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In general, I agree with a lot of the posts who believe you have to be cautious. We now live in a small town, but still have people ring the bell...men who want to "cut down our tree", JW's, kids selling magazines, etc. These are annoying but you can choose to open the door or not. I would peek out the window and if it is someone we know, of course would open the door.
One year on Christmas day, the neighbor across the street and one home over called...needing some eggs and sugar and the stores were all closed. We said "sure" and she asked if it was ok to send her 12 year old granddaughter over. Since we know them and even go to church together...something like that, while rare, can happen. But, when I lived in a large city, I didn't even know the neighbors across from my apartment door, rarely even saw them in fact. I think a lot of it has to do with where you were raised and where you live now.
I hate people showing up unannounced.. and woudlnt ever do it to anyone else.. no one knows how another person is feeling, if their ill, the house is untidy, grandkids running around or I might be on my way out... its downright ignorant.. and I dont like it at all... never have done.... I close my curtains over after nine at night to tell the world Im shut off from the world and dont want to know... I cant stand canvassers or holy joes either at my door... I had a friend years ago who would barge into my house with her obnoxious daughter at the weekend in the evening, when I had family over and we d all be watching something good on telly and having a drink... she would come in talk loudly, her daughter would prance around climbing over us and furniture then one night she just went too far...... she grabbed my remote control and turned the TV over to what she liked to watch.... I screeched, to turn it back over and her pandering mother said... OH COME ON its our favourite show on TV on this side....... I said.. ok watch it in your own house then........ she sort of took the hint after that.... I think if we seem to nice and welcoming we do become a doormat, but if you ever notice, its usually the same people who would be horrified if this was done to them..
I live in Australia. I don't know anyone who would purposely ignore the doorbell if their friend happened to drop by. This thread is just weird.
Nobody says they wouldn't answer the door to their friends.
We are talking about the random ring of the bell.
That is like 0% my friends ever. It's 90% strangers who don't belong (and are illegally soliciting - some of which is fake soliciting because they are actually casing homes) and 10% deliveries.
If a delivery requires a signature, I will already know about it and be anticipating.
Once my mom stopped by (she usually calls first). She just texted/called from outside. Then she came to the door. People who know us don't ring or knock because the baby could be napping and that sets the dogs off.
My block of flats doesn't actually have a doorbell at the front door so actually no-one can drop by unannounced.
Most people I know would call me first so that I would know they are coming. After they've called, I then go down and put a rock in front of the door to hold it open (it is left there for that specific purpose) so they can then come in and then knock on the door of my flat. If something is to be delivered, I let the store know to call when they are approaching.
In this flat where I am now, I also have a peephole - with my rented bedsitter in the city, I didn't so I really didn't like answering the door there because there were some oddballs in the building (one who did knock on my door and yelled abuse (he had me mistaken for someone else)).
I normally wouldn't drop by anyone announced - the only exceptions being 1) my sister on odd occasions (she lived close to my work), even then I would normally call first; or 2) neightbours** if I needed to let them know something important (because I wouldn't have had their phone numbers). I would never drop by my parents or other siblings without calling them first. As for other people, I always call them first.
**Living by myself, something became lodged in my throat and couldn't get rid of it and so did knock on a neightbours door to see if they could help but I didn't really chose the right neighbours (they were lovely but a bit old and frail). It wasn't life threaening as such but I did end up having to go to the hospital.
Thus, even though I don't really like answering the door, I would never ignore it - what if it is someone that needs help? Where I live now, it would be likely to only be a neighbour from my very small block of 6 flats and they are all lovely people so if they did knock on my door, it would probably be for an important reason.
One of the other reasons I don't really like people dropping by unannounced is because living by myself, I can sometimes be a bit untidy - I like some forewarning, even if it is only few minutes via a phone call.
Well, everyone is different and I respect the opinions of those who say they never answer the door - and never even look to see who it might be.
That said, I just don't understand that mind set. The only reason I say this is because what if it's something important or some sort of emergency? When I was twenty-one, I was home alone one Summer afternoon while my parents were at work. This was when we lived in an apartment.
A neighbor knocked on my door to tell me that there was a small fire in the Basement. Though I'm sure I would have smelled the smoke soon after - and the fire alarm did go off a couple minutes later, in a fire, a couple of minutes can make all the difference in the world, and looking back on that day I was glad I answered the door and got out when I did.
Ever since then, I've always at least looked out the window to see who it is when there's a knock at the door.
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