Please be VERY VERY Careful

[YvetteJeannine]

I generally keep my door locked when my husband isn't home; and I really don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone...One time I was napping and didn't have the door locked...I heard somebody ring the bell, and then I heard the door open...I was scared shitless...I went out there a few minutes later when I'd summoned the courage, and nobody was there...I think it was a Mormon looking around to see if anyone was there (they were coming to our house once a week last year)...Now I lock the door for two reasons: 1) I don't want intruders, obviously... 2) If anybody DOES decide to help themselves in, I now have a large Wheaten Terrier that WILL rip them to shreds...If it's a rapist/burglar at the door, that's fine; Cloe can tear in to them all she wants...but I don't want a little Girl Scout getting torn up if she decides to open the door....It sure would teach people to never go univited into somebody's house again, though

 

[Raerae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GalleyGirl What kind of weapon? I live in a borderline difficult area, and I've been meaning into looking into various forms of protection.

Guns dont always offer protection...

Lots of people get shot by their own gun... Because they think that someone seeing a gun, will cause them to back down. And they aren't prepared to use it. Seeing a air-soft gun, if the guy really was planning to hurt you, might just make him panic and make sure he hurt you even more, so you can't use the gun on him. Just becareful when you bring a weapon to the door.

You'd honestly be better off having a phone in your hand with 911 ready to send. This way if you did get into a bad situation at the door you could dial 911 if something bad happened. Your a lot safer with the police on the way, than you are being hurt by your own gun, knife, tazer, whatever.

 

[Hawkeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquarius11 Wow, that was quick and smart thinking on your part...you must have had a hunch that she was suspicious. I'm glad nothing happened, though. Thanks for sharing this tidbit of news with us...and you are right, it can happen to anyone. It's becoming increasingly difficult to trust anybody these days...what a shame. And I am such a naive, innocent-thinking type person and my DH is always warning me to be careful. I'll definitely use more caution from now on when someone comes to my door.

You know it was really weird because as I approached the door I had this strange feeling - to be careful. So when we started talking this feeling was very very strong and I just felt I had to keep an eye on the door.

Just to give you guys an update:
My dad had told me he suspected she was a "druggie" because of the whole Pharmacist thing you know they look for signs etc whatever that would be "suspicious" and tonight as I was driving home I noticed her again by the stop sign at the end of the street and I didn't even know it was her until I was right up at the stop sign- but the feeling just overwhelmed me again.

It's really just listening to the gut instinct.

And you know I was so nervous about it- and this is strong coming from me because to be perfectly honest I don't get freaked out that easily. But I was really scared because even though I kid about not liking the kids next door, I really do sort of care about them and I don't want them hurt and I was so nervous about that. So I called my dad's next door neighbor about an hour after she got home and told her what happened and asked if she'd keep an eye on the house for us. But that was just really scary.

 

[prinzessin784]

whoa that is really creepy. There are some weird people in this world, it's scary to think about how vulnerable you can be just by being a nice person!! Good for you for having your wits about you though!

 

[Shimmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae Guns dont always offer protection... Lots of people get shot by their own gun... Because they think that someone seeing a gun, will cause them to back down. And they aren't prepared to use it. Seeing a air-soft gun, if the guy really was planning to hurt you, might just make him panic and make sure he hurt you even more, so you can't use the gun on him. Just becareful when you bring a weapon to the door. You'd honestly be better off having a phone in your hand with 911 ready to send. This way if you did get into a bad situation at the door you could dial 911 if something bad happened. Your a lot safer with the police on the way, than you are being hurt by your own gun, knife, tazer, whatever.

Never answer the door waving a weapon of any kind around.
Ever.

However, wearing a holstered weapon (which I do, in this case, it's airsoft) isn't a bad thing either.

 

[Hawkeye]

Well- it's kind of unnerving thats for sure-

Now Shimmer your post made me think of this- and i went to find it and I couldn't find it but it made me laugh and I mentioned my dad to try this:

This is the best security system ever.
Take your husbands pants or a guys pair of blue pants and rip them up, put them on the porch. use some ketchup all over them.

Put three BIG water bowls and food bowls on the front porch fill with the food bowl with dog food.

Throw a few beer cans on the porch-

Leave a note on the door that reads this:

Bubba- Went to go get more beer. Before you come in, be careful, Killer already got the mail man- he was real hungry today so were the two others.

Love
Joe

 

[Raerae]

lol...

Like those ginormous bowls of dog food, and the owners come home with the chijuajua

 

[tadzio79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae My co-worker and I were actually talking about this a few weeks back... How trusting we are to people in a uniform... I mean think about it... How hard would it be for a man, to buy a brown button up shirt and pants, and hold a official UPS package that he picked up at the UPS Store. Knock Knock.... Rapist - UPS!! You - One Second!! *you open door* *rapist pushes you down and locks door behind you* Instant sexual assault in your own home.. We all really let our guard down when it comes to people were expecting... And even those were not, when we see that they are wearing a familiar uniform. What about like people like the cable guy, and the GAS man. We openly let them in our houses, and offer them something to drink... It's happened before...

yeah I totally know what you mean.
After reading many posts here, I realize how naive I can be at times.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a leak on the bedroom ceiling of my mom's apartment. I went over there the next day to clean up to help her out (wet blankets and what have you), and someone rang the apartment from the gate. When I peeked outside, the guy said that he was there for inspection.

The thing was, her apartment was inspected a few weeks ago and there were a couple of things that the inspector had noted and alaerted the owner/manager (she lives in her own house somewhere else) to fix. It hadn't been done.

so I let him in, not thinking much. he had an id badge, and I didn't think he was suspicious initially. But he asked if I knew the manager well and if I knew how to contact her (that's when I was like, well, Why can't you get a hold of her? don't you have her info? wtf?).

He also asked me if I was a minor (now that I think about it, I wonder if he was a sicko... eeewww!!!) and I looked at him funny, and I was like no, but why does it matter?

I basically started to stare him down and was following his every move and never left him alone (the guy wasn't big at all, looked like he might be in his 30s, he didn't have anything on hand that I could see other than his little blackberry, and the kitchen was just a few steps away - HELLO BIG KITCHEN KNIFE!)

The guy was in and out the door in less than 2 minutes.

My mom talked to her manager the next day, and the manager said that there's been theft/rape going around, and that the inspector should have contacted her first prior to coming into the apartments.

I'm glad that nothing happened, but it was a huge lesson.
Thinking back on how I kind of scared him away, thank god it worked, but what if he wasn't scared off and tried to attack me or something?

so yeah, don't trust people because they're in uniform!

 

[IcesUltraGlam7]

It was nice of your dad to get the water can't trust anyone these day's.I'm glad you both are safe..I reccommend you call the police if you see her near your property again.
Thanks for sharing..

 

[caffn8me]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkeye P.S. I know nobody lives in my neighborhood

Don't your neighbours live in your neighbourhood?

Thanks for the useful warning!

 

[Beauty Mark]

Quote:

so yeah, don't trust people because they're in uniform!

People who used to have those jobs also sometimes discard the old clothes to secondhand shops or to family members. I've known some people who do that with postal uniforms, even though I don't think that they're supposed to do that.

 

[MxAxC-_ATTACK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raerae Yeh i dont answer my door at all... unless i know the person.

Me either. I look thru the peep hole.. and if I dont know the person i just walk away and continue with my business..

I once had a guy follow me to my house , From High school. and I DID answer the door. He said I flipped him off (??um no..) and He was going to stay in my driveway so He could tell my dad....(

)
It creeped me out , I told my dad when he got home, (the guy eventually left After I made a huge scene outside my house telling him to get off my property) and my dad told me to next time call the police

 

[caffn8me]

If I am not expecting anyone, I don't answer the door. It's that simple.

 

[MACreation]

This reminds me, last week i ordered pizze and the delivery lady, comes thu the unlocked front door up the stairs and knocks on the indoor door. i live in a house, not apartment, and that SCARED me. Thankkfully my sister's boyfriend was on the couch right next to the door, so i know nothing would have happened.

 

[faifai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MACreation This reminds me, last week i ordered pizze and the delivery lady, comes thu the unlocked front door up the stairs and knocks on the indoor door. i live in a house, not apartment, and that SCARED me. Thankkfully my sister's boyfriend was on the couch right next to the door, so i know nothing would have happened.

What the heck?! That'd be dangerous for both parties involved. If the owner of the house was a shady person or easily alarmed, the pizza person could be killed, and if the pizza person is the "bad guy" then how insanely frightening for the person in the house at the time! Such a lack of common sense. Lock the door and if you're a delivery person, don't just invite yourself in to a complete stranger's house!

A similar thing did happen to my aunt. She's the last person in her house to leave for work each day, and as she was getting ready someone rang the doorbell. She was in a hurry so she looked through the peephole, thought it was just a solicitor or something, and went back upstairs. The guy rang the bell continuously for almost 5 minutes. It finally stopped and just as she was about to go downstairs, she heard a huge crash from the back of the house.

She went downstairs (wtf? that wouldn't have been my first instinct!) and looked at the back door - the guy had grabbed some bricks and thrown them at the sliding glass door, causing it to almost get shattered, and was about to do it again. My aunt started screaming at him and was like "what are you doing, get the hell away from here, I am calling the police!" and ran back upstairs to call them. The police arrived within minutes and caught the guy as he ran through other people's backyards to get away. My aunt had to install her very first security system after that and she was mostly pissed that this guy had "the nerve" to do that. It scared me, because she lives only 2 miles away.

 

[redambition]

it's a crazy world we live in. how bad is it that people are afraid to answer the door?

i always keep the doors locked (i just moved back in with mum and dad and they laugh at me for this), and if i answer the door i leave the screen door shut and locked.

i also never open the door fully if i'm not expecting someone. I stand behind it and brace it with my foot, ready to shut it again if need be.

 

[little teaser]

i never answer my door even if i know them.. i have told people if you are gonna come over to call if not im not gonna answer the door.. im very paronoid like that.. i trust no one

 

[Dark_Phoenix]

I don't answer the door, even if I'm alone. If a package needs to be signed for, our housekeeper signs.
I'm pretty paranoid, like never leaving curtains open, and making sure windows are locked, gates are locked, door locked, etc.. I don't want to be a victim of theft or something just because of carelessness.

 

[Raerae]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redambition it's a crazy world we live in. how bad is it that people are afraid to answer the door?

I think it's a natural progression...

You hear about "back in the day" we used to leave our doors unlocked etc etc. Yet these same people never tell you the stores of the people who got robbed. My grandparents did the same thing, until they came home one day and all the silver, jewelery, and other valueables were stolen.

People are just a lot more cautious these days. I lock my door because thats how I grew up. It's like a reflex, open door, close door, lock door. I've been doing it since I was little. Thats how my Mom taught me. And I didn't grow up in a bad neighborhood, most of oue street slept with their doors open. The reason my Mom does it, is because it was her house that got robbed back when she lived with her parents.

Were also reporting crime a lot more. So it seems like things are terrible these days, but in reality there just being reported more. Not to mention with a larger population, even thought the % of crime and theft remains the same, the instances of crime increase. So there are a lot of reasons. Add in a few reports of rapists bashing in door and raping the single women inside (you KNOW it's happened b4 it got reported the first time in the papers), and the increased networking power women have, and it's only natural were all a bit more cautious.

I know I'll be teaching my children to lock the door behind them, and treat strangers at the door as suspect. I'm not paranoid, just taking precaution not to be a victim.

 

[pixichik77]

Never buy a gun just for protection. Guns require training and discipline to operate.