Do you answer the door when not expecting someone?

Always answer the door, no chain or anything but.....I have a huge, very loud dog
 
gabsdot said:
PLease answer the door to the census enumerator. I'm doing this job at the moment and I just have to go back again if I can't hand deliver a form.
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I answered the door to my local enumerator this evening; she thought she was at a different house.
 
Not answering the door is strange behaviour in my opinion! Are people that afraid these days that they cant answer the door wthout a prior appointment being made?
 
I think its partially about safety and partially about not wanting to be bothered by aggressive sales tactics of cold callers/people peddling religion/scam artists.

I do know someone who was physically attacked by someone she answered the door to but that is the rare story I would hope.
 
I think it's probably more a sign that people tend not to visit friends/relatives unannounced any more.
 
I was brought up as a Jehovahs Witness and I always loved the fact that few people answered the door. I always found the experience of talking to strangers nerve-wracking especially as I didn't believe a word of it myself and was doing it for my family's approval. Now I'm an honest to goodness athiest, but I will always be polite to cold callers - I have a lot of sympathy!!
 
Ceist Beag said:
I think it's probably more a sign that people tend not to visit friends/relatives unannounced any more.
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I agree. When I was a child people would often call around unannounced in the evenings and stay for tea and cake. I remember my father cursing because he was watching something on telly and my mother running around picking up newspapers and dirty cups before she opened the door. I would just never nowadays turn up unnanounced to someone and stay for the evening. I also hate people calling over without letting me know. I like to have the place really tidy and something nice in for them to eat or drink. I wish I was more relaxed about it but I'm just not.
 
liaconn said:
I would just never nowadays turn up unnanounced to someone and stay for the evening.
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Neither would I, but I would think it was ok to call for a specific reason for just a few minutes (like I got some free perfume in work and I know its one you like so thought Id drop one into you). So I could show up unannounced and have friends who do also - never for the evening though, just for a few minutes/quick cup of tea.

liaconn said:
I also hate people calling over without letting me know. I like to have the place really tidy and something nice in for them to eat or drink. I wish I was more relaxed about it but I'm just not.
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At this stage I just let them see the place untidy - if they drop in unannounced they have got to expect that they may find me unprepared!!!

Usually if my friends show up without notice they hover by the window waving in at me so I know its them before answering the intercom or going to the door - I have also occasionally answered the intercom with the curtains closed and told them Im in a state of undress/about to have a shower/otherwise engaged and theyre not coming in.
 
liaconn said:
I also hate people calling over without letting me know. I like to have the place really tidy and something nice in for them to eat or drink. I wish I was more relaxed about it but I'm just not.
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Mrs F is a bit of a clean house freak so we're OK there. This lead to arguments in the past, so we decided to get a cleaner in once a week at it was one of the best moves we ever made. Actually, we're thinking of getting in the cleaner on a Monday and a Friday now so we will have a clean house for the weekends and also during the week.
 
I would love to be able to afford a cleaner. I live alone so the place doesn't get very messy but I still spend a few hours every weekend hoovering, cleaning and dusting and I HATE doing it.
 
liaconn said:
I would love to be able to afford a cleaner. I live alone so the place doesn't get very messy but I still spend a few hours every weekend hoovering, cleaning and dusting and I HATE doing it.
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That's exactly why we got one. I didn't want to be cleaning during my time off and arguing over who does what etc. We pay 25 euro for 2 hours. It's not a deep clean by means but the main areas are done well. It still leaves Mrs F the fetish of cleaning the gaps in the shower tiles with a toothbrush that she enjoys
 
25 euro for 2 hours?

I think Id rather have my 25 euro to engage in some unnecessary ebay shopping and Ill do the hoovering when Im good and ready
 
truthseeker said:
25 euro for 2 hours?

I think Id rather have my 25 euro to engage in some unnecessary ebay shopping and Ill do the hoovering when Im good and ready
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+1 Thats the spirit!

My mother was always the same when we were younger; me, not so much its a home not a show house. There will be times when people living there will make a mess. None of that taking your shoes off at the door malarkey either!

I wouldn't care if people called around unnannounced, If I'm in the middle of something I'd tell them. They'd know me well enough that if 'm at something they can sit and watch and chat away if they're happy to! If I'm nursin a man cold (hangover) I'm just as blunt and tell them not to expect any insightful conversation!

Cold callers wouldn't bother me, Say no, polite but direct, door closed!
 
I don't think the decline of unannounced visits is really that big a reflection of a decline in society. It's just that now because communication is so easy and straightforward that you just drop someone a text or quick call to see if their in before you pop over. So in my case it isn't that I see less of friends and family, it's just that they always give a heads up before they pop over such as "stick the kettle on".

Plus, given that in many cases you no longer live within walking "popping over" distance, you want to check someone is in before get in the car and possibly waste a trip.

Once I've had my dinner, cleaned up a bit, put the baby to bed, those last few hours before bed are my only time to relax. Even if I'm to just answer and dismiss the cold caller, it's breaking up the few hours in a weekday I get to just switch off. So I'm happier to just let them knock, hopefully it's raining, cold, windy and miserable and this odious virus of the modern world of hassling people in their homes come down with some debilitating pestilence.
 
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