Don’t Ring My Bell

Last week was the final straw.

During about a 4-hour period that I happened to be home, my doorbell rang FOUR times by solicitors. After I closed the door in exasperation for the 4th time, I went online and bought this sign:

Unless it’s a Girl Scout selling cookies or a student raising money for some worthy cause, I will not open my wallet. From religion-mongers to gardeners selling fertilizer to satellite TV sales reps, I feel like I’m constantly opening my door to people bombarding me with stuff that I’m not interested in buying. But that’s not the biggest problem. The problem is that I simply don’t like people disrupting my life at home. When I’m at home I’m either working, hanging out with my kid (or trying to get him to nap!), spending time with my husband, or simply relaxing…and I don’t like to be interrupted when I’m doing any of those things. It’s one thing with annoying telemarketers (did that Do Not Call Registry work for anyone?!?) because, thanks to caller ID, I never answer those calls. But it’s much harder to avoid the door-to-door salespeople. They know I’m home. My lights are on and they see my kid peering at them through the window and waving hello as if he knows them. Avoiding them is not an option.

What I find most ironic about the invasion of door-to-door salespeople on my block is that I moved to the SoCal ‘burbs for a quieter life. Yet I somehow got more peace and quiet in my high-rise apartment building in the bustling city of San Francisco. I guess when you no longer have a front door code or doorman to stop them, door-to-door salespeople will come a callin’.

I don’t mean to offend anyone who is a door-to-door salesperson. I know plenty of people who have gone door-to-door to sell everything from Avon to knives. Everyone needs a decent way to pay the bills. But if I’m looking to buy something, I go online or head to the store. The only time I think I need something when I really don’t is when I head to Bed, Bath & Beyond (did I really need those onion goggles?!?). That place is seriously dangerous for a wallet.

With a few pieces of industrial strength Velcro, I hung up my new sign last week. My doorbell has been silent since then…just the way I like it.