Door to Door salesmen Don't understand the word NO!! !! !

Post Reply New Topic

I don't even say "no" or "not interested" because to say something is to partially engage in a conversation, making them think they still have a chance.

Instead I shake my head "no" while holding up my hand in the "warding off" or "stop" gesture and close the door. This always makes them leave quickly. When I dispense with them without words, they are left with the possibility that I may not be an English speaker or may be deaf or non-verbal and the lack of words seems to make them go away faster than when I used to say "not interested".

My front door opens out across a very narrow stoop, so anyone standing there has to jump out of the way. Perhaps because the salesman already feels a lttle threatened, he usually accepts a brusque, "No thank you!" I never let go of the doorknob and I never take anything he tries to hand me.

I like Janissy's tip to avoid verbal responses altogether, and next time I intend to shake my head while holding up my hand. Hey, I could make an avatar out of that.

What does the red hand represent the_curmudge?

come on, aspies should be awesome at the "go away, now" game.

Oh they understand the word alright but it's just their job to try and sell you something. They need to sell certain products a day so they have to pressure people to buy and try and get them to buy hoping they will change their minds. It is okay to be rude in these situations. Just slam the door in their faces. I wouldn't say anything nasty to them, I would just close the door since they probably deal with lot of rude people anyway so I bet doors getting slammed on them is better than meanness. My dad had worked as a sales person over the phone too or telemarketer, I don't remember and he told me tons of people have hung up on him or were just rude. He hated the job too but did it for the money. I believe this was back in the 70's because he didn't have a profession then and when he did, he didn't work other jobs and that was when I was a kid and now.

I live in a flat so I keep my buzzer turned off and don't answer my door unless I know who it is, but if someone else lets them in the building then sometimes I'll answer the door not thinking. For me it's been energy suppliers who tick me off!

They take so long to get to the point, I know why they're there so I ask them to get on with it;
'We're here today trying to save people money, if you switch to us, blah blah blah. Who are you with now? How much do you pay?'

I'm at home during the day and living in one of the poorest areas in the region - you'd think maybe that they'd understand then that I'm poor, specifically unemployed, so cannot pay my energy bills and thus am stuck with an extortionately expensive energy supplier who won't let me switch to the door-to-door guys energy company. No, instead I get told how expensive my energy supplier is and how much I'd save - yeah, thanks for reminding me! I hate then having to try to explain to them my humiliating financial situation. Yet they keep you talking to try and get a sale that they will never get, and become really rude about it like you're being stupid - they need their sale but when you've made it clear that it is not possible for this to happen, when you have specifically tried to save your time and theirs, they need to accept that.

I end up just saying a firm 'No' or 'Look, I'm done talking, thank you' and close the door.

Last edited by Bloodheart on 18 Apr 2011, 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They might not understand the word "no" but they will understand the words "f**k off!" then slam the door in their face. I bet they will get the point. I also use this for assorted door to door religious nut cases.

It comes from a family coat-of-arms to which I am likely not entitled, except as a curmudgeon who appreciates its "No further!" symbolism.

My life got a lot better since I stopped answering the door altogether (nobody who knows me would drop in without letting me know) and deactivated my land line If they try to stop me on the street or in the shops I just say no and walk away. Having my Ipod with me also helps.

I don't normally answer the door anyway. But some people keep coming and the door always interupts important things. There was this one guy, who obviously cannot read who kept coming back.

I finally answered the door,

"Hello sir,"

My response, "Maybe you left your glasses in the car or are just illerate. Read the sign near the door. No Solictiating. Thank goodbye."

Man walked off and never came back. A woman walks in trying to sell candles.

She goes, "We're selling scented candles. Would you like to buy some to make your house perfectly fragant."

Me, "I actually enjoy the smell of the house as is, as the last linger of my father's farts float around. The windows haven't been opened in ages either, the the outside air begins to choke us. We've even had the other scented candle incident. Where my father began to have an asthma attack the moment the cinnamon candle began to burn. We aren't really into aroma therapy. We prefer the sweaty smell of a bunch of hermits."

She stares at me and says, "Than...Thank you, I'm going to leave."

Never came back either. I have a way with merchants at the door.

Very, very true. My personal belief is that this person came on to my property uninvited, and therefore needs to accept whatever the consequences of that are. I often try social experiments on doorknockers, just to see what works. My favourites have been acting sleazy (very good for scaring religious callers but has no effect on salesmen), and pretty-but-stupid (answering all questions with "I don't know anything about that, my husband handles all those arrangements *giggle*"). I do learn why they're there before I decide what to do though -- I'm polite to charity collectors and anyone else who isn't trying to sell me products or religion.

I had one a few years ago that not only didn't understand the word "no", he didn't understand "get off my property before I call the police". He positioned himself so I couldn't slam the door on him, tried to pretend my electricity was with his company (I knew perfectly well it wasn't), tried to get me to sign paperwork without reading it, and refused a direct order to leave. I believe I hit him in the face with the door as I tried to close it. Had I been less rattled by the incident I would have knocked on every door in my apartment building and warned people about him. Many of the other residents there were elderly or didn't speak much English, so he probably got a few people . What I did do was send an email detailing the incident to the company he worked for.

I do this and it works everytime.

I still do live with my parents (and have a young looking face helps) so I don't even have to lie

I got even with a vacuum salesman once. We had just had new carpet installed a few days earlier when a sweeper salesman showed up. He wanted to demonstrate the expensive Rainbow sweeper---the one with the cannister that holds water. He said we would be surprised by the amount of dirt he could get out of our carpet that our old sweeper missed. I couldn't resist . "Go ahead," I said, "I want to see the demonstration." He went back to his car and got his helper and they came in and put the fancy gizmos on began vacuuming. After a few minutes going over the carpet, he took the cannister lid off and---LOL---there was no dirt. He vacuumed some more---and still no dirt. He said, "What kind of sweeper do you have?" I went to the closet and got out this old inexpensive Hoover from K-mart. He promptly packed up his stuff and left after I said I wasn't interested. I didn't tell him it was new carpet.

By the way, vacuum salesman like to do the demonstration of putting a filter paper on the nozzle to show how black it gets after vacuuming your carpet. They say this shows what your vacuum misses. Well...let them do that, then do the same thing with your old vacuum over where they went---and you too will get a black filter paper afterwards.

I'm not to chuggers and the like. I just completely ignore them! Stare straight ahead, pretend they're not even there.