Ask one of Jehovah's Witnesses

[Cyberman]

I have this sign on my door:



Only snag is I'm building up quite a collection of doorsteppers out there.

[The Grand Nudger]

You feel embattled, you have plenty of harsh words...but the only thing that all of your interactions on these boards have in common is yourself.  Food for thought.

[rexbeccarox]

What are door steppers?

And, thanks, Stims. I'm totally gonna put a sign like that on my door. "No Soliciting" doesn't do the trick

W'ist, my thing is that they don't give a rat's ass if it will wake up a night owl (me) and her roommate who works like a mad woman and likes to sleep in on the weekends. Sometimes I've told them, nicely most of the time, I'm not interested, then a new batch shows up a few months later.

It's obviously not the worst thing in my life, but it has ruined whole days in my household.

[Cyberman]

Doorsteppers? It's a term for people that you wouldn't want getting further than your doorstep. Brush salesmen, bailiffs, JWs; parasites like that.

[rexbeccarox]

Ah! Thanks, darlin'

[Longhorn]

Ooh, I need a sign like that on my mailbox

Though 'fuck off' usually works just fine

[robvalue]

I wrote in a little piece of paper "No cold callers please" and taped it under my door bell, because I was getting rather sick of being bothered in general. It seems to have worked, I've since been left in peace. If anyone does cold call, I'll just point to the piece of paper, flip them the bird and slam the door Nah not really. I'd be my normally polite self and say I'm not interested. Then I'd swear a lot when I'm back inside.

I'm also having a big problem understanding how knocking on my door is "waiting for them to come to you". Well, anytime you knock on someone's door you have to wait for them to come to you, right? But I'd consider it rather a loaded scenario since you just banged on their door.

Nic: you "seriously doubting" Becca is very strange. It brings up an interesting point though about scepticism, which I need to write on my website. Scepticism, when done properly, is usually applied according to both the importance and the likelihood of claims. This is a claim of relative unimportance to you, although the irritation is obviously important to Becca. The claim is not a particularly unlikely one, people can bang on doors at any time. You find it a little odd, sure. But you're taking the stance that you "seriously doubt" it. That's a lot of scepticism for a very small claim.

Now compare this to Christianity, and maybe this will benefit you. The claim that all the supernatural stuff in the bible happened, and Jesus existed and is God, and still exists, and is watching over us, and there are certain actions which lead to certain kinds of afterlives... is a claim of huge importance, and overwhelmingly unlikely when compared to what we know and have experienced. So this is at the absolute maximum on both accounts, so should require the full force of someone's scepticism. Given you doubt Becca's claim even though you have direct eyewitness and current information about it, wouldn't it be fair to say that you should doubt a whole lot more extraordinary claims in a 2000 year old book, backed by nothing but it's say so?

This is a genuine attempt to help you, as you've been asking for one. It's not meant to be a criticism, although I think repeatedly asserting how much you don't believe Becca was uncalled for.

[Tonus]

How do the Spanish speaking jehovas witnesses always find me? Is there some sort of radar for people who speak Spanish?

Oddly enough, it's the opposite for me, which is funny because my lineage IS Spanish. Most people think I'm Jewish or Italian. Very few people have ever picked up that I am Puerto Rican.

As for how they find you, JWs keep a register of the homes they have visited, including the language spoken. That way you aren't being approached by JWs that don't speak your primary or preferred language. These registers are not always very well maintained, to the extent that we would occasionally get a visit from JWs even though we were JWs.

As for 8am visits, sweet jesus... I'm glad we never did that when I was a JW. We didn't even assemble to prepare to go out until 9:30 or so, and as far as I know they still do that around here. Not sure where you live, Becca, so it might be because of local hospitality. If we'd knocked on people's doors on Sunday at 8am in the Bronx, I'd probably have been shot a few times. Now I'm curious, since I'll be moving to the Ohio suburbs in a couple of months, when/if they will visit my home. As for waiting for people to approach, I have noticed that recently some JWs are setting up these little kiosk stands filled with literature, and they stand next to it. When I was an active JW, our version of street work (ahem) meant that we walked along and approached anyone we encountered.

The idea behind the door-to-door work is that JWs believe that the only path to salvation is to be a JW in good standing. It doesn't matter how good a person you are, if you're not in the club when god finally brings his wrath upon the world, you're going to die and stay dead. So for them there is a certain urgency in helping as many people get into the religion and become saved. The guilt that can come from 'losing' a loved one or friend to 'the world' is one example of the harm religion can do to people.

[Whateverist]

What are door steppers?

And, thanks, Stims.  I'm totally gonna put a sign like that on my door.  "No Soliciting" doesn't do the trick

W'ist, my thing is that they don't give a rat's ass if it will wake up a night owl (me) and her roommate who works like a mad woman and likes to sleep in on the weekends.  Sometimes I've told them, nicely most of the time, I'm not interested, then a new batch shows up a few months later.

It's obviously not the worst thing in my life, but it has ruined whole days in my household.

Oh I hear you.  I used to work graveyard shift and got woke up by them more than once.  My only satisfaction is knowing I got to flash them and their kids since I sleep in the nude.

[Jenny A]

They can be outrageous. There was the pastor who when faced with the bald statement, "no thanks, I'm an atheist," had the nerve to ask if he could talk to the kids then. I asked if he had children and how old they were.

"Five and ten."

"You can talk to mine if I can talk to yours."

He didn't like that idea much. But it didn't appear to educate him as to why I might not invite him in to talk to mine.