To expect people to read the sign?!

[tiddlerthefish]

Thoughts?

I have a emergency services shift worker DH and a grumpy poorly baby upstarts sleeping today.

So one out a note on my door which reads "Please do not disturb, thank you"

It's an A4 piece of paper folded in to literally sellotaped in the middle of the door. Impossible not to see.

Already today I've had:

Amazon delivery for next door (I don't order parcels to come when I know DH is going to be asleep)
Workman from over the road asking me to move my car (from my designated and owned parking space)
Random door knocker with nonsense leaflet that could've just come through the letterbox it's junk anyway

All ignore it and knock! --

Why are people so ignorant?!

Nobody reads signs on doors it appears. Just this morning I was thinking I should just place the waste paper basket directly underneath the letterbox - in spite of a sign stating no leaflets, cold callers etc. etcetera, I receive a steady stream of printed out crap.

@SuperficialSuzie, I like that! Then if they do knock, they cant be surprised if you are grumpy/shout at them/rude.

Yeah, you need to elaborate on why you don't want any visitors. Do not disturb is just not enough.

My house has a number on the door and on wheelie bins next to the door but I still get people knocking on the door asking if it is number (something else, sometimes quite different).
I regularly get other people's post.

We get that all the time. We are attached to another house which is a completely different colour from ours and has its own front garden, clearly separated from ours by tall trees, with a very different kind of hedge and a very different style of wall in front of it. Each house has a front door with the number on it (we both have two, actually, for boring reasons), each house has its own satellite dish.

The sheer number of people who appear never to have encountered semi-detached houses before. We also regularly get post for the next road and they get ours. They are (e.g.) 42 Acacia Street and we are 42 Acacia Avenue. Yes, it was dim to have originally given two adjacent roads such similar names a very long time ago, but they're clearly different. If you worked with an Ann Smith and an Ann Jones and you had a file to give to one of them, you wouldn't just hand it to the first one you saw and think "Well, it's effectively the same person". Similarly, if somebody called and asked to speak to Ann, the first thing you would do is ask to verify which one they wanted - not just consider them a single entity known as 'The Separated Ann'.

I receive a steady stream of printed out crap.

in Germany if you have a sign on the door stating something like "no flyers, no free newspapers" they're not allowed to put those things in your letter box.

You need to literally spell it out for some people OP.

Write “DO NOT KNOCK THE DOOR. SHIFT WORKER AND SICK BABY SLEEPING”

We ignored the door he then started to thud it

How thick do people have to be not to understand that, to request somebody to come to the door, you ring the bell or knock firmly? If they don't come, they may be out, using the toilet, dealing with a baby, unable/unwilling to be disturbed for any reason. This means that your request has been declined or is not possible and you need to leave and come back another time, if necessary. You can put a note through the letter box or try calling their mobile if you want to.

In the very rare event of their house being on fire or even if you are being pursued by an armed attacker, feel free to bang as loudly as you can - although they still may not be home.

It's the equivalent of running up to somebody in the street, waving your arms furiously and screaming at the top of your voice to attract their attention, and then asking "Do you have the time on you, please?"

Under quarantine- keep away, door covered in viruses

That would do it unless they can’t read English
Put the skull with cross bones thingy on as well.

White noise for both baby and husband?

Delivery people aren't in the frame of mind to read signs, they're usually overworked and just want to drop the parcel and get away. Frustrating but there it is.

Yeah, you need to elaborate on why you don't want any visitors. Do not disturb is just not enough.

You do have to work harder to overcome people's sheer stupidity and rudeness, but how arrogant do you have to be to see a clear 'Do Not Disturb' sign and think "Well, even though I'm only a cold-caller trying to selll something and they won't be interested anyway, I'll still ignore that, presume to know better than they do how they should live their own lives in their own home and bang the door down anyway."

I get the humour in stating you have the Coronavirus but in reality it's probably not something to joke about ... unless you want people in hazmats coming round and carting you off to confinement.

Delivery people aren't in the frame of mind to read signs, they're usually overworked and just want to drop the parcel and get away.

Fair enough if it's your parcel. If not, they have no right or justification to do so. I think some of them might actually selfishly choose your house because of the sign, which suggests that you're in and they can browbeat you into taking the parcel off their hands.

"GRUMPY NIGHT WORKER TRYING TO SLEEP. DO NOT KNOCK UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SHOUTED AT"

This is definitely the best course of action. If they do still decide to ignore it and wake you up, you can at least make the most of it and give them both barrels for a bit of catharsis! They have been warned!!

I won't joke about being in quarantine. As tempting as it is!

I bet people would manage to read that sign though!!

I see the point about being more specific. I will be next time. You should have to be though. There could be any number of reasons someone doesn't want people hammering on the door. New baby, napping toddler, recovering from an op/ill, elderly and infirm, disablement, working from home, shift working, just plain doesn't want visitors. Should we have to spell out the minutiae of our lives so that other people bloody well leave us alone?!

Huff.

You shouldn't have to be. Sigh. I am the typo queen today.

How about this taped over your front door?

I know it's slightly off topic but it reminds me of a few years ago when DH had taken DS out for a few hours, and while they were gone I painted the front door. I put a couple of large signs outside with 'Wet Paint - Don't Touch' on them, and pulled the door almost closed so that it could dry.

Soon afterwards my family arrived home, and DS came running inside using both of his hands to push the door open! Not happy, I said in utter frustration, "there's signs outside saying wet paint, why did you do that?" Poor DS looked very sad and and said, "But Mummy I'm only 4, I can't read!"

I was suitably mortified with my own stupidity...

@SickOFant Yes!!

Poor DS looked very sad and and said, "But Mummy I'm only 4, I can't read!"

No, I'd definitely exempt 4yos from my accusations of stupidity for not being able to read or understand a sign - especially when it's their own home!

Infected with Corona Virus.

And tape it over the knocker. I bet you don't get disturbed again.

DH works nights sometimes, and if I go out, I leave a big sign on the door saying 'night shift worker in bed - PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK -' and so far there has been no-one knocking.

People waking you up/waking your partner up to deliver someone else's parcels would boil my piss and it would be utterly futile, because I would totally refuse the package. I know the delivery drivers are under pressure and have limited time, but it's not my problem.

Sounds flippant I know, but it's really not. Other peoples packages are not my responsibility (or my DH's.) And the lack of time they have is not our responsibility or fault either.

I would never expect people to take in my packages, and be woken up to take it in! I would be mortified. Similarly, I don't expect people to wake us up when there's a sign saying 'DO NOT KNOCK - night worker in bed!'

It's like an elderly woman in my street has 5 carers a day, and they are there for 45 minutes to an hour each time, and always park opposite my drive, or opposite my neighbours, so we struggle to get in and out. Every morning my DH gets in off nights, (when he's on it,) he cannot get onto the drive, so has to park 100 yards down the road! He has knocked on the door before, (to ask them to move) and they don't answer!

The elderly woman has a 2 car drive but they can't be arsed to park on it, they prefer to park on the dropped kerb blocking in people (opposite) instead. When my neighbour moaned at the lady's son, he said, the carers have limited time, and the extra 20 seconds it takes to reverse onto the drive eats into their day...

SO, me and the neighbours have started to park on the road, so that we know we can get out whenever we need to, and the carers NOW have to park 70-80 yards further away. So they now 'waste' more time walking that distance than they would quickly parking on the driveway!

@tiddlerthefish YANBU at ALL!

I wouldn't put night shift worker on the note. Don't let anyone think your house might be empty most nights!!

Delivery people aren't in the frame of mind to read signs, they're usually overworked and just want to drop the parcel and get away.

So that excuses them from banging on random peoples doors, to dump parcels that arent theirs, on them so they can deliver it for them? Especially when there is a sign saying do not disturb on the door?
Dont think so.

I agree with sticking the note OVER the knocker

Will make them think twice

@SouthernComforts

I wouldn't put night shift worker on the note. Don't let anyone think your house might be empty most nights!!

But that would only apply if said night shift worker lived alone.

No-one else in our house works nights. Only DH.