People ringing the doorbell/calling my phone

[Lace Neil Singer]

Not all the time; I'm not a hermit. But I really hate it when my phone rings or someone rings my doorbell and I'm either trying to eat a meal or preparing one. Yes, I do ignore both, but some people are persistant and won't bog off til I'm forced to open the door/answer the phone and tell them so.

[Boozy]

This drives me crazy, too.

I've never understood people who ring the doorbell for five minutes straight. I don't live in a mansion, and I am not disabled. I am never more than 30 seconds from reaching the door. If I haven't answered in one minute, I'm not coming. I might be out, or I might be otherwise occupied, but either way, I won't be answering. Give it up.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The same goes for irritating early birds who ring my doorbell at stupid o'clock, usually to pimp their charity or religious organisation. These people are nearly always persistant, ringing the doorbell constantly til it's answered, and the following conversation is typical.

Rude Early Bird - REB
Me - Me

REB: *ring! ring! ring!*
Me: (answers door, it is six fucking am, I'm not a happy bunny) What? What the fuck is so important you have to wake me up at this time in the morning? (surly tone, grumpy look, night attire)
REB: (offended look) There's no need to be so rude.

*face palm*

There is every reason to be rude. Look moron, it's six o'clock. Just cuz you and your mates happily get up at the arse crack of dawn does not mean that everyone else does and I'm damned if I'm going to be polite to people who wake me up at that time. Especially if you're trying to push religious pamphlets on me. Fuck off.

[Sylvia727]

REB: *ring! ring! ring!*
Me: (answers door, it is six fucking am, I'm not a happy bunny) What? What the fuck is so important you have to wake me up at this time in the morning? (surly tone, grumpy look, night attire)
REB: (offended look) There's no need to be so rude.

Hypothetical Lace: No, but you're here anyway, aren't you? Why don't you go be rude to someone else?

Unwanted phone calls go to voicemail. I don't get very many door calls, and the ones I did went away after a polite "no thank you". I have a potty mouth, which I do my best to conceal in public, around strangers, and in polite company. But when I'm half-asleep or otherwise thinking-impaired, I cuss like a sailor. Fortunately, no one's ever woken me up out of a sound sleep, just afternoon naps. But if they did, I don't think sleepy!Sylvia would be very nice to them at all. In fact, I think I might be very mean.

[blas87]

I have been caught ignoring the door by both the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. I've been out smoking when they've ridden their bikes into the complexes. Nope, not answering the door. Go away.

Most people that I personally know are kind enough to not bother me while I'm sleeping during the day, but there's a few who have. And I won't answer the door unless someone is bleeding, dying, or dead.

Want me to come knock on your door at 3 am? Oh, really, no? Why not? Ok then, stop knocking on my door at noon then.

[DrFaroohk]

After my divorce the only apartment I could afford was in this cheap old crack house of a building. The neighbors were constantly coming by to ask for favors, and I got sick of it so I just stopped answering the door.

They would stand there for like 20 minutes and knock. Knock knock knock. "Hello?" Knock knock knock knock. "Joooooooon!" Knock knock knock knock. "Hello?" Knock knock knock.....

My apartment had two doors, one at the front and the back, and both were in the same room, literally like 10 feet away from each other. One day a guy stands there and knocks for like 15 minutes, then I hear him leave, walk around the building, and come to the other door, and start banging, so I finally yelled at him "I DIDN'T LET YOU IN BEFORE, I HEARD YOU KNOCKING. WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK I'M GOING TO LET YOU IN NOW? DID YOU THINK THIS WAS ANOTHER WING OF MY MANOR?"

I hated those guys. I wish I'd burned the building down.

[MadMike]

I don't think sleepy!Sylvia would be very nice to them at all. In fact, I think I might be very mean.

I know I can be. Most people know I sleep in on the weekends, and how I can be if my sleep is disturbed. If you wake me up like that, the house had better be on fire, and even then, proceed with extreme caution.

I had to deal with one of those idiots years ago, back when I was living in my first apartment by myself. And to make matters worse, he either didn't listen to a damn word I was saying, or he was unbelievably stupid.

The place I lived in was a building with an upstairs and a downstairs apartment. I had the downstairs apartment, and the upstairs apartment had recently become vacant. I was somewhat friendly with the former neighbors, but never got close enough with them that either of us had been in the other's apartment, so I had no idea what it even looked like up there. The owner put a "for rent" sign up in the window of the outer door, along with a phone number to call.

Early one Saturday morning, I heard my doorbell ringing. I threw on a pair of pants and answered the door, squinting as the sunlight hit my face. There was a guy standing there who wanting information on the upstairs apartment. OK, I guess I can overlook the fact that he rang my doorbell instead of calling the number, because sometimes the landlord does live in one of the apartments at any given rental place, but not this time. I explained to him that I wasn't the owner, and that he should call the number on the sign.

Think that was the end of it? If it was, would I be posting this?

He completely ignored what I said, and started to ask me questions like how much it was going for, how big the place was, etc. I repeated to him once again that I was not the owner, and that he should call the number on the sign. The dumb shit still didn't get it, and proceeded to ask me more questions, like how many bedrooms it had, and some of the same questions he'd already asked, which I didn't know the answer to the first time.

I was getting annoyed at this. I raised my voice a bit, told him once again I'm not the owner, and that I'd never even been in the other apartment, so I had no idea how many bedrooms it had, or anything like that. So then he asked me how many bedrooms my apartment had. I finally had enough. I told him, "One! And I was in it until you rang my damn doorbell and started asking me all these questions!"

I saw it finally starting to sink in past the first 4 or 5 layers, and he mumbled some sort of half-assed apology and walked away.

[Lace Neil Singer]

XD Some of these people really must have rocks for brains. The fact is, I'm not a morning person and I resent having to get up early at any time; at least tho when I'm getting up for work, I'm being paid to do so. However, drag me out of a sound sleep for a stupid reason, like collecting for charity or pimping your beliefs, and I am not going to be nice to you. The same goes if you ring my phone again after ringing off. If I don't answer it the first time, then I'm either a) not there or b) ignoring the phone due to eating, being in the bath/shower or getting ready for work/heading out the door. So please don't bother calling again, as it will not be answered. If anyone tries a third time, I just switch it off in mid ring. xD Cuz my mobile is my only phone (I have no landline), I don't like to switch it off, but if someone's hassling me, then I don't have any choice. Especially if it's a number I don't recognise; I am not about to let my dinner go stone cold just to tell some shit for brains that they have the wrong number. -.-

[fireheart17]

My sister had this happen with her friends. Two of them about her age. Both boys (no, she is not romantically involved with either of them, or will be romantically involved).

They kept coming up to the door at random hours, asking if she was home. The first time was with me home except they kept shouting for her name in the street. Second time around, my mum answered the door at around 10amish on the weekend and stated that my sister had gone to work. THey left and then came around at 9pm THAT NIGHT! They woke my mum up who wasn't too happy, but they haven't been back since.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had this stupid bitch ringing me up at a stupid hour; she'd obviously been given the wrong number by her numpty of a boyf, cuz she started yelling at me, accusing me of stealing her boyf. Yeah right, I don't know who he is, or who you are; all I know is that it's seven o'clock and instead of sleeping, I have to deal with a braindead bitch who's too retarded to check which number she's calling before she jumps to conclusions. Eventually, I told her to fuck off before I called the police and reported her for harrassment. She hung up and never called back; I pity the poor sod stuck with that cow.

[guywithashovel]

When I'm at home, I simply cannot stand the sound of a phone ringing. For some reason, the sound in and of itself just makes my skin crawl. Now, when I've worked in office settings, the sound didn't really bother me (strangely). When I'm at home, though, I do not want to hear the sound of a telephone ringing---unless it's someone calling me about a really good job interview.

It seems like every time I sit down to work on something or eat a meal, the telephone rings. I have often felt tempted to inspect my chair to see if it has a button hidden somewhere in it that summons some random person to call whenever I sit down.

Fortunately, we don't get too many door-to-door solicitors around here. And for the ones who do scour our neighborhood, we have a "No Soliciting" sign on our door. However, many religious witnesses seem to think that those signs do not apply to them. I've actually heard a few say bluntly that they ignore those signs because "Soliciting means 'selling things,' and we're not selling anything; what we are giving away is FREE!"

I've always thought the door-to-door religious witnessing was really pointless. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't know at least the basics of Christianity (virtually all door-to-door people are Christians of some variety, hence why I'm using it). I've also yet to meet anyone who doesn't know where to go if they wish to learn more about it. To top it off, even though my city and state aren't technically in the "Bible Belt," you still cannot drive five miles in any direction without passing at least one church. Trust me, if I ever find myself thrust into a state of mind where I want to get back into organized religion, I will come and find you. You don't have to come to me.

[kiwi]

REB: (offended look) There's no need to be so rude.

Thats when you say "you were rude first and when you are rude to me without provocation, you lose all chance of me being courteous back"

I was raised that unless you were dying or someone else was you did NOT ring before 8am and after 9pm mon-sat. On sunday it was 10am-9pm. If you bothered my mother outside of those hours without prior notice then you were going to wish you were dead by the time she was done with you. You also did not turn up unannounced, you phoned first at the very least BEFORE you set out for her house. Even now, her own daughter (me) and son don't simply just turn up. We wait until we are invited or ring and check that it's okay.

When I first moved to Canada, I learnt that K's family had very different standards when it came to bothering (or in their minds visiting people).
People don't lock their doors so much here and I couldn't count the amount of times I walked into the kitchen in the morning and his mother was there making a pot of coffee as if it was her own house....

we could be in the middle of lunch and the front door would just open and in his parents would walk, without even knocking. Most of the time we would wake up and find them watching TV and waiting for us to get up! It was extremly aggravating for me as I had never experianced anything like this before.It took me six months and many angry arguments with K before he realised I was not about to adapt to having my home used as a hotel and that I was uncomfortable with people (even family) waltzing in and out as they pleased. One day we were...um getting busy... and they walked in to the house.

How did we know they were there, we found our mail and a note to come over for dinner left on the fucking counter afterwards! That was the last straw for me, we locked our door and K talked to his parents about the new visiting rules we were adopting from now on. Even nowthey will ring on the intercom without any notice....or on their way over in the car and they expect our plans to be put on hold for a visit. They are much better about it but they are STILL very hard to deal with....

Thats why I like living in an apartment building with an intercom, 99% of the time people cant even get in our building without calling first.

[tabbyblack13]

I'll admit when any of my phones ring (1 work cell, 1 personal cell) I wish I could ignore it. Unfortunately my work phone sometimes doesn't allow people to connect to it so they have to call my personal cell. There was one dinner and movie time that apparently someone wasn't giving out the right number. Of course both girlfriend and mom of this person called. I had to explain to both of them that the number they call has belonged to my company for at least 3 years and yes, I'm sure.

[powerboy]

Family and friends does not call me on my phone after a certain time. They know to call during that time, if it is an emergency. Now if they are calling for a job, that is different ofcourse. But otherwise, do not call me between certain times which is 9pm-9am. And we do not get many door to door people anymore. Which ofcourse, I am not going to open anyway.

[Sylvia727]

If I don't answer it the first time, then I'm either a) not there or b) ignoring the phone due to eating, being in the bath/shower or getting ready for work/heading out the door. So please don't bother calling again, as it will not be answered. If anyone tries a third time, I just switch it off in mid ring.

My family has a rule that calling twice in a row is code for emergency. Now granted a ten-year-old's definition of emergency covers "the dog got out of the fence" and "I forgot my field trip money and the bus is leaving now", but it works pretty well. There are plenty of times it'd be merely inconvenient to answer the phone, and we'd change our minds for the second call. Calling me twice in a row is the only time I'll answer the phone while driving, for example. And since we're all on cell phones and have set different ringers for calls and texts, we can call once, then text to say "call me when you get a chance" without breaking the twice in a row rule.

I was raised that unless you were dying or someone else was you did NOT ring before 8am and after 9pm mon-sat. On sunday it was 10am-9pm.

I was raised on nine to nine for phone calls, except on weekends when it was ten to ten. The only exceptions were broken bones and spurting blood. Similiar rules, though. And I was raised that you called before coming over. Plenty of times people called my mom to say that they were in the car driving over, only to be told that my mom had taken the kids to the park or something. We'd leave the outer porch door unlocked and the inner porch door locked, so often we'd find messages left on the porch table when we got back.