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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think people these days no longer understand door numbers or seem to be willing to ring the doorbell?

40 replies

Gotosleepeveryeffingone · 19/01/2025 22:37

Every now and then I sell an item on FB marketplace or via a whatsapp group or something and someone is on their way to mine to collect said item and it's at that point I quickly learn if they are significantly younger than me and lack what I thought were common skills.
To give a little more context I have not so recently had a new door fitted and haven't got round to putting my door number on the front so when I tell people my door number I describe what the colour of the front door and assume they will look at my neighbours door numbers (which are all in tact) and understand that 29 is after 27 and before 31 (not my actual door number but you get the idea. However, more times than I can count I get missed calls and texts saying "I'm on your road, I'm outside" and then I open my door and there's no one there and then I find out they are at the total wrong end standing outside a door with the same colour as mine.

One said, the door numbers are really confusing, the don't go in order! I said to her you are standing on the side of the road with even numbers, you need to cross the road - to which she was shocked, do people really not know that on one side of the road you have even numbers and the other is odd?

And why does no one ring the bloody door bell anymore?

OP posts:
Coldanddamp · 19/01/2025 23:11

I went somewhere in the Summer which didn't have odds & even numbers, my mind was blown. The numbers didn't even make sense so we had to phone our friend to come and meet us!

MartinCrieffsLemon · 19/01/2025 23:08

We don't live in a "odds this side/evens that side" road and a surprising number round here aren't either.

Then, as a PP says, you get roads which intersect other roads so the numbers become confusing

Or little cul-de-sacs off main roads which lead to other cul-de-sacs

Or numerous other quirks.

Not being familiar with a layout is not "missing a common skill". Ringing to check is better than them not turning up

Put up numbers for goodness sake

Re the bell, is it a Ring type or an old school buzzer which isn't obvious?

JC03745 · 19/01/2025 23:06

OP- when you give them your details, do you tell them that you actually don't have a number on your door??? If not, then YABU!

Our lane just have house names, no numbers at all, which is even worse. I see delivery drivers and people going up and down trying to find houses all the time.

BIossomtoes · 19/01/2025 23:04

cardibach · 19/01/2025 22:46

My road doesn’t do t(e odd/even thing - numbers go all up one aside 9f the road in order and back. That is unusual though, so it’s weird people aren’t expecting the opposite (in fact people often find it confusing to locate mine because if thsi odd numbering).
Totally with you on doorbells. Quiet little mousey knocks when I have a very obvious (and loud) doorbell.

Ours is the same. The numbers start at one end, run consecutively up one side then restart on the opposite side. Hence numbers one and 89 are opposite each other. Given that half of MN apparently never open their front doors, I feel really sorry for delivery drivers.

Original poster
Gotosleepeveryeffingone · 19/01/2025 23:04

Yes yes I know need to get door number up, it's been a few weeks now, but it's really highlighted to me difference in arriving at someone's house etiquette.
I have a neighbour who has been to my house several times but won't bloody ring the doorbell, does silly little knocks ...I have a new small porch so if she's knocking on the front door there is no way I'm going to hear it from upstairs with an additional front door in between us!

OP posts:
ShamblesRock · 19/01/2025 23:02

You can tell you don't have a job working in the community. House numbers make no sense -
some roads run in order,
Some have odds on one side even on the other,
Some semis have one half in one road and one in another,
Roads meet each other half way (the other day I knocked at the right number but the wrong road, I needed to be a few doors down),
Some roads have a 13, some don't
Some houses use the back access as their main door, as this is where the road is.
Every little town has roads the same name, I may or may not have knocked on the right number, right road, wrong town.
And then lastly we have the roads where someone threw the numbers in the air and hoped for the best.

I would love to work somewhere so uniform. I love you for a number, I love you even more if your road name is on the door sign, even if I am not actually going to your house.

TeabySea · 19/01/2025 23:01

We have a doorbell button beside the number at the front of our house. We have a second doorbell button beside the letterbox, and we also have the house number on the gatepost.
On many occasions I've had deliveries late beside they couldn't find the house (e.g. we're at No.246 and they stand by the gatepost looking up and down the street, then go to 248).
Frequently people knock rather than use the doorbell, which means if we're at the back of the house, or upstairs, we don't hear anything .

Ginkypig · 19/01/2025 23:01

At least they are in the right street.

at least 2-4 times a month I get food delivery drivers knocking on my door for the house of the same number on the next street.

so they are looking for oak road instead of my street oak avenue

that is despite now having put signs with both the street address and the number on my gate although that has cut it down a bit.

thats both annoying for you and surprising to me but I suppose the explanation is probably that so many people just use their phone which they literally follow until the blue dot ends up in the right spot then they stop walking and they do that without ever having to have learned those “rules” that we did to navigate because we had nothing but an a to z!

Noperope · 19/01/2025 23:00

I've noticed this. So many people asking 'How do I get there? What bus do I take? I'm outside Tesco, how do I get to you from here?' I don't fucking know, use Google maps!

Believeinmarmite · 19/01/2025 22:56

You are right but as someone who visits a lot of houses for their job, houses without numbers are the bane of my life (don't even mention the roads where they all have names) I actually think it should be a legal requirement to have a clear number on your house, how is an ambulance supposed to find you if you don't take responsibility for making your address clear??

DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe · 19/01/2025 22:56

You don't have to wait until you can sort a beautiful Faberge-inspired crystal door number plaque - even just printing it on a sheet of paper (laminated if you can) and sticking it up in the meantime would help.

They may not be the smartest, but you aren't helping either. They're probably aware that it's annoying when somebody rings your doorbell when they don't actually want you, but just to use you as a pointer to one of your neighbours' houses.

Offcom · 19/01/2025 22:55

Both of these! Also the number of people who stand at the gate and phone to ask how to get in… you push it, why wouldn’t you at least try that first?

CatsndtheBear · 19/01/2025 22:53

YANBU, it does seem like these tiny life skills (common sense) have passed by a lot of people but it takes 10 mins to put your door number up. Probably less time than you've spent on the phone giving directions.

Allmarbleslost · 19/01/2025 22:50

Surely just put your number on your door?

cardibach · 19/01/2025 22:46

My road doesn’t do t(e odd/even thing - numbers go all up one aside 9f the road in order and back. That is unusual though, so it’s weird people aren’t expecting the opposite (in fact people often find it confusing to locate mine because if thsi odd numbering).
Totally with you on doorbells. Quiet little mousey knocks when I have a very obvious (and loud) doorbell.