a no soliciting sign today after reading your blog, hoping it might save us from a few because I really hate talking to them. lol
:-)
Ah, lawn care… Early on, that was one of the main things people were trying to sell us… And I was surprised how many of our neighbors actually pay for someone to mow these tiny lawns…
If I did the math right, we’re on 1/10 of an acre, with the house taking up more than half that space, leaving 1/25. If you subtract the driveway, sidewalk, flowerbed, walkway from driveway to porch, the back porch, and the A/C unit, then there’s something like 1/30 or 1/35 of an acre that actually has to be mowed/edged. In other words, very little. It takes less than an hour to mow and edge the entire lot — a little more if you also count raking/sweeping afterward.
That’s nice! I bet people pay way more than what they should too, just to avoid doing it themselves. Maybe you should offer your services and make some extra cash. lol
That thought has entered my mind a couple of times. :-) (“Hey, I could mow your yard for $20.”)