Do you answer door when home alone?

[Farrar]

Since they can see in from the stoop, I usually don't have the option to not answer.

[Plink]

I am shocked by this thread. I can't even imagine freezing in terror at the sound of the doorbell.

 

I guess I'm not easily ruffled.

[J-rap]

I always do, unless I just don't feel like it! (not for safety reasons)  However, when we lived in our apt. in a rather sleazy part of a big city with three deadlocks on the door, I never did until they told me who it was and I knew them.  (We would yell through the day "Who is it?")  But that's what everybody did there.

[DawnM]

We live a ways out.

 

The only people who come to my door are package delivery people.  I usually just look outside first.

 

My dogs go nuts and sound ferocious so I don't worry too much.

 

Dawn

[mytwomonkeys]

i would probably yell through the door, "who is it?"

 

it's usually my neighbor bringing vegetables from his garden.  i can't imagine someone i didn't know entering my yard. i live in the country with a big fence around our property. i would be afraid to enter it personally, lol.  i would think a dog would attack me.  my dogs are indoor mostly, but if they are outside they will run to the fence and bark their faces off at you.  even when they aren't out, there is no way of knowing that they aren't off in another part of the land.  even the delivery person leaves our packages by the fence. my mail person honks for me.  

 

so no, i wouldn't answer without yelling through the door first.

[mytwomonkeys]

No and I don't usually answer my phone for unknown numbers either.

 

i don't answer for unknown numbers either. leave a message and i'll call you back. :)

[KungFuPanda]

Oh year. Solicitors makes me think you have a parade of prostitutes turning up at your door.

It's exactly like that.

 

I live in a Baltimore-D.C. suburb and I've never felt unsafe shopping at night or answering my door. I just avoid it sometimes so I don't have to endure a sales pitch.

[Carrie12345]

Let me preface this by saying I adore my husband.

But I don't feel like his presence has any impact on whether or not bad things could happen. If someone knocks on my door (we don't have a doorbell,) it's going to be the same person whether my husband is home or not. If that person is a psychotic junkie from the neighborhood (we're in a gated community, no soliciting, all guests registered,) he or she is not going to care if my husband is home or not.

 

The dogs are a slightly different matter. They definitely look like they could kill you. And if my kids are home, they very well may. I'm not sure if they would just for me, but there's only one way to find out! ;-)

[ktgrok]

Well, I think I am careful.  I look out the window & see who it is first.  I've just never seen anyone that made me afraid to open it.  I have a hard time picturing it.

 

That's kind of where I am. I look out the window by the door before I open it, always, to see who it is. If it was someone that gave me a bad vibe I wouldn't open it, but that hasn't happened so far. 

 

I do have big dogs though.....in fact one guy was selling alarm systems door to door. My dogs were particularly obnoxious and had jumped on the window barking at him loudly. I put them away, and opened the door. He said, "I am here selling alarms, but you don't need one, " and then he left :)

[Ewe Mama]

I am never home alone, but the three barking dogs keep the weirdos at bay.

 

We live on the outskirts of a small town and have the meat truck guys, solicitors (religious and otherwise), and survey takers stop by now and again. I always keep our outer door locked and regularly open the inner door while holding our lab by the collar as she barks and lunges at them from the other side of the locked door. What they don't know is that I have just commanded her to get 'em. Keep in mind that this dog would never hurt a fly and is terrified of our chihuahua. :)

 

Between having to yell through the door over the barking dogs and me saying, "sorry, I can't hear you" repeatedly, they never stay for long. :biggrin:

[shawthorne44]

The default is "Don't answer" when someone knocks on my door and I'm not expecting someone.  I will peak out the window to check out the car to try to figure out who it is.  I will also sometimes look through the peep hole, but I stand back so that I don't make a shadow.  If it is someone I want to talk to, I will answer. 

 

I knew someone (my vet) that opened the door and was only saved by a German Shepard defending her.  It wasn't even her dog.  She'd brought it home because it had a disease that no dog had ever recovered from.  But, when it got its once every two hour treatment, it was such a happy normal dog that she couldn't put it down.  Eventually it did recover and was returned to its happy loving owners. 

[ksr5377]

I live in a so-so part of our city. I don't answer the door unless it's a neighbor I know well or UPS/FedEx/Mailman.  Maybe if we had a chain lock that I could open our door partway and talk out of I would - but we don't, so I don't.  While most of the people stopping by are just trying to sell something or get us to vote we also have had situations where people have tried to open our doors.

 

ETA:  I also know that I am an introvert and there's a part of me that views someone I don't know knocking on my door the same as if they were calling me.  Just because I'm here doesn't mean I want to talk you.  Just because the phone rings doesn't mean I answer it - even if I'm sitting right beside it.

[zoobie]

My doors have lots of glass, so if I don't know the person, I usually just yell, "no thanks" and let my dogs bark at them as they leave. Assuming the dogs actually come to bark. I miss my old shepherd mix. She had a great "get off my porch!" bark. Magazine sellers and religious peddlers usually didn't even ring when they heard her.

[Chelli]

True confession:

 

I don't usually open the door when someone rings the doorbell, but it's not because I'm afraid of them. It's because my living room is usually a wreck. 

 

If it's someone I know or someone I need to talk to, I'll go out on the front porch to talk to them, but I don't let them in the house. They probably think I'm a paranoid whack-a-doodle, but I'm just a homeschooling mom who hasn't had the kids pick up the house yet that day.

 

However, I don't find it odd if someone didn't want to answer the door to someone they don't know. I don't find it odd if someone has no problem doing so. We all have our different levels of what feels comfortable to us or uncomfortable. 

[Catwoman]

Let me preface this by saying I adore my husband.But I don't feel like his presence has any impact on whether or not bad things could happen. If someone knocks on my door (we don't have a doorbell,) it's going to be the same person whether my husband is home or not. If that person is a psychotic junkie from the neighborhood (we're in a gated community, no soliciting, all guests registered,) he or she is not going to care if my husband is home or not.The dogs are a slightly different matter. They definitely look like they could kill you. And if my kids are home, they very well may. I'm not sure if they would just for me, but there's only one way to find out! ;-)

I was wondering why you invited me over today on such short notice.... :eek: :svengo:

 

;) ;) ;) ;)

[Aelwydd]

Yes, I do answer the door. But, only in my underwear.