Today’s deep thoughts for Thurs involve those annoying people who come around to your door trying to sell you something crappy (or get you to donate to a cause). And my question for you is: Are you a sucker who always buys/donates/agrees to something from a door-to-door salesperson? Are you half and half, sometimes you buy, sometimes you don’t? Or do you make it a point to never purchase anything from your front door?
This deep thought was spurred by a few instances that have happened recently. First, a friend of mine was telling me how some man came to her door in the evening, when she was home alone. He was selling magazine subscriptions, made her really uncomfortable, and got upset when she kept refusing to buy anything from him. Second, we had a door-to-door visitor this past SUNDAY, right in the middle of Ryan’s birthday party. Now I don’t know about you, but to me Sundays are sacred and no one should be bothered by an annoying intrusion of a door-to-door marketer. Thankfully (or not thankfully, as you’ll read coming up), I was not the person to answer the door during Ryan’s party. Because if I had been, I would have surely glared at the dude and curtly interrupted his spiel by saying I was in the middle of celebrating my son’s first birthday, and NO I do NOT want to buy anything from you. However, FatJ was the lucky winner to answer the door. And because he apparently comes from a long line of people who can’t say no, he was a SUCKER and bought this dude’s $25 coupon book for nearby restaurants and business establishments. When he first told me he bought the hawked coupon book, I thought he was joking and laughed it off. But then FatJ went on to say what ‘great’ deals there were in the coupon book, such as “buy one meal get one free” at restaurants we NEVER go to. Five dollars off a take and bake pizza at some ‘corner store’ that we’ve never been to in 3.5 years of living here. Not to mention- do we buy take and bake pizzas, EVER? Um, no. “We’re supporting local businesses” FatJ tells me. Hm, not really. Because we’ll NEVER USE THESE BLEEPIN’ coupons, GUARANTEED. And why do I use the word guaranteed, you ask? It’s because FatJ has been suckered by the door-to-door coupon sellers in the past, and has failed to use said purchased “deal” in any way, shape, or form. If I remember correctly, a few years back another door-to-door hawker came by, selling $50 coupon cards to a newly opened gas station in our area. For $50, you get yourself 10 free oil changes, 10 free car washes, 5 cents off gas, discounted auto repair, etc etc. Have we ever used this card??? NO. Well, maybe once. Do we even know where this card is? NO.
Whoooooosh….what’s that I hear? Is it a 50 dollar bill being flushed down the toilet? Followed by a twenty and a five? Whoooooosh…
Don’t get me wrong, I have succumbed to a few door-to-door purchases in my lifetime, but not many. I’ve bought Christmas wreaths from the boy scouts when they’ve come a knocking. (Although when I was pregnant I saw them marching down our sidewalk and just could not DEAL with the boy scouts and their wreaths at that moment, so I threw myself onto the kitchen floor and waited for them to leave.)
And then there are the inner-city ghetto children, accompanied by their ghetto parent, hauling around the Sam’s Club box of microwave popcorn, and trying to get you to buy some to go towards their upcoming summer ‘football camp.’ Uh huh, football camp my booty.
Anyways, to sum this up…you may call me a black soul if you like, but I rarely give in to door-to-door sales pitches and make a purchase. Usually I just say “no thanks, I’m not interested at this time” and shut the door. Or I just don’t answer the door in the first place.
How about you? Are you a yes-man? A sucker? A hide-in-the-closet-when-the-doorbell-rings type? Are you polite and personable, or flat-out mean? Do you say no all the time, or yes all the time? Or a little of both? Do you feel guilty if you say no, so instead you say yes, even if the thing you buy is something you don’t need and will never use?
Tell me what you think. And while you’re at it, I’ve got some ocean-front property in Arizona, if you’re interested.