What is it lately?

I just sat down for dinner this evening and then "ring", darn it. Cue dogs yelling, I go to door, open it a crack while dogs squirm/jump around my legs yelling and some bearded fool wearing blue shorts, blue shirt, carrying an umbrella, standing just past my breezeway (must have retreated) cheerfully says, "Hi..." whence I shut door and said loudly, "Read the sign."

For 10 years I have had a "No Soliciting" (with Thank You below it) sign on my door.

Over nine of those years solicitors have avoided knocking/ringing my door. Thank you.

Lately, say about 10 months or so, some solicitors have been ignoring said sign. The sign is clear and easily seen. I typically crack the door and say "No, look at sign" and shut door (my dogs wont stop barking unless I investigate). All these solicitors have spoken English (so I assume they can read it), were white, and are younger (Millennials I assume).

I am left wondering why there has been an uptick with this situation. Is it a generational thing? I have had no older solicitors (40's and up). Is it ethnic/racial? None of these solicitors have been a minority. None have appeared to be campaign workers either (I have never had anyone campaigning come to any door I have lived behind).

Anyone else notice this?

I have the following sign on our front door:



Had a 30-something gentlemen knock on the door and start into his sales pitch when I opened the door. I pointed to the sign and he said, “I didn’t ring the bell.” I told him, “You should be a lawyer smart ass” and shut the door.

“Port Arms” with a 12-gauge works every time.

Maybe the guy just wanted to tell you that your 'No Soliciting' sign fell down.

 
We have 6ft no climb fencing around most of our property, and the house is inside this fencing, making the front door inaccessible. I put up a remote doorbell by the gate one would use to get to the front door.
 

A long time ago I had a guy walk up my porch and ring the door bell. Within 1.5 seconds there were 3 very large German Shepards going ballistic in the bow window, by the time I got to see who it was he was already walking to the next house.

We get the super pushy and aggressive sales folk every summer.
Last couple of summers they were these really weird book sales this year was the Vivint security system sales.
Their employers are really pushing them to be aggressive I do believe.

My wife doesn't like me to be rude. The problem being its just my nature. I don't want others to take my money. Years ago, we had the Jehova's witness target me. They don't accept the polite "go away". They're on a mission from God, and accepting "no" isn't on their agenda. It wasn't so bad back when they would show up late, like noonish. But all my rudeness got me was an earlier appointment time. No matter how rude I got, they weren't deterred.

Then came the day when my wife took the boys and went to her mothers. Good, I can sleep in. But that day, they decided 8:30 on a Saturday would be a good time to wake me. So after they kept wringing the doorbell, I finally drug my arse out of bed and went to the door. I guess answering it in my sleep attire offended them enough. Yeah, my bdaysuit. I owe them nothing on the 10th or so intrusion. OK, it shocked the kind of ugly girl and her escort. They don't think converting me to God rates as a solicitation. Whatever, it worked. Even the Mormon "converters" are polite enough to wait till a decent hour.

I even gave two of them a ride during a downpour. On the condition they don't interpret my weakness as being receptive to a religious conversion. One of the rights they left out of the constitution was the right to be left alone.

I don't want any part of it. Being semi-civil, I don't mean to offend on the first bothering. After that, anything goes. After 8 or 10 such things, rude is called for. Laws don't allow me to answer with a firearm. I guess. The religious types feel its their right and duty to attempt to convert us heathens. We feel the right to be left alone overrides their religion.

I'm just going to guess they feel a right to attempt to convert is paramount to all of mine.

Some solicitors are actually trained to target dwellings with "No Soliciting" signs as there is someone inside who has trouble saying "no". Either they themself or a frustrated spouse puts up the sign to try and cut down on excessive donations or the like.

I wonder if they think you mean “no attorneys holding a public office that handle cases involving a city, state, or other jurisdiction”?

Or maybe they have no idea at all what a solicitor is.

What about having a sign == no soliciting == no trespassing == violators will be shot and survivors will be shot again . But that might cause the judge to rule that the shooting was premeditated. ........................ drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
Some solicitors are actually trained to target dwellings with "No Soliciting" signs as there is someone inside who has trouble saying "no". Either they themself or a frustrated spouse puts up the sign to try and cut down on excessive donations or the like.

No trouble saying "no" here from either of us. Don't want to be bothered to listen to their pitch as we're not going to buy their product or listen to their "word" if from a religious sect.

I use to have a sign, “Trespassers Today, Rottweiler Shit Tomorrow”.

We frequent rental properties outside of Berkeley Springs, WV. Usually they are several miles from nowhere, and the closest neighbor can be a mile away. Saturday night, the doorbell rings. I arm myself. It was Jehovah Witnesses. 7:30 at night, pitch black, and they appear out of nowhere. The dog didn’t even hear them. I cut them some slack, they are following their calling. They aren’t getting paid for what they do. But it was very odd.

Had some jehovah witnesses ring my doorbell once. I did the no speaka engrish and one started speaking in mandarin which I don’t understand either so i reply in cantonese no speak mandarin then this guy starts speaking cantonese.
I just go “you got me” and slammed the door.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Had some jehovah witnesses ring my doorbell once. I did the no speaka engrish and one started speaking in mandarin which I don’t understand either so i reply in cantonese no speak mandarin then this guy starts speaking cantonese.
I just go “you got me” and slammed the door.

Haha!

I live in a gated community. On the gate they have to come through there is a sigh that says no soliciting. If they are already doing work for a homeowner or they sneak in through the gate with another car they might not see it.
In most cases I look through my front window and if they look like sales man I just ignore them and they go away.
If I answer the door I nicely tell the I am not interested. If they continue to talk I tell them again I am not interested and close the door.
Lately it's been the solar panel companies. It is because they are already in the neighborhood working. After any bad storm it's the roofing companies. A few weeks ago it someone must have their car windshield replaced because I got a knock on my door.
I had one guy get into an argument with me a few years ago. I told him he was not aloud to go door to door because of the no solicitation sigh on our gate. He told me he had a permit and he could do what ever he wanted. I told him he was trespassing in the community and could be arrested if he refused to leave.
The only reason I even started this with him was because he was being an asshole and would not take "not interested" and leave. He left real quick after that.

Signs mean absolutely nothing. They don't have the force of law and they surely won't deter determined salespeople or burglars. I think they exist to deter the lazy ones. BTW, why does anyone ever answer their door for unannounced visitors? My doorbell has been broken for over 10 yrs. and I will never repair it.

I have to door knock a lot for my job because people leave off phone numbers or I can't read their handwriting on the contact requests they send in. Signs are invisible to me and I have never once been told off or yelled at because of it. But then again, when I'm on their doorstep, I'm always holding the handwritten postcard they mailed in. So that usually jogs their memory.

I love the "No Trespassing" signs. Really? Where is trespassing allowed? Or "Private Property." Oh, gee I thought it was a post office. Now, if there's a gate or fence or mean looking dog patrolling the perimeter, I might think twice. But even when I've been charged by a tidal wave of pit bulls, I stood my ground or walked toward them and they all cowered and just wanted to be pet. Seriously, if you don't want people coming to your door, disable your doorbell and ignore door knocks. Anyone who needs to really reach you can call or text.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
I live in a gated community. On the gate they have to come through there is a sigh that says no soliciting. If they are already doing work for a homeowner or they sneak in through the gate with another car they might not see it.
In most cases I look through my front window and if they look like sales man I just ignore them and they go away.
If I answer the door I nicely tell the I am not interested. If they continue to talk I tell them again I am not interested and close the door.
Lately it's been the solar panel companies. It is because they are already in the neighborhood working. After any bad storm it's the roofing companies. A few weeks ago it someone must have their car windshield replaced because I got a knock on my door.
I had one guy get into an argument with me a few years ago. I told him he was not aloud to go door to door because of the no solicitation sigh on our gate. He told me he had a permit and he could do what ever he wanted. I told him he was trespassing in the community and could be arrested if he refused to leave.
The only reason I even started this with him was because he was being an asshole and would not take "not interested" and leave. He left real quick after that.

On your first point above, we had a salesman ring our bell, I looked out and chose to ignore (he walked by the "No Solicitors" sign and was standing next to the "If You're Not Selling Thin Mints - Go Away" sign).

I ignore, he rings again and when I look out, he waves for me to come outside. His first few words indicated it was the solar scam. My wife, just loud enough for me to hear, "OMG, here it comes."

I lit him up by questioning his reading and cognitive skills about understanding words and signs - which were right in front of him.

Then, in a much, much more polite tone, indicated he was trespassing and if he remained on my property, I would consider him a threat to mine, and my family's safety thereby requiring me to defend myself accordingly and with a debatable level of violence of which, he would not be around to participate is said debate.

He left without so much as an apology. So rude these salesmen today.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Signs mean absolutely nothing. They don't have the force of law

Maybe not in your area, but there are plenty of cities where they do.

(Though it may or may not be slow enough that day for an officer to be available to respond rapidly for a "they knocked despite my sign/despite being on the city's No Knock List" call.)

And like many city ordnances, while the ordnance violation itself may not carry huge consequences, and enforcement may not be a big time priority overall, if nothing else it can be a useful investigative tool to help officers potentially uncover other crime afoot.

Streets are Private, no Trespassing signs out, no solicitors, we get a few but its not that bad, until pollytickun season...