Do you answer your door when home alone?

Val · October 2011

I saw a post about this on ML and was shocked at the amount of people who don't for safety issues, so do you where you live now? Did you when in your country of origin? Why/why not?

ETA: does the type of housing make a difference?

Val · October 2011

And to answer my own question, I do 99% of the time (in my country of origin, in a fully attached house).

I won't if I have ascertained it's door to door people so I can avoid the whole sale/survey/jehovah's witness speech.

H insists I should open the hatch to check who it is when he's not in at night but I'll admit I forget to use it most times.

aMrsin09 · October 2011

In the states I lived in a security building, so if someone knocked on the door, they were probably neighbors. If someone knocked on my patio door (1st floor unit) after dark, I did not open it until I found out who it was. But this was fairly easy since I had a French door with blinds and a light on the patio.

Here, if someone knocks on the door no way would I open it. We live out in the middle of nowhere. But since we got the dog and put an electric gate up I don't have to worry about this anymore.,

bugabean · October 2011

I do and always have. I've only lived in apartments as an adult.

Mrs.E.07 · October 2011

I almost always do. I always look through the peephole first. I think once or twice I decided not to. It's not like I felt unsafe really, just more that it looked like someone selling something or taking some kind of survey and I didn't want to do it.

dorothyinAus · October 2011

In New Orleans, I had a heavy iron gate more than an arm's length between me and anyone "knocking" on my door, so I usually felt quite safe in opening the door when I was alone. The panic button on my house alarm was also within reach of the door.

Here, I have windows all around, and a clear view to any visitors to my front door from my bedroom window, where I can observe them without them seeing me, so I feel pretty safe opening the door when I am by myself. I am still a bit nervous about opening the door when I am home alone at night. But I can count on one hand, with fingers left, how many people have come to the house when I was home alone here. My answers may be different if I had more door-knockers.

azure_azure · October 2011

I always did in Canada and in Vietnam. Here I usually check who is downstairs from the balcony before answering the interphone and buzzing them in. I have also refused to buzz people in if I don't know who they are.

dulcemariamar1 · October 2011

I dont. I live in a flat so people have to ring the doorbell if they want to get in. There is an older couple who lives in the buidling that lets the postman in. If I am not expecting anybody, I dont feel like dealing with people who just want to sell me things. Plus, the people here are pretty strict about ringing people in so I just ignore it when somebody calls.

gblake · October 2011

I do, I feel very safe here.

hamilton.ja · October 2011

I live in SF homes in a relatively safe upper middle class neighborhood in a relatively safe town. I did have my purse stolen out of my car once when I left the windows down all day earlier this summer but the thief left the ipad sitting on top of it, so clearly not the smartest ever and we think probably just a teenager or something. But even then I do answer the door when I'm home alone with the kids. I can see through my front door anyway so if it was someone I didn't want to talk to I'd just leave the door closed and say "no, thanks" through the glass. The front door remains deadbolted pretty much all the time since we don't use it often so I wouldn't feel unsafe just going up to the door and saying no to someone through the glass panel.

Emily523 · October 2011

Nope. I only answer the door when I'm expecting someone. It's not a safety thing for me. It's a "I don't want to buy your sh!t" thing.

jupiter2311 · October 2011

In the States, it just depended how I was feeling, I usually didn't answer the door because I didn't want to deal with people selling stuff, etc. When we first moved here, I didn't because we had a bat-sh!t crazy neighbor and we lived in a 3 apartment villa so it was just us, them and the landlord and she was kind of scary. I have no problem opening the door now, we live on a compound in a house and there's security watching who goes in and out, no one's knocking on my door that I'm not already expecting. Plus our dog goes nuts when the doorbell rings, as if my little toy poodle could scare someone off.

ctgirlingermany · October 2011

I don't in our flat, but for completely different reasons. The TV tax people here do not have the right to come into your home, unless you let them in. DH is afraid that because they are super relentless, I would break down and let them in. In our house, we will have a video intercom system.

MrsBini10 · October 2011

These days, not unless I'm expecting someone. This is less about safety and more about the fact that answering the front door involves going down from the 3rd floor and stairs are painful. I would not open it for a stranger, however, unless they showed some ID or had a clear reason to be there (like the UPS man or something).

MintChocoChip · October 2011

Yes, usually its a neighbor or UPS or something. I know most people in the neighborhood. We have a "no soliciting" rule and I always open it for solicitors to inform them of the rules and that I will be calling the police if they don't leave the neighborhood.

anna7602 · October 2011

I have an intercom in NY. It's usually UPS or Fedex and I can see their trucks out on the street when they're making a delivery.

If it's someone who sounds weird, I tell them over the intercom that now isn't a good time or to ring the super's bell (if they say they need to read the gas meter, etc.) or to leave the package in the front hall (if I don't see the delivery truck and if the person's voice sounds weird or nervous).

oneslybookworm · October 2011

I've always answered the door when I'm home alone, unless it's in the middle of the night. Then, I don't care who you are, you're not getting in.

Johlise · October 2011

I usually look out of the window to see who it is first, and then I decide if I'm going to answer the door or not.

ebartzen · October 2011

ctgirlingermany:
The TV tax people here do not have the right to come into your home, unless you let them in. DH is afraid that because they are super relentless, I would break down and let them in.

Hehe. They sound like vampires.

When I lived alone in Chicago, I wouldn't answer the door. In Canada, I always answered the door. In Italy, the door was literally open so people just walked in. And here in SA, I would be weirded out if someone came to our door.

risainthesky · October 2011

I used to not answer it but I will now! I was at my parents' place this week and the house was broken into. The cops said they attempted to break into some other houses as well because the people didn't answer their door. One of them said to always open the door if you're home, or at least yell from an upstairs window or something, so whoever is knocking knows your home. Otherwise you might find someone kicking in your door when you're there.

In the UAE, our doorbell is outside the gate so I'll usually open the door and say, "No thanks!" then shut the door quickly.

MrsBini10 · October 2011

ebartzen:
ctgirlingermany:
The TV tax people here do not have the right to come into your home, unless you let them in. DH is afraid that because they are super relentless, I would break down and let them in.
Hehe. They sound like vampires.
When I lived alone in Chicago, I wouldn't answer the door. In Canada, I always answered the door. In Italy, the door was literally open so people just walked in. And here in SA, I would be weirded out if someone came to our door.

Weirded out? No matter who it was?

AmericanInOz · October 2011

we are in an apartment building, so I have a buzzer - I ask who it is there first (and I can open my door to look down first if I want before letting them in).

Yes I usually would though, usually it's only the post office delivering something, and we live in a safe area

ebartzen · October 2011

MrsBini10:
ebartzen:
When I lived alone in Chicago, I wouldn't answer the door. In Canada, I always answered the door. In Italy, the door was literally open so people just walked in. And here in SA, I would be weirded out if someone came to our door.
Weirded out? No matter who it was?

Just cause it hasn't happened since we've lived here. I would be shocked if it did. But we live in apartment buildings, so any mail or anything goes to the front desk. And we don't know any of our neighbors at all. We are moving next month, though, maybe the situation will change.

Do you answer your door when home alone?

Re: Do you answer your door when home alone?

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