Mumsnet Mythbuster Thread

[CharliesAngles]

Have read so many references that MNs dislike opening their front doors if not expecting anyone or a scheduled delivery.
Is this true for you?
Going to add an exciting poll just because it's Monday 😁

Today I've had three deliveries that needed signing for. I'd be screwed if I didn't answer the door (the delivery estimate for all three was just this week)

Of course. I do like to peer suspiciously out of the window first though.

(Option 3 obviously meant to say 'house' but ran out of characters 😬)

I'm mainly a door opener, but I would have to say there's a bit of Option 4 in it, as nobody needs to see me in my PJs (unless it's a close friend or family, in which case they'll just have to take me as they find me)

We both work from home so we have several parcels delivered and collected daily. I don't like opening the door if I'm not expecting someone though. But I am a victim of violence so my first reaction is always suspicion.

I would open the door on the assumption it's a neighbour, but we live in an apartment so I'd be at anyone else knocking without having buzzed first so I can let them into the building.

We occasionally get cold callers conning their way into the building and going door to door. They get incredibly short shrift at this door!

That's perfectly understandable @Doggymummar .
I'm sorry you experienced that.

I think a lot of people nowadays have doorbells with integrated cameras so the myth may be becoming obsolete anyway.

I have an old fashioned spy hole which does the job of a camera doorbell much more cheaply. But I mostly answer the door anyway. Unexpected callers lately have included someone returning my recycling bag, which had blown way down the street after being emptied; an unexpected delivery of flowers from a colleague who had heard I was ill; a couple of teenage Jehovah’s Witnesses, whom I dispatched with a smile and a firmly closed door within three seconds; and an old friend I hadn’t seen for over 25 years who was in town visiting her mum. 3 out of 4 therefore worth opening the door for!

The last unexpected person who knocked on my door was a passer by who had found a dog. I was able to direct them to the correct house (who wasn't in, but another neighbour took in the dog).

I have a video doorbell so I can see who is there and answer if need be (or just talk to them through the system). I do avoid answering the door and I don't answer the phone unless it's someone I know.

Irs quite difficult for people that I'm not expecting to knock on my front door as I live in a low rise block of flats that has a security door and an intercom system. I keep the intercom switched off unless I'm actually expecting someone because I got fed up with people buzzing it to get into the hallway on the pretence of needing to get to one of the other flats, when actually they just wanted somewhere to sit and smoke cannabis. People that know me know not to turn up unannounced,they always text or phone first, and for deliveries I always get an email telling me when it is due. Also,my attitude is that practically everyone has a mobile phone nowadays,so if someone DID need to get in urgently,they could phone me.

I was just thinking of this thorny issue earlier today, when yet again somebody had been buzzed in to our block of flats to see somebody in the end flat on the pitch black interior corridor mistook my doorbell for the hallway light switch because my door is the first on the left coming out of the lift. * *

It happens all the time, especially in the summer when a lot of these appartments are let out as AirB&B's, often very late at night when our visiting temporary neughbours are somewhat over refreshed.

So, in answer to your question, no, I do not answer the door to unexpected callers but make judicious use of the the fish eye whilst holding my breath and listening through the crack in the door.

Shabbat shalom to all.

often very late at night when our visiting temporary neughbours are somewhat over refreshed.

😂