Am I the only person who never opens their front door to anyone?

[jugglingjugs]

I just heard my front door go, so I hid in the kitchen out of sight, no idea who it was but I'm now very curious.
I wasn't expecting anyone, if it was family I would have answered because they wouldn't come unannounced.
I also never answer my phone if I don't recognise the number. Is this just me or does anyone else do this?
I have never really thought about why until now.

Never crossed my mind not to do both

phones displaying caller ID came about during my lifetime. Back in the day, you never knew who was calling your landline and mobiles didn’t exist.

I open my door to everyone

I only open t to expected guests and expected deliveries.

If someone knocks and I'm not expecting a parcel or have an appointment, it dont get opened and it stays locked and the chain on.

It's always been this way, my mum was the same when I was growing up but she was hiding from Rumbellows..

It's just something I've never been comfortable with, I think I just feel put on the spot if I open the door and don't know who it is or what they want, same with unknown calls.
Yet I'm so curious to who it was and what they wanted.

I quite often didn't answer door in last house.Got so sick of sales people. My family walk in and we barely get deliveries so not answering is normal for me haha

I'm very unsociable, but I open the door if someone knocks. No one ever visits me so it's either a parcel or a cold caller (despite the no cold callers sign)

I answer the phone if it's a local number, a mobile number, or a private number (as the doctors comes up as private) Phone calls from random far away cities don't get answered. I Google them and 99% of the time they are scam calls.

Fair enough. I know mine likes cash and to have customers acknowledge him after he’s completed his work as he’s had issues in the past with customers claiming he didn’t attend.

No, you’re the living embodiment of a weird MN trope.

Why the fuck would people hide from the phone and door? 😳 unless you’re likely to be paid a visit by some bailiffs, I can’t understand.

Always open the door, shocked people wouldn’t.
I answer the phone but wait for the other people to speak if I don’t know who is calling, I block anyone selling.

So answer your phone and your door. Don’t be ridiculous.

Maybe the way to get comfortable is practice, @jugglingjugs. Bite the bullet and just do it next time, and then it will get easier each time after that. T

The chances of it being anything nasty are very low so there is honestly nothing to worry about. But as someone who suffers from anxiety, I do absolutely understand how hard it can be to get over these sorts of fears and anxieties, but I can honestly say that I have never regretted pushing myself through them.

I have never met someone in real life who doesn't answer their door or their phone and am always bemused by how many people on MN appear to be terrified of opening the door.

Good thing no one around here is like that. We take in each other's parcels, DS knocks on neighbours door if he has kicked a ball over, NDN knocks on our door to let us know they're away and to ask us to take out their bins etc. It's really not that big a deal.

Thats ridiculous. You should at least ask who is it. I ask then open if necessary.

I'm the same. If I'm not expecting anyone I don't answer the door or I'll go upstairs and look out my window

Are you in some police protection set-up, OP? Hiding from the Mob? Of course I open the door and answer the phone. I'm a grown-up.

Who are you hiding from.
Don’t seem to get many cold callers around these parts, so it’s usually a delivery, or friends and family. Why would you hide from them ?

Not this again.

Only on MN do I encounter so many people scared of their own doorbell.

Do you know there’s a really simple way of finding out who is knocking at your door?

Do you have a chain on the door so that you can open it a bit to check who it is, but they can't push their way in (in the unlikely event that they tried to). You are giving information just by not answering the door, it then appears that no one is home.

We also get lots of deliveries so really have to answer the door. I answer the phone even if it looks like a dodgy number just to keep up with the latest phone scams. If appears to be a scam I don't engage and then check the number and report the call on 'who called me'.

I have a house phone and a mobile
I'd never answer the house phone, nobody has the number so any call is spam or an attempt at a con.

I'll not answer my mobile either if I don't recognise the number or if it's a private number etc.

I rarely do.

Mumsnet is completely weird when it comes to this. Of course I answer my door and phone. 🙄

I rarely answer the door and never answer an unknown number!!

Not me. I’m not the least bit unwilling to open my door or answer the phone, even if I’m 99% sure it’ll be a junk call, or a Labour door knocker.

I'm the same op I don't answer the door either, we get a lot of cold callers here and I'm just pissed off with it all. Problem is my door has big glass panels that they can see through so sometimes I get caught in the hallway and have to answer but it annoys me.