People with no boundaries think they can beat on my door anytime.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

This thread was locked in GD as off topic.

I was talking about the fence I put up to keep people (lowlifes who beg for money and people who expect me to give them one of my old cars) from bothering us.

Flame away. Tell me I should move even though I couldn't get any money for the place and it's been in my family for four generations. Built in 1883.
It's got the most peaceful vibe of any house I've ever been in.

[RandySF]

1. Oh, that's nothing.

My wife's friend upstairs used to open the door and just walk in. It stopped when, one morning, she barged in while I stood in the living room wearing only a towel.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Dear Abby used to get letters like that.

Newlyweds with nosy in-laws who barged in.
One man said it didn't stop until the day he answered the door naked, and then it took them a while to figure out they weren't welcome.

[MrsBrady]

3. the neighbors used to come over wanting my soon to be ex

to fix stuff for them....
cars, bikes, etc...

He would be tired from working hard all week.
It got to the point I had to put a note on the door that he was
sleeping and to come back when they saw the garage door open.

People would come by before 9am. On the weekend. Really.

[Orrex]

4. Can I borrow twenty bucks?

[chrisa]

5. You need to rig the door with boobytraps.

Preferably ones that respond to the vibrations of knocking.

I find that having a crocodile pit helps keep the vacuum cleaner salesmen away. Tree removal people are smarter, though, until they walk into my pressure-activated minefield!

[oneshooter]

6. I used to have that problem. People climbing over my locked gate

and then trying to sell me shit. Sign on the gatepost, a buzzer and speaker system just below it.
Worst was the preacher people. One day I got tired of it and opened my front door with a shotgun in my hands. I asked them if they had seen the sign (1'x 2') at the gate, and wasn't the gate locked? They said that with the help of the Lord they had overcome those obstacles and made it to my door. I informed them they had 1 minute to leave my property. My dogs were really wanting to have some gospel food and were raising hell in the back yard.
I then racked the slide, and started counting. They went to the driveway and stopped. A shot at the trees beside the house started them running, and another to the same place kept them running. It is 150yds from my front door to the gate. I don't believe they stopped at all!
Sheriffs Deputy came by a few hours later and rang the bell. I went out to the gate and we talked. Seems that the preache people took umbrage at my actions and complained. Deputy watched the security tape from the gate and house, said thank you, and left.

Haven't been bothered since, and it's been 5 years since. I live on 20acres of fenced land, nearest neighbor is 400yds away.

Oneshooter

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. Wow. What a story!

[Brigid]

17. You made this up.

C'mon, admit it!

[oneshooter]

19. Nope, I did nothing illegal. They did by climing over my gate with a

"No Trespassing" sign hanging on it. I declined tp press charges and they were given a stern lecture on the law by a Judge.
They complained that I had shot at them but the tape shows that I had fired on a line greater than 90deg. away from them. The Sheriff told them that if I had shot AT them, then they would probably be dead.
For some strange reason I have not been bothered by these folks in the two or so years since.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[MadrasT]

7. No flames from me...

...I hate it when anyone comes and knocks on my front door and I refuse to answer the door, period.

I did not move out to the country to have people coming 'round and bugging me.

Next up, I'm adding a "GO AWAY" door mat.

[pipi_k]

10. I would do that too...

the doormat, I mean..if I weren't positive some people would think it doesn't apply to them....

[pipi_k]

8. No flaming here...

People who say, "Just move" probably don't realize how difficult it is to sell a home.

Plus, there's something to be said for liking one's home but not the area.

Anyway, even though I live way off in the woods, we do sometimes get some odd characters out here, and I feel the same way you do. They're not begging for money or anything, but they can be annoying. And I like my privacy.

Same goes for my telephone. I used to have an unlisted/unpublished number, meaning it wasn't in the book, and information would not give it out. We still got shit phone calls from telemarketers who used auto-dial, so basically we were spending whatever money per year for nothing.

I just want people to leave me the hell alone. Get off my lawn, stay out of my driveway, get off my doorstep, get off my damned telephone. I don't bother others, and I don't want others to bother me.

I see such things as a violation of my personal space.

[LynneSin]

9. True Story of my last DU gathering at my house in Wilmington

A bunch of us were hanging out on my front porch late into the evening drinking beer and swapping stories. It was probably getting close to midnight and I was inside getting more snacks. While I was inside some woman approached the group on the porch looking for money. Luckily I got out there and told the gang to please not give out any money else they'll keep coming back to my house again and again. It's one thing to give handouts to someone I pass on the street but I really didn't want to give money to someone who knew where I lived and would keep bugging me long after the DUers left.

What's funny is the woman took off her shoe and showed everyone the hole in her foot. I suggested to the woman to head over to St Francis hospital, which is a few blocks from my house.

[HopeHoops]

12. I trust you know about the depression-era hobo marks.

For those who don't, hobos "tagged" houses or gates with simple symbols indicating that they'd gotten a meal or other gracious treatment from said location. What LynneSin is talking about is quite real. All of the neighborhood kids know I'll give them a few bucks for their sports team, band, or other extra-curricular group. Word gets around.

We visited Georgetown about 30 years ago and begging is a cottage industry down there. One guy just sat in a wheel chair with a boom box playing music. The funny one was a guy in a blanket holding a cardboard sign reading "I'm Hungry!" We contemplated getting him a sandwich or something, not giving money, and on our return trip past his spot he was digging through what looked like a really expensive canvas bag. He saw us coming, recognized us, and quickly tucked the bag under his blanket and went back to his puppydog face with his cardboard sign. We still laugh about that incident.

[HopeHoops]

11. Our dogs do a pretty good job of discouraging visitors.

[TrogL]

13. Two dachshunds yapping in their faces make it impossible for preachy-folk to get a word in edgewise

[HopeHoops]

14. Our larger one is a 70lb border collie - as in "don't fuck with that."

[Amaril]

15. No flame here either

I work in a field where I have heavy, often contentious contact with the public. My home is my sanctuary from all of that, and I do not respond well to being bothered while I'm in it, whether it's people knocking on my door or calling on the phone.

I have taken steps to safeguard my sanctuary -- all my phone numbers are listed with the Do Not Call registry and I have a large "No solicitation of any kind" sign hanging on my front door. Because of this, anyone who crosses the "boundries" around my sanctuary will not like the response they receive.

[Chan790]

18. I had a roommate in VA.

Big guy, about 6'4" and 315#. Solid, played DE in college. Perma-stubble, swarthy, black hair, freakishly-bright-blue crazy eyes, black Irish. When solicitors would knock on the door, he'd answer it in a loincloth with a curved butcher's knife (like a scimitar) and ask if he could have their skulls. They'd object, he'd say "Oh, not now. When you're done using it...next week, next month, give me a call, I'll even do the messy work of removing it." they'd decline, then he'd ask them "Hey, will you collect your urine and mail it to me?"

I never learned what came after the urine, that was the furthest anybody ever made it.

Edit: I know he threatened to pee on an intrusive room-service waiter on his honeymoon.