Social media post on Mastodon by Dan Moren.
It reads, “ My son just got me out of talking to a door-to-door cable salesman so I guess parenthood was all worth it.”
It’s easy.
- Deny
- Take control
- Show empathy
- Start their departure.
- Make them glad they’re leaving
Cut them off, “Oh, sorry. I’m not interested in that. I need to quickly get back to what I was doing. But you have a good day and try stay cool/warm/dry/etc. out there.” Start stepping back, “And be careful of the dog four doors down, it’s a fucking cunt.”
As you close the door, say “You too, bud.” regardless of what they say, even if they say nothing.
They will never return or pursue, and you won’t feel rude.
It’s ok to be rude. They were rude for showing up at your door in the first place.
Eh, I save rude for the second “Leave.” It’s a human being on the other side of the door. Half the time it’s some kid who just needed a job summer before college. I say hey, I don’t want solar panels right now, have a nice day.
Now, when you tell me to wait, as you stand on my porch, then I’m going to tell you to get off my porch. I still say please though, because my kids might be listening, and I strive to use good manners in all my interactions, in the hopes they will too. You can be firm and polite.
I sympathise that they are currently in a period in their life where they are doing door-to-door sales for a wage.
I did this and now my son is crying. Are you sure that’s good advice?
Edit: I might have misunderstood something
salemen use children to pull on your heartstrings. No mercy!
here’s what we do,
A: don’t open the door if you see it in advance, however our house is built where other than our electric doorbell we can’t see who’s at the door, peephole is old and foggy.
B: “oh no thanks we’re not interested” often filled with a “no dangit [dogs name] stop barking” / “get back” then close the door because the dog is trying to get out
I just say no and shut the door. I don’t say it rudely but I also don’t wait for a response. It’s really not that hard?
Generally they delay answering who they are for this exact reason. If they engage you before you say no, they are more likely to pressure your u into listening
No external factor is necessary to “get you out of” talking to a door-to-door salesman. It really is as simple as saying “get the fuck off my property” and slamming the door in their face.
We finally got a “no soliciting” sign and it’s insane how much it actually works. I had just assumed people would ignore it and it’d be as useless as the do not call list. But I was wrong and people turn their ass around before ringing the doorbell
Me too. My SO is too fucking nice. I love her for being so nice, but I caught her giving way too much personal info to some random solicitor. When I asked her why she would do that she “felt bad” for him. Nope, not having that, and the sign has worked wonders by preventing all contact in the first place. Can’t feel guilty if you don’t engage.
Cable? What year is this?
That’s why they have door to door salesman now, they’re getting desperate lol
Cable has negative value to me. I don’t get why anyone would want to pay to have a line serve them so many ads. And the cheap cable package is garbage on the content side, too.
I could never go back to cable and don’t understand what too me so long to cut the cable (yay COViD? For pushing me over that edge). But there are still a lot of people with a lot of inertia. I assume cable companies are just trying to hold onto their remaining customers long enough to build more profit into their internet offerings.
They may also be preying on their elderly customers finding it difficult to make the paradigm jump to streaming
That being said, streaming has a gap in local broadcast coverage that’s more easily filled with cable
- not everyone can, or is aware they can use an antenna
- local streaming like Hulu is expensive
- sports streaming is expensive plus per sport
- I rarely miss local broadcasts, with only a few exceptions such as presidential debates and the Super Bowl
my favorite story of door to door salesman is when some unmarked white van came around the neighborhood selling meat. My dad opened the door said “sorry… we, uh, we’re all vegans” in the most awkward manner, the dude 100% knew it was a lie but just said “yeah alright sorry for bothering ya” and left
Haven’t seen the van meat man other than that 1 time, no idea why he was selling meat out of a creepy white van but I hope it’s not what I’m thinking. I wonder where he is now
That’s actually legitimately scary.
As a child, I was suspicious of the Swanson Ice Cream trucks that randomly appeared in my neighborhood.
