I would have thought one sign to be an introduction and company canvassed on behalf of mentioned right after a salutation. A card would be good too.

Instead, about ten minutes ago, a young man came to my door and said he was going door to door in the neighborhood giving six question surveys. He didn't say what for. He didn't give his name, and he didn't give a company. He pointed north and mentioned a name as a sample neighbor but I didn't recognize it. I quietly told him I wouldn't be answering any questions, and he thanked me for being positive and rude at the same time.

What I'm used to are people giving a salutation, giving their names, showing a card or logo of the company they're canvassing for, and stating a purpose more explicitly defined. As a case in point, a postal delivery person knocked on the door, I answered it, and he held up an envelope addressed to my son and asked if the person lived here. That was a good encounter at the door. Am I asking too much of strangers who come to my door?

I'm in the Pinehurst area, fwiw. And the Name and Email fields do not retain originally input strings when I choose the edit function on this forum.

I get solicitors fairly regularily since I live on a minor arterial in Lake City. Most have been for magazines and mechanic shops. Once even a pair of Mormons on a mission showed up. I make it habit of answering solicitations from my second story balcony. Most have been rather straightforward and usually very sketchy.

The most recent one was the most sketchy. A young African American woman told me she was a refugee from New Orleans who came up here after Katrina. She was with some organization that takes pledges from people to help people like her stay away from prostiution and dealing drugs. The whole time she was giving her spiel she would frequently ask me to "hear her out."

At the end, she asked me how much she could put me down for. I politely told I would put nothing down because I don't spend money on solicitors. She was a little miffed and asked why I let her go through her whole pitch if I don't give money to solicitors. I told her that she asked me to hear her out, so I did. She said I should put a "No Solicitors" sign up, but I told her I don't want to and have no problem telling solicitors that I won't buy their stuff.

I have no idea what your solicitor was peddling, Christina, but it sure sounds sketchy to me.

I spoke to my police precinct's Crime Prevention Coordinator shortly after the incident: she gave me some tips that now allow our family members to determine the purpose of visitors and to dismiss them without creating an uncomfortable incident and making ourselves nervous and vulnerable. We have a No Solicitors sign up now. Our family regularly buys Real Change newspaper from badged vendors and Girl Scout cookies from scouts and their moms, so we're not against community fund raising or helping people who are selling a reasonably priced, valuable product: we're just not into feeling uncomfortable with strangers at our doors. I like to know that where I eat and sleep is also where I'm not barraged by advertising or marketing.