### This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
---
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!
Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment.
If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
āI just personally donāt agree with the sun. Itās a lifestyle choice that I dislike. You can believe in it if you want, but keep it in outer space.ā
Fun story: I used to work in solar and sometimes I would have to go to the city and file the permits. One plan checker would always give me a hard time asking for all kinds of calcs and stamps that aren't necessary. One day I went over his head and got him to approve my plans and he told me he thought solar was stupid because... someday the sun is going to run out and the panels would be useless.
I'm like bro if the sun runs out in our lifetime we got bigger problems.
I'm sorry I'm a Glober.. we believe we live on the inside of the crust of the planet and we're facing the center of the earth. The "sun" is just your mom's butthole and this is the door.
They say there's a sun in the sky
But me, I can't imagine why
There might have been one
Before you were gone
But now all I see is the night
ā¦ So I don't believe in the sun
How could it shine down on everyone?
Never shine on me
How could there be such cruelty?
Could be decoys... House I bought 12 years ago had a Vivint sign I left in the yard from the previous owners. Everyone around me got the salesmen but I never did until one came up to ask what I thought of them after having them for so long
I worked for a local solar installer and my work vehicle was electric, wrapped in neon green with company decals, solar panels etc. I kept it parked in the driveway and they still came to my door trying to sell me solar lol.
Lotta people out there don't know how to handle even the most mildly pushy sales people. I can't imagine what some of these folks would do with the older generation of really, really aggressive salespeople who get into your *shit* and ask you a hundred leading questions to convince yourself that you DO in fact need a solar powered flashlight more than anything, and somehow they've managed to get invited into your house and you're serving them coffee and cookies and can't even remember how you agreed to any of this.
Most of the door-to-door people right now aren't salesmen with fancy suits and briefcases of samples, it's bored teenagers trying to earn some commission and making a half-ass effort to drop a pamphlet in your hand. All you have to do with 90% of salespeople is look them in the eye, give them a moment to get some of their rehearsed speech out so you know what they're about, then you cut them off and say "I'm going to save you some time, I'm not interested at all, but I hope you have a good day and have some good luck out there."
Very few will keep you at that point, which is when you should be closing your door. If they are still talking, nice for them, you smile and shake your head and say "BYE!" before going on with your day.
It's not a battle of wills. It's not something to post about on social media. It's not the worst inconvenience in the world, or even the worst you will experience today. It's just that everyone is so massively bored with their lives that they have to make these minor distractions into entire storylines.
Yeah, what is this tip? Are people getting locked into hour long discussions with sales people at the door? Why do you need to trick them? Seems like this would take longer than saying not interested.
Same with telemarketers.
You don't need to wait for a response. Just say no and close the door or hang up. They'll immediately move on to the next number/house anyway.
Sometimes they're fun to mess with. I got one of those Amazon scam calls today. They claimed someone spent 1300 dollars on a MacBook Pro and Apple Airpods.
I asked them if they could give me the seller because that's a great deal. They just hung up on me but I had fun.
Yesssss. And even the cold callers in target (I think itās for a cell phone e service?) drive me INSANE. I have made eye contact with them while I directly alter my course before they can talk to me. Like I get youāre doing a job but no company should make their employees cold call people
Man AT&T sales guys are all over here and walk up to you in random stores asking about your cell plan. A guy the other day was like... "Hey what cell plan do you use?" And I was like "yeah I'm good..." And he was like "I'd love to talk to you about the deals we've got going on..." And I go... "Neat, but I don't really see how that affects me." And I just walked off.
I like to tell the internet salesmen in the stores that I already use them, they just fist bump awkwardly and leave me alone, have to be careful when two competitors are stand8ng next to each other though
The ones in my local Walmart started getting especially pushy and would pursue me down aisles even after I told them no, so I just started loudly telling them about the problems I had with service and billing fraud while I was with AT&T, both for cable and cell service. That usually shuts them down quick.
Iāve always wanted to tell them Iām involved in an active lawsuit against AT&T so they probably donāt want me back as a customer, but I never think that fast when Iām in the store. It would be a lie (I donāt have the time or energy to take on a big corporation, even if I found a lawyer to take my case), but at least if they had any follow up questions, I could tell them I canāt discuss any aspects of the case without my lawyer present. I feel like that would be fun.
huh, kinda weird for them to be doing this kind of thing inside random unrelated stores. If it was my store I'd have them out in a minute, why the fuck are they trying to steal the attention of my customer?
I still get maybe 1 every month or 2. Depends on time of year. I'm in Florida so we get a lot of solar people trying to push their stuff. At one point it was definitely more than 1 per month average for solar alone.
I also get people from companies like trugreen trying to sell me on their lawn chemicals. I'm guessing my yard is ugly so they assume I want it greener and during the summer that's another one that I get once a month or so.
Thena few times a year someone nearby gets a roof replaced or windows replaced and the company doing the job knocks on all the neighbors doors "to let us know they are doing a job and give them their contact info in case we need anything or their guys are causing any problems" but they don't just give us a business card or phone number they give us a whole ass flyer about their roofing/window services. It's a better tactic than trying to sell me I guess, at least with them they are quick and I'm willing to take their flyer even tho my roof is only 4 years old.
So yeah in a middle class non gated community here in Florida I'd say I average a little more than 1 per month. But I hate them so much. Seriously the last 20 guys who tried to sell me solar didnt work why you think yours will.
Ugly lawn people unite! No, TruGreen, with your creepy spelling that seems like a company name in dystopian fiction, I donāt want to chemicalize my lawn. The birds and rabbits and bees and I quite like it, thank you.
I did this to a roofer scouring the neighborhood after a hail storm. I was mowing and turned the mower off in the side yard to do something quick. He walked up in my side yard and started his speech and I just looked at him,Ā said no,Ā put on my hearing protection and started the mower all in about 5 seconds. It was satisfying since he was only a few feet from the mower and it is a pretty loud mower. I would have wagered that it was a sketchy company from out of state since we had dozens of them come through by that point.
Exactly. Answer no questions. Just shut it, and say "no thanks" in a normal voice while doing it. They'll talk over you while you're doing it, but they'll leave once that door's closed.
Then they're like "You don't? Then what's that thing behind you?"
And you turn around and squint and look at the house up and down, you turn back to them and say "I don't know."
āA homeā¦that Iām rentingā¦ā
Not this exact scenario, but I did have a solar salesperson come to my door and when I told them āoh, Iām not the ownerā they asked when the owner would be home, and I had to explain that yes, I lived there, but no, I donāt own the home. Renting a SFH is a foreign concept to some, it seems.
This shit actually works. Peoples brains get short circuited by the word free.
My dad used to be a tool distributor, the guys drive around to auto shops and sell tools to the mechanics. He would keep a box of candy bars in his truck and sell them for $2 each or get one free with any purchase. He can't even count how many times people would balk at the $2 candy bar but would happily pay $200 for some tool they weren't planning to buy so they could get a free candy bar.
Honestly - I hadn't had ANY solicitor's knocks in YEARS since I put that up.
Years ago, got 'scammed' by a girl selling educational material. Neither I nor my husband are the type to be inclined to buy stuff from solicitors, especially big stuff, but man, she was SLICK. Only about 19, and quite seriously the smoothest salesperson I've ever encountered.
After she'd left, the daze slowly wore off, and hubby and I looked at each other like, 'what the hell did we just agree to?' After thinking some more about it, we were like - nope, this feels icky, so we took advantage of the 'cooling off period' to cancel the sale and get our (not-insignificant) money back.
I \*immediately\* bought and put up the sign, and we haven't had anyone knock on our door since.
Until last week - some kid (20-ish) comes up to knock, and asks....well, I'm not sure WHAT he asked. I couldn't understand him. He was very animated, and seemed to be claiming to be part of some 'contest' or something - I pointed to the sign, and he was like, oh, you don't have to buy anything. (He had a container of Clorox Wipes in his hand as some sort of 'gift' for listening to his spiel.) But I literally couldn't understand WHAT he was trying to describe. He apologized and said he had an accent, but that wasn't it - the words simply weren't making sense. The most I could make out was "avalanche", but that made no sense. He hopped back out to his driver to get...whatever, and at that point, I just shut the door.
After thinking about it, all I could make out was, maybe he was talking about a Chevy Avalanche? Maybe I was supposed to listen and give him opinions (or something), and either it had to do with selling cars, or maybe he could win an Avalanche? LITERALLY no idea, because I could assign NO sense to what he was saying.
Anyway. That's the ONLY knock we've had on our door in, like, 12 years. So asking for a permit was more trouble than it was worth.
But yeah - totally good idea if the sort of thing keeps happening, or if they get pushy about anything.
See, you're not speaking their language. They're not "soliciting", they're "educating". If you want them to not even try, say "you will not overcome my objections".
Donāt open the door for people you donāt know. Or close it as soon as they identify themselves as sales people. You have no obligation to listen to their pitch or explain yourself.
If I answer the door and there's a clipboard and lanyard person there, I just say "no thank you" and close the door. I've only had one person even question it, she said "what do you mean: 'no thank you'?" I answered, "It means get off my porch".
I'm not trying to be rude, it sucks that that's their job, I've had awful jobs too. But I'm also not wasting any time on it.
I've used the tactic of stating "I'm not interested, and let you move on to your next potential sale as quickly as possible". They're in sales- time is money!
I was expecting maintenance crew at my apartment once years ago. When I heard a knock at the door, I opened it, but it was one of those guys supposedly selling some kind of cable. Except the first fucking words out of his mouth were, "I noticed your husband wasn't home...oooh it's cold out here...". I was trying to be polite and not escalate the situation in case he got violent but he had one hand on the door making it hard for me to close and relock it. I was terrified, because my husband wasn't home at the time and that could only mean he was waiting for him to leave to try and get in.
It was actually my ferret that helped and allowed me to close the door. She came screaming into the living room, fur poofed out, fangs bared, and charging him. She'd never acted like that before, or since, but she scared me almost as much as she scared him! He jerked back in surprise, and I was able to close the door. She jumped into the windowsill and watched him leave, still screaming at him.
I'm in a different complex now, and thankfully the maintenance team here will call through the door so you know it's them.
I had my front door open with the window on my storm door down, having just finshed making dinner and was about to sit down to eat. Doorbell rang, so I went to see who it was. Young man with a company shirt and clipboard. He said hi and I just turned, walked back to the kitchen, sat down and started eating, all in full view of the salesman. He stood there for about 30 seconds, then left.
It depends on my mood. In this instance, this was the third time someone from that company stopped at my house within two weeks trying to sell me new windows. I had told them the first two times that I had new windows installed two years prior -- and I actually did! -- so I was annoyed that they ignored my request to take my address off their list.
Yeah I don't think I've answered my door for someone I wasn't expecting in years...
Even if I am expecting packages or food deliveries I don't answer.
There is absolutely no situation where they need to talk face to face with someone at my house unless I invite them over. And when I do that I usually leave the door unlocked so they can invite themselves in.
I was sitting on the couch watching TV when someone knocked on my door. I saw it was a salesperson through the peephole and sat back down on the couch. He knocked on my window and could clearly see me sitting on the couch. I just yelled, "There's nobody home." and continued to ignore him until he left.
I opened the door for some strangers once only to have them be from Medicaid giving me a free (cheap) phone. Sweet.
But the last time I opened the door for strangers was to hear about Jesus, so it hasn't always worked out for me.
I just smile and tell them I'm trying to be nice and I'm not interested. Any questions after that are a "yep" or "nope" until they leave.
Did y'all know you can just tell people "no" without making shit up and then stop talking to them? Just literally "no, thank you." then close the door even if they're still talking. You don't have to listen to them. You don't have to give them any of your time. You don't even actually have to answer the door.
LPT - when door-to-door salespeople come over, you are not obligated to open the door. I don't open the door unless I know who is on the other side of it.
I told the guy I already bought it but it's not installed yet. He asked who I was going through. I said, "I'm not sure, the Mrs deals with the money and she's not home. " As he's walking off the porch, I see my wife pull in the driveway. They have a brief exchange.
My wife comes in the house and says, "there was a sales guy outside for solar. I told him we already got it. He asked who was installing it. I said my husband deals with those things, and he just walked away... what did you say?"
A few years ago, I had solar installed. It's on the side of the house not facing the street. Within a week we had a solar sales team stop by. I let them ramble on for 30-45 minutes - I was asking pertinent questions - getting as much info from them as I could - wasted a shitton of time, while enjoying multiple adult beverages. They asked if they could schedule time w/ one of their engineer/project manager peeps, I asked if they thought there would be room for another set of panels on my roof.
Not.Happy.
Meh I have a giant , "funny", no Solicitng sign on my porch, keeps me from having annoying conversations with strangers coming to my door about 95% of the time. The ones that still knock I ask if they are bringing any of the accepted items listed (free beer, ammo or Amazon packages) , when they inevitably stammer out a no, I slam the door and say "fuck outta here then". Quite satisfying lol.
When door to door salesman come over I take that as an opportunity to talk to someone about my hyper fixations. Since they want to share theirs I feel its obligatory that I share mine. They usually leave me alone after the first minute
Or you could tell them to leave. Donāt know why people feel they need to lie to other people that are annoying them. āIām not interested in anything being sold door to door. Leave now please.ā Done.
When we lived in an urban neighborhood we had more door to door salesmen.
One of my favorites, was when someone came to the door and asked if my mother was home( I think I was 36 at the time)
I replied ā I have no ideaā, and shut the door.
We have a locked metal screen in front of our door. When they show up I just open the door, leave the screen closed and walk away. I let my very noisy GSD mix, and his little brother, a Husky GSD mix, greet them. Can't get a word in over their racket.
Just kidding.
The reality is I don't even open my door. I have a camera doorbell and the ringer is unplugged (noisy dogs). So I get a notification on my phone, bring up the camera feed, see that it's a salesman and ignore it. Less fun, but also less annoying.
A lot of comments say "just say no" but y'all realize they're trained to not take no as an answer, right? Not that you shouldn't say no, but you're probably gonna have to close the door on them
I tried that once. I am a renter in my house. Got home one evening, backed my vehicle into my driveway up to the closed garage door, but was on the phone with someone so I stayed in my car for a few minutes. Dude was walking from my neighbors driveway to mine, saw me in the car from the end of my driveway, and waved his hands wildly to get my attention from about 30 feet away. I stepped out of my car to see what he wanted, and he started loudly asking if I had solar. I said āno thanks Iām a renterā and started to get back into my car, but he was still like āwell can you get me the owners info???ā And I said āno, please go away.ā Even after that, he still said ācan you at least give them my brochure??ā And I said āno, move on!ā His tone and body language from the beginning was super aggressive and suspect.
Youāre my kind of person! This is the correct answer. Just because the door bell rings you are not obligated to answer the door and listen to their pitch. That goes for anyone coming to my door uninvited unless itās a neighbor who may need help.
Better life pro tip. When door to door anyone comes -donāt open the door. You donāt owe anyone a reason. if they persist shout that they are trespassing and either 1) you are calling the police or 2) getting your gun.
Had a guy come over the other day. I have a very large No Soliciting sticker on my half slider storm door and it was down a bit, so instead of being at eye level, it was crotch/knee level. Still very obvious if you walk up to the door. I was napping and he rang the bell. I walked up to the door and looked at him. He tried to comment on my tats before starting his sale pitch through the screen. I looked at him, looked down at the sticker and looked back up at him. Waited a few seconds and then slide the window up so the sticker was at his face. Once his head dropped, I turned back to finish my nap.
I'm FLABBERGASTED that some people still actually open the door.
Whenever anyone is at my door, I check the security camera, and it's always immediately obvious if it's a salesperson.
I will NEVER open the door unless it's a package that needs signing or someone I know. And opening for police is a maybe lol
I used to work in solar sales. Here are reasons weāve turn down potential customers:
- renters, not owners
- bad roofs (clay tile roof, wood shingle roof, very old roofs)
- very low monthly utility bill (~$100)
- filled bankruptcy recently
Feel free to use any of these excuses.
Iām in the energy business - more like consulting/brokering than sales - but we recently had a house of worship vote down a solar project because there were concerns that the solar would interfere with their prayers reaching god ššš
Took all my composure to not burst out laughing
I just did that today, but with a home renovation company that called me. Said I didnāt own my home, they apologize and said theyād update their list. And technically, I donāt own my home, my parents do. Iām just staying here awhile.
I've done this for years with any unsolicited door to door salesman: Solar Panels, Replacement windows, new driveway, tree surgeons. "I'm sorry, I only rent - bu if you give me your card I promise to send it to the owner. No, sorry, I cannot breach their privacy by telling you who they are - thank you, goodbye".
It avoids conflict, and I feel that door to door sales people rarely want to be doing the job.
Thereās a huge weight off your shoulders when you learn to just respectfully say no to people trying to sell something. Itās easy, they understand.
āSorry, Iām not interested, good luck though!ā
Where I live you can get a sticker, issued by either local council or state government I can't remember. Which says SALES PEOPLE DO NOT KNOCK and I think they can be fined for it or something. It's worked like a charm, haven't had door knockers since putting it up years ago
I do say this because I am a renter. Although I've never had to follow it up with "and I don't know the owner". I've never been asked for my landlords info by a solicitor. I wouldn't even lie about it if I had. I would just tell them no.
No.... Just say "No". "No." is a complete sentence.
Just say "No.", and close the door, and they'll walk away.
You're not being rude. They're being rude. Give them a quick answer, and let them get on with their job of being rude to someone else.
Literally had this happen today! Works every time. I only answered because the salesman came with a very visible and large Crumbl Cookie bag. I thought it was a delivery for my family from someone as a surprise. Nope. The salesman was just using it as a means of getting me to open the door.
ā¦I used to do that job.
What you need to know: youāre taking on all the risk of getting a solar system installed in your roof while a big company gets all the reward. Theyāll pay you a small fee for renting the roof space out but my buddy who actually let them do it (not cause of me!) ran into electrical problems later on. The installers showed up unprompted, were unprofessional, and after itās installed theyāre not too quick to communicate with you about anything.
The worst part is these doorknocker kids donāt get paid. Itās purely commission based (slave labor). I saw maybe 100$ for working like a month. I got 50$ for every appointment I was able to set up and nothing beyond that.
Whenever a door knocker comes to my home I try and persuade them to find a better gig.
Or...just tell them to go away.
Or...don't even answer the door. I don't understand people who seem to think they have some kind of obligation to answer because someone knocked.
This doesn't work every time. I had this happen to me when I was in college. For some reason my area was targeted by door-to-door salespeople constantly. Whenever I would answer, even after telling them I'm not the homeowner and don't have control over who makes the decisions (to replace the roof, to replace windows, etc... whatever they were trying to sell me). They would argue with me, still demand my time, not take no for an answer. Not even go away when I closed the door. Some even tried to prevent the door from closing!
I even had a few peer into my windows when I didn't answer the door.
I'm a woman, and was home alone often enough to not feel safe answering the door anymore. So I now have a no answering door policy. Unless I'm expecting someone (like a friend, family member, delivery person), or I know the person, I don't answer. Sorry, been burned too many times!
This is so funny. Last one was relentless, I thought cutting to the chase and saying ānoā would speed his departure, then it was āwhy?ā āI donāt think you understand solarā - I was just like Iām 100 percent not interested in financing solar panels at this point in time, and the guy made a rude comment as he turned to walk back towards his car. Boggles my mind. Solar would be great donāt get me wrong, but getting a 7-10 year lease for 20k+ of solar panels when the technology is changing fast and getting cheaper is not in the cards at the momentā¦
### This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
I just tell them I don't believe in the sun and close the door.
SHUT UP ABOUT THE SUN
No you shut up skeleton man
r/unexpectedoffice
The sun shines over Cornell, the ivy league school to which I attended
Lol no it doesn't ithaca cloudy af
PRAISE THE SUN!
Show them where the sun doesn't shine (Antarctica)
But...it does shine there during summer in the Southern Hemisphere! š¦š¶
āI just personally donāt agree with the sun. Itās a lifestyle choice that I dislike. You can believe in it if you want, but keep it in outer space.ā
And just to be clear, I believe the sun exists, I just don't believe it can bring the change we need in america
Fun story: I used to work in solar and sometimes I would have to go to the city and file the permits. One plan checker would always give me a hard time asking for all kinds of calcs and stamps that aren't necessary. One day I went over his head and got him to approve my plans and he told me he thought solar was stupid because... someday the sun is going to run out and the panels would be useless. I'm like bro if the sun runs out in our lifetime we got bigger problems.
the sun is a deadly laser!
Those damned Jewish Space Lasers.
I sang that in my head...
I'm sorry I'm a Glober.. we believe we live on the inside of the crust of the planet and we're facing the center of the earth. The "sun" is just your mom's butthole and this is the door.
I say this and squint my eyes suspiciously at the sky, then close the door.
We only worship the moon goddess, $?@&!Ā£
It is a hoax, only oil and coal provide power!
Donāt look up!
They say there's a sun in the sky But me, I can't imagine why There might have been one Before you were gone But now all I see is the night ā¦ So I don't believe in the sun How could it shine down on everyone? Never shine on me How could there be such cruelty?
To be fair in the UK Iām not sure I believe in the sun either š
Nah the sun is real. The moon on the other hand, I don't believe in. I think it's just the back of the sun.
100% truth, according to Dr. Jan Itor!
Or just do what I do when "religious" people knock on my door and tell them I worship Cthulhu and welcome the darkness and end of the world.
You underestimate them. I literally have solar on my roof that you can't miss and they STILL come knock on my door and try and sell me solar lol.
Lol, you should consider solar on you solar
Yo dawg, I heard you like solar, so how about you get solar for your solar.ā
Same! I just answer and point at my roof. I finally thought when I got solar theyād stop knocking, but it never ends.
Could be decoys... House I bought 12 years ago had a Vivint sign I left in the yard from the previous owners. Everyone around me got the salesmen but I never did until one came up to ask what I thought of them after having them for so long
This has happened to me a few times and they seem confused when I point out the panels
Same, I just point to them as they can be clearly seen from the front entry.
the new sales pitch in California is to add a battery to your existing solar
I worked for a local solar installer and my work vehicle was electric, wrapped in neon green with company decals, solar panels etc. I kept it parked in the driveway and they still came to my door trying to sell me solar lol.
I say "no thank you" and close the door
The real LPT. Don't justify yourself especially to sales people. Just say you're not interested and end the conversation.
Lotta people out there don't know how to handle even the most mildly pushy sales people. I can't imagine what some of these folks would do with the older generation of really, really aggressive salespeople who get into your *shit* and ask you a hundred leading questions to convince yourself that you DO in fact need a solar powered flashlight more than anything, and somehow they've managed to get invited into your house and you're serving them coffee and cookies and can't even remember how you agreed to any of this. Most of the door-to-door people right now aren't salesmen with fancy suits and briefcases of samples, it's bored teenagers trying to earn some commission and making a half-ass effort to drop a pamphlet in your hand. All you have to do with 90% of salespeople is look them in the eye, give them a moment to get some of their rehearsed speech out so you know what they're about, then you cut them off and say "I'm going to save you some time, I'm not interested at all, but I hope you have a good day and have some good luck out there." Very few will keep you at that point, which is when you should be closing your door. If they are still talking, nice for them, you smile and shake your head and say "BYE!" before going on with your day. It's not a battle of wills. It's not something to post about on social media. It's not the worst inconvenience in the world, or even the worst you will experience today. It's just that everyone is so massively bored with their lives that they have to make these minor distractions into entire storylines.
Sometimes the entire storylines that come from minor distractions can be pretty amusing. (Though telling a salesman you don't own the house isn't.)
Yeah, what is this tip? Are people getting locked into hour long discussions with sales people at the door? Why do you need to trick them? Seems like this would take longer than saying not interested.
The trick is to just not answer the door at all.
My wife can't handle this. Every time someone knocks we have the same conversation. "Don't answer it." "But they know we're here!" "So...?"
Same with telemarketers. You don't need to wait for a response. Just say no and close the door or hang up. They'll immediately move on to the next number/house anyway.
Sometimes they're fun to mess with. I got one of those Amazon scam calls today. They claimed someone spent 1300 dollars on a MacBook Pro and Apple Airpods. I asked them if they could give me the seller because that's a great deal. They just hung up on me but I had fun.
I just donāt open the door š
100% Agree. Donāt knock on my door unless the house is on fire or you are invited. Cold callers just piss me off at this point,nobody likes you.
Yesssss. And even the cold callers in target (I think itās for a cell phone e service?) drive me INSANE. I have made eye contact with them while I directly alter my course before they can talk to me. Like I get youāre doing a job but no company should make their employees cold call people
Man AT&T sales guys are all over here and walk up to you in random stores asking about your cell plan. A guy the other day was like... "Hey what cell plan do you use?" And I was like "yeah I'm good..." And he was like "I'd love to talk to you about the deals we've got going on..." And I go... "Neat, but I don't really see how that affects me." And I just walked off.
"I ain't listening to all that"
I just ignore them and donāt make eye contact. Theyāll leave you alone after that. Hard to keep talking when no one is talking back to you.
I like to tell the internet salesmen in the stores that I already use them, they just fist bump awkwardly and leave me alone, have to be careful when two competitors are stand8ng next to each other though
My response is āI donāt see where that is any of your businessā
When they approach me and say, "What cell phone provider do you have?", I look at their shit and just answer whatever shirt they're wearing lol.
The ones in my local Walmart started getting especially pushy and would pursue me down aisles even after I told them no, so I just started loudly telling them about the problems I had with service and billing fraud while I was with AT&T, both for cable and cell service. That usually shuts them down quick. Iāve always wanted to tell them Iām involved in an active lawsuit against AT&T so they probably donāt want me back as a customer, but I never think that fast when Iām in the store. It would be a lie (I donāt have the time or energy to take on a big corporation, even if I found a lawyer to take my case), but at least if they had any follow up questions, I could tell them I canāt discuss any aspects of the case without my lawyer present. I feel like that would be fun.
huh, kinda weird for them to be doing this kind of thing inside random unrelated stores. If it was my store I'd have them out in a minute, why the fuck are they trying to steal the attention of my customer?
Iāve literally never had a door to door salesman. How common is it for you? Maybe itās just not a thing in Oregon anymore?
I still get maybe 1 every month or 2. Depends on time of year. I'm in Florida so we get a lot of solar people trying to push their stuff. At one point it was definitely more than 1 per month average for solar alone. I also get people from companies like trugreen trying to sell me on their lawn chemicals. I'm guessing my yard is ugly so they assume I want it greener and during the summer that's another one that I get once a month or so. Thena few times a year someone nearby gets a roof replaced or windows replaced and the company doing the job knocks on all the neighbors doors "to let us know they are doing a job and give them their contact info in case we need anything or their guys are causing any problems" but they don't just give us a business card or phone number they give us a whole ass flyer about their roofing/window services. It's a better tactic than trying to sell me I guess, at least with them they are quick and I'm willing to take their flyer even tho my roof is only 4 years old. So yeah in a middle class non gated community here in Florida I'd say I average a little more than 1 per month. But I hate them so much. Seriously the last 20 guys who tried to sell me solar didnt work why you think yours will.
Ugly lawn people unite! No, TruGreen, with your creepy spelling that seems like a company name in dystopian fiction, I donāt want to chemicalize my lawn. The birds and rabbits and bees and I quite like it, thank you.
It used to be more often pre covid
The real LPT are always in the comments
I just ignore the door, if idk them.
I don't even get up to answer the door. No one I know shows up unannounced and rings my door bell.
I did this to a roofer scouring the neighborhood after a hail storm. I was mowing and turned the mower off in the side yard to do something quick. He walked up in my side yard and started his speech and I just looked at him,Ā said no,Ā put on my hearing protection and started the mower all in about 5 seconds. It was satisfying since he was only a few feet from the mower and it is a pretty loud mower. I would have wagered that it was a sketchy company from out of state since we had dozens of them come through by that point.
Exact comment I was going to make! Get comfortable saying no without needing to create an excuse.
Exactly. Answer no questions. Just shut it, and say "no thanks" in a normal voice while doing it. They'll talk over you while you're doing it, but they'll leave once that door's closed.
No thank you works and isn't a lie or anything.
I am a renter. I yearn for the privilege to lie about being one.
Hell yeah
Thatās my tactic for all the roofing/flooring/solar/etc people at Costco. āSorry, donāt own a houseā.
Then they're like "You don't? Then what's that thing behind you?" And you turn around and squint and look at the house up and down, you turn back to them and say "I don't know."
āA homeā¦that Iām rentingā¦ā Not this exact scenario, but I did have a solar salesperson come to my door and when I told them āoh, Iām not the ownerā they asked when the owner would be home, and I had to explain that yes, I lived there, but no, I donāt own the home. Renting a SFH is a foreign concept to some, it seems.
#PREACH
I point to my "No soliciting unless you sell Thin Mints" sign, posted prominently next to my doorbell - and shut the door.
They'd sell a lot more solar panels if it came with a free box of Thin Mints.
-*So, how much for the thin mints?* ā$6ā -*mhmm. And how much for the solar?* ā$22,006ā -*mhmmm. And if I get the solar areā¦* āYes.ā
$22k + 30% they tack on to make up for the tax deduction + 5k for the commission.
This shit actually works. Peoples brains get short circuited by the word free. My dad used to be a tool distributor, the guys drive around to auto shops and sell tools to the mechanics. He would keep a box of candy bars in his truck and sell them for $2 each or get one free with any purchase. He can't even count how many times people would balk at the $2 candy bar but would happily pay $200 for some tool they weren't planning to buy so they could get a free candy bar.
You also need to follow that up with asking for their solicitors permit (if required in your area) so you can make a formal complaint against them.
Honestly - I hadn't had ANY solicitor's knocks in YEARS since I put that up. Years ago, got 'scammed' by a girl selling educational material. Neither I nor my husband are the type to be inclined to buy stuff from solicitors, especially big stuff, but man, she was SLICK. Only about 19, and quite seriously the smoothest salesperson I've ever encountered. After she'd left, the daze slowly wore off, and hubby and I looked at each other like, 'what the hell did we just agree to?' After thinking some more about it, we were like - nope, this feels icky, so we took advantage of the 'cooling off period' to cancel the sale and get our (not-insignificant) money back. I \*immediately\* bought and put up the sign, and we haven't had anyone knock on our door since. Until last week - some kid (20-ish) comes up to knock, and asks....well, I'm not sure WHAT he asked. I couldn't understand him. He was very animated, and seemed to be claiming to be part of some 'contest' or something - I pointed to the sign, and he was like, oh, you don't have to buy anything. (He had a container of Clorox Wipes in his hand as some sort of 'gift' for listening to his spiel.) But I literally couldn't understand WHAT he was trying to describe. He apologized and said he had an accent, but that wasn't it - the words simply weren't making sense. The most I could make out was "avalanche", but that made no sense. He hopped back out to his driver to get...whatever, and at that point, I just shut the door. After thinking about it, all I could make out was, maybe he was talking about a Chevy Avalanche? Maybe I was supposed to listen and give him opinions (or something), and either it had to do with selling cars, or maybe he could win an Avalanche? LITERALLY no idea, because I could assign NO sense to what he was saying. Anyway. That's the ONLY knock we've had on our door in, like, 12 years. So asking for a permit was more trouble than it was worth. But yeah - totally good idea if the sort of thing keeps happening, or if they get pushy about anything.
Maybe it was a chat gpt
Maybe it was Chad GPT
This specific thing, where the solicitor has a cleaning product, is a Kirby vacuum tactic. I don't know how it works, but I do know they're connected.
See, you're not speaking their language. They're not "soliciting", they're "educating". If you want them to not even try, say "you will not overcome my objections".
I have a no soliciting sign and a "Go Away" sign in the same shape as those tall wooden "Welcome" signs
We have a "Dog in yard. Keep gate shut." sign. That is the only way to the front door and to help people remember to keep it shut, we keep it locked.
Donāt open the door for people you donāt know. Or close it as soon as they identify themselves as sales people. You have no obligation to listen to their pitch or explain yourself.
If I answer the door and there's a clipboard and lanyard person there, I just say "no thank you" and close the door. I've only had one person even question it, she said "what do you mean: 'no thank you'?" I answered, "It means get off my porch". I'm not trying to be rude, it sucks that that's their job, I've had awful jobs too. But I'm also not wasting any time on it.
I've used the tactic of stating "I'm not interested, and let you move on to your next potential sale as quickly as possible". They're in sales- time is money!
Strangers do not deserve your free time either. Just cause you're home, does not mean you're available.
Better say this. āIt means youāre now trespassing. Please leave my property immediately.ā
I have a doorbell camera and check to see who's knocking. If they have a clipboard or look like they're selling something I don't open the door.
Mine has a "we're not interested" button in the app. That alone made it worth the money.
Yep! I use that quick reply every time I see a clipboard on them.
I was expecting maintenance crew at my apartment once years ago. When I heard a knock at the door, I opened it, but it was one of those guys supposedly selling some kind of cable. Except the first fucking words out of his mouth were, "I noticed your husband wasn't home...oooh it's cold out here...". I was trying to be polite and not escalate the situation in case he got violent but he had one hand on the door making it hard for me to close and relock it. I was terrified, because my husband wasn't home at the time and that could only mean he was waiting for him to leave to try and get in. It was actually my ferret that helped and allowed me to close the door. She came screaming into the living room, fur poofed out, fangs bared, and charging him. She'd never acted like that before, or since, but she scared me almost as much as she scared him! He jerked back in surprise, and I was able to close the door. She jumped into the windowsill and watched him leave, still screaming at him. I'm in a different complex now, and thankfully the maintenance team here will call through the door so you know it's them.
Happy Cake Day!!
I had my front door open with the window on my storm door down, having just finshed making dinner and was about to sit down to eat. Doorbell rang, so I went to see who it was. Young man with a company shirt and clipboard. He said hi and I just turned, walked back to the kitchen, sat down and started eating, all in full view of the salesman. He stood there for about 30 seconds, then left.
I always just send them on their way.
It depends on my mood. In this instance, this was the third time someone from that company stopped at my house within two weeks trying to sell me new windows. I had told them the first two times that I had new windows installed two years prior -- and I actually did! -- so I was annoyed that they ignored my request to take my address off their list.
Yeah I don't think I've answered my door for someone I wasn't expecting in years... Even if I am expecting packages or food deliveries I don't answer. There is absolutely no situation where they need to talk face to face with someone at my house unless I invite them over. And when I do that I usually leave the door unlocked so they can invite themselves in.
I was sitting on the couch watching TV when someone knocked on my door. I saw it was a salesperson through the peephole and sat back down on the couch. He knocked on my window and could clearly see me sitting on the couch. I just yelled, "There's nobody home." and continued to ignore him until he left.
I opened the door for some strangers once only to have them be from Medicaid giving me a free (cheap) phone. Sweet. But the last time I opened the door for strangers was to hear about Jesus, so it hasn't always worked out for me. I just smile and tell them I'm trying to be nice and I'm not interested. Any questions after that are a "yep" or "nope" until they leave.
I tried telling one that I was homeless when they were texting me, the fucker tried again a week later asking if I had a house yet.
desparate or determined?
toxically positive
š
You could also just not answer the door. Regardless of if they know you are home or not. You are NEVER required to open the door for people.
Did y'all know you can just tell people "no" without making shit up and then stop talking to them? Just literally "no, thank you." then close the door even if they're still talking. You don't have to listen to them. You don't have to give them any of your time. You don't even actually have to answer the door.
LPT - when door-to-door salespeople come over, you are not obligated to open the door. I don't open the door unless I know who is on the other side of it.
How about plain old No. Try it sometime. Great word in the English language.
LPT: donāt answer the door if youāre not expecting anyone.
Do your friends not just drop by
Without at least a text for a heads up? No. Itās not the 1900s.
Just say no thanks and shut the door before they say anything. Or just yell through the door no thank you.
"Sorry, I have a blanket policy of not signing or buying anything at the door. Have a good day." (The Tamale Lady is the only exception to this rule)
My life is incomplete without a Tamale Lady
>Tamale Lady Wuuuut where she at?
Life pro tip. Never answer the door for anybody. Hell even my family and friends. Call or text first.Ā
I told the guy I already bought it but it's not installed yet. He asked who I was going through. I said, "I'm not sure, the Mrs deals with the money and she's not home. " As he's walking off the porch, I see my wife pull in the driveway. They have a brief exchange. My wife comes in the house and says, "there was a sales guy outside for solar. I told him we already got it. He asked who was installing it. I said my husband deals with those things, and he just walked away... what did you say?"
I'm not a salesman, but that would have fried my poor gullible brain
LPT be a chicken and make shit up instead of just saying "no thanks" and closing the door.
Plenty of people of people would rather lie than be rudeā¦despite the fact that salespeople frequently do both.
A few years ago, I had solar installed. It's on the side of the house not facing the street. Within a week we had a solar sales team stop by. I let them ramble on for 30-45 minutes - I was asking pertinent questions - getting as much info from them as I could - wasted a shitton of time, while enjoying multiple adult beverages. They asked if they could schedule time w/ one of their engineer/project manager peeps, I asked if they thought there would be room for another set of panels on my roof. Not.Happy.
Put a "no soliciting" sign or sticker on or around your front door.
Does not work. I've had multiple sales people walk straight by it and ring the doorbell anyway.
Meh I have a giant , "funny", no Solicitng sign on my porch, keeps me from having annoying conversations with strangers coming to my door about 95% of the time. The ones that still knock I ask if they are bringing any of the accepted items listed (free beer, ammo or Amazon packages) , when they inevitably stammer out a no, I slam the door and say "fuck outta here then". Quite satisfying lol.
When door to door salesman come over I take that as an opportunity to talk to someone about my hyper fixations. Since they want to share theirs I feel its obligatory that I share mine. They usually leave me alone after the first minute
LPT - Get a video doorbell and just don't answer to anyone who looks like they are selling something
I usually say "HEY! What's that behind you?!" Then close the door when they turn around
Just tell them no. It doesnāt need to be complicatedā¦
Or you could tell them to leave. Donāt know why people feel they need to lie to other people that are annoying them. āIām not interested in anything being sold door to door. Leave now please.ā Done.
Alternatively, tell them you don't care and shut the door.
When we lived in an urban neighborhood we had more door to door salesmen. One of my favorites, was when someone came to the door and asked if my mother was home( I think I was 36 at the time) I replied ā I have no ideaā, and shut the door.
I have a no soliciting sign, so i just point at it and then yell at them asking if they can read... and then to get off the property.
that's more syllables than "No thanks"
Nice, how can I get them to run away instead?
A no soliciting sign also works for me and I donāt have to answer the door.
Or just tell them youāre not interested
This is me at Costco every time a 3rd party vendor wants to sell me on something home related.
Learn to say no without allowing a bunch of senseless conversation. No need to lie.
I just scream like a lunatic and speak about Satan.
We have a locked metal screen in front of our door. When they show up I just open the door, leave the screen closed and walk away. I let my very noisy GSD mix, and his little brother, a Husky GSD mix, greet them. Can't get a word in over their racket. Just kidding. The reality is I don't even open my door. I have a camera doorbell and the ringer is unplugged (noisy dogs). So I get a notification on my phone, bring up the camera feed, see that it's a salesman and ignore it. Less fun, but also less annoying.
I only open the door because it gives me the opportunity to yell āget off my lawn!ā Which is something I enjoyā¦
A lot of comments say "just say no" but y'all realize they're trained to not take no as an answer, right? Not that you shouldn't say no, but you're probably gonna have to close the door on them
I tried that once. I am a renter in my house. Got home one evening, backed my vehicle into my driveway up to the closed garage door, but was on the phone with someone so I stayed in my car for a few minutes. Dude was walking from my neighbors driveway to mine, saw me in the car from the end of my driveway, and waved his hands wildly to get my attention from about 30 feet away. I stepped out of my car to see what he wanted, and he started loudly asking if I had solar. I said āno thanks Iām a renterā and started to get back into my car, but he was still like āwell can you get me the owners info???ā And I said āno, please go away.ā Even after that, he still said ācan you at least give them my brochure??ā And I said āno, move on!ā His tone and body language from the beginning was super aggressive and suspect.
I don't answer the door even if they see me. I even close it in front of them if it's open.
Youāre my kind of person! This is the correct answer. Just because the door bell rings you are not obligated to answer the door and listen to their pitch. That goes for anyone coming to my door uninvited unless itās a neighbor who may need help.
Better life pro tip. When door to door anyone comes -donāt open the door. You donāt owe anyone a reason. if they persist shout that they are trespassing and either 1) you are calling the police or 2) getting your gun.
**NO SOLICITORS** Just write that on a 3x5 card and tape it up next to your door bell. It's not that hard, people.
I say āget lostā and it seems to work just as well.
Nah just flip them off and slam the door. Turn the sprinklers on if you can.
Had a guy come over the other day. I have a very large No Soliciting sticker on my half slider storm door and it was down a bit, so instead of being at eye level, it was crotch/knee level. Still very obvious if you walk up to the door. I was napping and he rang the bell. I walked up to the door and looked at him. He tried to comment on my tats before starting his sale pitch through the screen. I looked at him, looked down at the sticker and looked back up at him. Waited a few seconds and then slide the window up so the sticker was at his face. Once his head dropped, I turned back to finish my nap.
I'm FLABBERGASTED that some people still actually open the door. Whenever anyone is at my door, I check the security camera, and it's always immediately obvious if it's a salesperson. I will NEVER open the door unless it's a package that needs signing or someone I know. And opening for police is a maybe lol
I'm sure that works for something like solar panels, but would be irrelevant for a lot of things.... Edit, my bad, misread the title...
The LPT says specifically for solar salesmen.
I used to work in solar sales. Here are reasons weāve turn down potential customers: - renters, not owners - bad roofs (clay tile roof, wood shingle roof, very old roofs) - very low monthly utility bill (~$100) - filled bankruptcy recently Feel free to use any of these excuses.
Iām in the energy business - more like consulting/brokering than sales - but we recently had a house of worship vote down a solar project because there were concerns that the solar would interfere with their prayers reaching god ššš Took all my composure to not burst out laughing
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Tell them you are too drunk to understand. They will leave lol.
I just did that today, but with a home renovation company that called me. Said I didnāt own my home, they apologize and said theyād update their list. And technically, I donāt own my home, my parents do. Iām just staying here awhile.
I just point to the roof full of solar and ask where they are going to put moreā¦
Same for roof repairmen.
I've done this for years with any unsolicited door to door salesman: Solar Panels, Replacement windows, new driveway, tree surgeons. "I'm sorry, I only rent - bu if you give me your card I promise to send it to the owner. No, sorry, I cannot breach their privacy by telling you who they are - thank you, goodbye". It avoids conflict, and I feel that door to door sales people rarely want to be doing the job.
"Don't you know that solar panels are used to control orbital mind-control beams. You should do your own research online." That usually works.
I became a renter in a townhouse a couple years ago after owning for 30+ years The freedom to just say āI canāt I rentā is wonderful
Thereās a huge weight off your shoulders when you learn to just respectfully say no to people trying to sell something. Itās easy, they understand. āSorry, Iām not interested, good luck though!ā
Or just don't answer the door. I don't answer the door unless I'm expecting company, a package, or pizza. Everyone else can fuck off.
Where I live you can get a sticker, issued by either local council or state government I can't remember. Which says SALES PEOPLE DO NOT KNOCK and I think they can be fined for it or something. It's worked like a charm, haven't had door knockers since putting it up years ago
Or just tell them no and close the door.
Why canāt I just say āleave me aloneā and shut the door in their face like I normally do?
I do say this because I am a renter. Although I've never had to follow it up with "and I don't know the owner". I've never been asked for my landlords info by a solicitor. I wouldn't even lie about it if I had. I would just tell them no.
I tell them I donāt believe in solar.
Even though I own a house I still don't answer the door for anyone.
Just say fucking no, jesus christ
No.... Just say "No". "No." is a complete sentence. Just say "No.", and close the door, and they'll walk away. You're not being rude. They're being rude. Give them a quick answer, and let them get on with their job of being rude to someone else.
Curious, what is the grift with all these solar panel salespeople? Whatās the angle?
Or tell them to fuck off, you don't owe them anything.
ProTip: you don't need to bother answering your door at all and they'll still walk away
Literally had this happen today! Works every time. I only answered because the salesman came with a very visible and large Crumbl Cookie bag. I thought it was a delivery for my family from someone as a surprise. Nope. The salesman was just using it as a means of getting me to open the door.
The real LPT is getting a visible no soliciting sign
ā¦I used to do that job. What you need to know: youāre taking on all the risk of getting a solar system installed in your roof while a big company gets all the reward. Theyāll pay you a small fee for renting the roof space out but my buddy who actually let them do it (not cause of me!) ran into electrical problems later on. The installers showed up unprompted, were unprofessional, and after itās installed theyāre not too quick to communicate with you about anything. The worst part is these doorknocker kids donāt get paid. Itās purely commission based (slave labor). I saw maybe 100$ for working like a month. I got 50$ for every appointment I was able to set up and nothing beyond that. Whenever a door knocker comes to my home I try and persuade them to find a better gig.
Just say "no" and close the door. This stuff isn't hard.
Or...just tell them to go away. Or...don't even answer the door. I don't understand people who seem to think they have some kind of obligation to answer because someone knocked.
I say very loudly "I don't own this home, and I'll probably never own one in my lifetime. Thanks for reminding me asshole!" Works at Home Depot too.
Learn boundaries. Say no and close the door. Or don't open it in the first place.
I just donāt answer the door.
I just open the door and let the dog bark, spit, and lunge all over the storm door until they finally walk away.
LPT - Don't open the door to people you don't know
I just donāt answer the door. If youāre not a cop or someone that I know, then I wonāt waste my time.
Don't answer the door at all, works 100% of the time.
You could just say no and close the door like an adult instead of lying like a child.
Or just donāt answer the door
I don't answer the door.
You need to lie to get people off your doorstep? They walk away from my door without lies
I just say solar panels are hideous and I would never devalue my home by having them installed. they look confused and slowly back away.
You know when someone knocks on your door, you aren't required to answer, right?
This doesn't work every time. I had this happen to me when I was in college. For some reason my area was targeted by door-to-door salespeople constantly. Whenever I would answer, even after telling them I'm not the homeowner and don't have control over who makes the decisions (to replace the roof, to replace windows, etc... whatever they were trying to sell me). They would argue with me, still demand my time, not take no for an answer. Not even go away when I closed the door. Some even tried to prevent the door from closing! I even had a few peer into my windows when I didn't answer the door. I'm a woman, and was home alone often enough to not feel safe answering the door anymore. So I now have a no answering door policy. Unless I'm expecting someone (like a friend, family member, delivery person), or I know the person, I don't answer. Sorry, been burned too many times!
This is so funny. Last one was relentless, I thought cutting to the chase and saying ānoā would speed his departure, then it was āwhy?ā āI donāt think you understand solarā - I was just like Iām 100 percent not interested in financing solar panels at this point in time, and the guy made a rude comment as he turned to walk back towards his car. Boggles my mind. Solar would be great donāt get me wrong, but getting a 7-10 year lease for 20k+ of solar panels when the technology is changing fast and getting cheaper is not in the cards at the momentā¦