Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

to be furious...

93 replies

LittleCandle · 04/07/2017 18:45

The doorbell rang this afternoon. I opened the door to find a wee guy standing there. Parked on the street was a van with tree cutting equipment. He looks at me and says 'I chapped your door the other day. Your bushes are a disgrace and that tree has to go.'

I told him sharply that his opinion was not wanted, the bushes are perfectly fine as they are and he could fuck off.

I'm furious! I get that he was touting for business, but that was hardly the way. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get! Cheeky fecker! Tell me I wasn't BU to tell him to fuck off?

OP posts:

Aquamarine1029 · 04/07/2017 19:13

Nope, I don't have anxiety. I'm just smart enough not to trust strangers who have no business knocking on my door. I speak to them through the door and ask them to leave.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/07/2017 19:13

Chapped = knocked - it's Scottish dialect, I think.

LunaMay · 04/07/2017 19:13

Whosthemummy those accident calls are a well known scam. Hope you're not giving them your info to sell on.

BarbarianMum · 04/07/2017 19:14

It doesn't matter how much he is paid - he's being paid to harass and lie to people. If he wants to be treated politely then perhaps he should start by asking whether you've been in an accident rather than teling you that you have. They are quick enough to put the phone down on you if you challenge them, no matter how politely you do it.

Oliversmumsarmy · 04/07/2017 19:15

I never answer my door unless I know who it is now. Used to but all I was getting was people wanting to buy my house then getting arsy because they wanted it for 1/3 of what I wanted for it.

GinSoakedTwitchyPony · 04/07/2017 19:16

Thanks SDTG.

I'd guessed it meant knocked or rang the bell but I've never heard it before and wasn't sure if it was some new young hipster speak or local dialect. (I'm old!).

strawberrygate · 04/07/2017 19:16

Aqua so if someone knocks on the door, you shout through the door to see what they want? What if they say it's a parcel and you weren't expecting one?

Original poster

LittleCandle · 04/07/2017 19:17

I possibly might have been nicer to the phone guy and played along for as long as possible before laughing and hanging up. However, I was in the middle of getting ready to leave to have an MRI scan, and possibly was feeling a tad stressed. But when some wanker comes to the door and tells me my garden is 'a disgrace', you bet I'm going to be annoyed. I spend a lot of time keeping it nice.

And 'chapped at the door' means knocked - or in this case ringing the doorbell. I'm Scottish.

OP posts:

strawberrygate · 04/07/2017 19:17

Oh, and i think being too scared to do an everyday task like opening your door IS anxiety

Oliversmumsarmy · 04/07/2017 19:18

Re the phone calls. Dd tells them that she had an accident but now suffers from amnesia so could they fill in the blanks

upperlimit · 04/07/2017 19:18

Do you have an intercom system aqua or do you yell through the letter box?

spiderlight · 04/07/2017 19:18

I had a similar encounter on the doorstep a while back with a guy whose opening line was 'Have you seen the state of your roof?!' He didn't get far!

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 04/07/2017 19:19

I'd be mortified if a stranger told me that my bush was a disgrace.
I'm quite fastidious about my bikini line.

FrancisCrawford · 04/07/2017 19:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Decaffstilltastesweird · 04/07/2017 19:21

They are quick enough to put the phone down on you if you challenge them, no matter how politely you do it.

Yeah but the op didn't just put down the phone. I've done that a few times when I've had unsolicited calls, though usually tell them to take me off their marketing list first, if I cba. I never "play along" either, but I've never called one of them a wanker and told them to fuck off. That does sound fairly aggressive.

HipsterHunter · 04/07/2017 19:22

How on earth do you function in normal society and get things like deliverys if you don't open your door to strangers?

LucieLucie · 04/07/2017 19:23

It's aggressive scaremongering tactics that travellers use to get vulnerable people (mainly elderly) to worry something is wrong / needs fixed urgently and part with cash to get it fixed there and then.

Cowboys. Glad to hear you told him to F off. Real tradesmen don't need to knock doors for business.

Redglitter · 04/07/2017 19:24

I possibly might have been nicer to the phone guy and played along for as long as possible before laughing and hanging up

Or you could just have said you weren't interested and hung up

WaitingfortheMiracle · 04/07/2017 19:25

YWNBU - If I'm home during the day, I don't like being disturbed either. I check thru' the windows or use the door spy-hole to look for a delivery van, uniformed official or neighbour. If it's a stranger then I don't answer the door.
Nor do I feel I need to answer the phone, especially if I have company, or it's a mealtime. If it's important, they can leave a message, & I will get back to them when it's convenient.
I don't want to be rude - but neither do I accept repeated intrusions into my time.

Original poster

LittleCandle · 04/07/2017 19:27

Decaff I was feeling fairly aggressive towards the phone guy. We are listed with the TPS etc so we shouldn't get these calls. Why should I be polite to someone who wants to scam me out of some money? It wasn't a marketing call - its a scam and if you are quite happy to do something like that for a living, then you accept the consequences. And before you accuse me of something else, I work for minimum wage and know how difficult it is to get a decent job, but there is no way, no matter how broke I might be, that I would do something like that.

OP posts:

FrancisCrawford · 04/07/2017 19:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thereallochnessmonster · 04/07/2017 19:27

what concerns me most is that you opened the door to a complete stranger. Who knows what he's really after? I would never, ever open my door to a stranger

Only on MN do people have completely bonkers relationships with their own front door and people who might be outside wanting to pay a visit.

What about couriers, people popping in, long lost friends, neighbours, posties, the Next delivery lady?? What do you do then???

TheSeaTheSkyTheSeaTheSkyyyyyy · 04/07/2017 19:29

I usually check from the upstairs window and if it's not a delivery or somebody I'm expecting, then I just ignore it.

But then, I live in an area with a lot of people trying to sell shit/asking for money/trying to convert me to a religion/etc. and I just don't have time for all of them.

Decaffstilltastesweird · 04/07/2017 19:29

Before I "accuse" you of something else? The only thing I've accused you of, is being aggressive, which you were. You just said so yourself.

Gazelda · 04/07/2017 19:33

How do you know if it's a stranger at the door until you open it?

OP, I get why you were miffed. And I realise you are under stress at the mo. But honestly, I think you should try to tone down your aggression. Surely you would have got the same response from both bush-man and telephone-guy if you'd just said "no thanks, please don't contact me again". Much better for,your blood pressure.

I hope the MRI shows good results.

Flip

1 2 3 4