Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
My pet peeve of the day
Jehovah's Witnesses! UGH!
I hate it when people think they can show up on your doorstep unannounced to basically talk about a part of life that is absolutely none of their business. In my book, just plain RUDE.
Re: My pet peeve of the day
my read shelf:
I'm with you 100%.
I wonder how effective door-to-door evangelizing really is? Selling cookies door-to-door is one thing but something as serious as a person's religion probably isn't something that can be changed in one 5 minute talk. It might plant the seed in someone's head I guess?
Thanks for reminding me I need to make a no soliciting sign to hang over our doorbell :-)
My pet peeve of the day is ding-dongs in the Costco parking lot today. Why I thought it was a good idea to go on a Saturday afternoon I'm not sure but seriously people - learn how to drive in a parking lot!!!!
The part I don't understand is why they go door to door. What started this practice? I mean, there must be a better way. For me, it causes resentment, and I don't think that's their intention. It's no different from a telemarketer.
I had them on my doorstep last year too. IIRC, it was Halloween weekend too. The really awkward part was one was a parent of a student, whom I'd already met at conferences. Having to explain my life choices regarding religion wasn't on my agenda that morning, especially when it could affect whether or not a student takes one of my classes.
my mom hasn't had them in years. Probably since this conversation I had with a pair of them in high school:
me: hello
JW: Hi! Do you know Jesus Christ?
me: why, yes. Yes we do. In fact, we were just about to sit down to dinner with him. Would you like to join us?
JW: lots of ums, uhs and stammering before a "well have a nice day!" and running away.
LOL. I don't know if they thought I was crazy or what.
I'm pretty sure this wasn't JW but I was at the gas station and this woman came up to me to ask about god, why/if I am going to heaven, and if I would say a quick prayer for her. Not in a hurry I decided to explain and then again pray. After that she gave me a banana that says god loves you. I figure it is gods way of telling me I need more potassium.
I have a picture of it but I can't figure out how to put pictures on here.
We haven't had any religious visitors at our current house, but I used to get them all the time when I lived in St. Paul.
They would always start by asking if I knew Jesus, I would reply "yes, I'm a Christian", and then they would ask if they could talk to me about their church. I always replied with "sure, you can tell me about your church, after you listen to me talk about my church." That always got them to leave rather quickly. I was glad no one ever took me up on the offer to talk about my church/religion because I didn't really want to do that. Personal matters like that are not the business of random strangers wandering the neighborhood. It was an effective way to get them to leave, however.
Mr. Sammy Dog
i'm pretty sure lars' reaction would be "fu@k off" because he thinks it's BEYOND rude. as agnostics, we don't go around door to door trying to tell people we think they should see things our way, so don't try to do that to us.
if you're over the age of 12, you shouldn't be selling anything door to door. (and I say that because i'd totally buy girl scout cookies or popcorn from the boy scouts!)
as a sidebar, my pet peeve is school fundraising programs in general. i don't want to ask my family to by overpriced wrapping paper and candies. if you need money, i'll just write a check. and don't even get me started on when people bring that sh!t into work and try to get you to buy it.
Agree that going door-to-door to push your religion is rude. It doesn't matter what your beliefs are, it's still rude. I feel no need to go door-to-door trying to convert people to join my Lutheran church. In fact, doing so would probably push people away!
And I could not agree more about the school fundraisers. Hate them. I'm annoyed when people try to sell stuff at work, but it's almost worse when the kids come to the door at home. I can say no to adults easier than kids. Schools are choosing weird fundraisers lately too, not the old standards of calendars or magazine subscriptions or wrapping paper. Not to long ago, we were asked by some kids to buy bags of water softener salt. Huh?
Mr. Sammy Dog
absolutely amazing! lol.
I know, it's weird! I couldn't help but think that it wasn't a very easy item to deliver. Bags of salt are heavy.
At the time, we didn't even have a water softener, so I didn't buy any. We've since installed one, so now I don't have an excuse when that fundraiser comes around again.
Mr. Sammy Dog
I get annoyed by in-home party invitations. If I really want any of the overpriced items I can usually find them on ebay for at least 50% off. I hate the obligation to buy from your friend and then have your own party, where they feel obligated to buy from you. So I usually decline the invites.
DH and I do not answer the door for anybody. I don't care what you are selling or what you want, we don't answer. I'm not a very trusting person, and DH is totally gullable, so we figure that's the best solution!
We bought our house in December 2007, but didn't move into it until the end of January. We were over there one day, for the first time since closing, just kind of checking it out, and knock knock knock. DH answered the door and got suckered into talking to a couple of JW for like 30 minutes! He just never knows how to react to people, or politely end the conversation, so he just stands there.
Saturday the bell rang, during dinner, yesterday the bell rang, during nap time (on a busy kid day)...I was just thinking we should really just invest in a "no solicitors" sign at this point.
Me too!!!
I got annoyed last summer when a family friend brought her whole BeautiControl kit to our annual cabin weekend and did a half hour presentation on the deck to all of the women (6 total). There was no avoiding it and then of course you feel guilted into buying stuff from her. I'm already "set in my ways" for my beauty regimen so I really didn't want to buy any of her stuff. :-( I get it is a business and they are just trying to make a living, I just don't like the guilt part of it.
I really think this depends on the consultant. I am very, very low pressure when I do a show. Probably almost to a fault, considering I haven't had a ton of success with it.
But I do know that a lot of consultants for all of those companies can be very high pressure, and it really turns me off.
Just don't do what my friend did. At the end of her demo she added up the sales slips and said loudly, "Well, I guess I'm not getting those new khakis..."
Wow. I don't understand people that behave this way...
Wow. That's awful!!!
Ugh. Home sales parties. I avoid them at all costs. The ladies in my neighborhood have them all the time. At least one a month. I've stopped making excuses, I just reply "no" to the invite and leave it at that.
Even if the sales consultant is not high-pressure, I still feel obligated, and I hate wasting money on overpriced stuff I don't even want. Oh, and I never believe the "It's ok not to buy anything, just come to socialize!" line. Of course they're expecting guests to buy stuff, otherwise it wouldn't be a sales party, it would just be a party.
And I give the major side eye to Kiz's friend who hosted the impromptu sales party and than commented on how little money she was making on the sales.
Mr. Sammy Dog
The cornerstone of their religion is to share ther beliefs to help "save" people for when the end comes. They believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven to serve as Gods government and the remaining "saved" people will live on a paradise earth.
JWs are not the only religion that goes door-to-door or hands out info. Mormons go door-to-door as well and I believe Born Again Christians han out brochures detailing your demise in this evil world (I used to have a customer when I waitressed that left by tip in the booklet). You can tell the difference between a JWs and Mormons because Mormons only send men out and they are not allowed to drive so you usually see them on their bikes.
I personally never answer the door when I'm home unless I'm expecting someone. They always go away pretty quickly. Even then most people that come over know our garage code so I never have to go down to open the door;)
my read shelf: