My wife and I were sitting at home the other day enjoying a nice spaghetti dinner on the couch when there came a timid knock at our front door. Yes, we were eating on the couch, it's what we do. Given the fact that we work in the same place and ride to work and back every day, we have plenty of time for conversation, so the traditional dinner time at the table isn't as necessary. Plus we don't have kids, so it's not like we are trying to set an example or anything...
In the past when a knock like that would come to our door, our dog Jovi would go absolutely nuts. She was definitely one of those dogs that fit the stereotype of her bark being worse than her bite. It was loud, and scary. If I were someone trying to break into our house, it definitely would have given me second thoughts. However, now that she is gone we don't have that luxury anymore.
Of course, there is that awkward moment where we just look at each other and try to decide if we are going to actually answer the door. It's always me, because I don't know I'm the man and that's my job? I've really never asked why it's always me, but I am going to go with that.
Since it happens so rarely, it's typically one of the kids from the neighborhood selling something as a fundraiser for their school or sports or something like that. I typically try to support them whenever I can because honesty, what else am I going to do with the money...
Then you have nights like last night. Despite the fact that it is 2026 (last I checked anyway), there still seems to be some kind of market for door to door salesmen. As the title of this posts suggests, I can't really fathom why this is still a thing, but apparently it is, and in a moment of being nice last night, I now find myself in a bit of a predicament.
The guy was from a roofing company and he stopped because he noticed that our roof was looking worn. He explained that they were doing some work on a house down the road and as he was driving by he noticed how bad our shingles were. I know our shingles are bad, when we moved in the house, it was recommended by the home inspector that we have the roof redone, but have you seen how much roofs cost? I just don't have that kind of money right now. I asked the guy if he had a card he could leave and of course he didn't.
He proceeded to run through his spiel and before I knew it we had an appointment for someone to come back the next day to give us an estimate. Funny thing is, as he was taking our info, he asked what road we lived on. Ummm, if you were working on a house down the road, don't you think you should know what road you are on?
Like I said though, I was apparently in a good mood, so I didn't stop any of this before it got to that point. The truth is, we will never use this company. At this point, the only reason I am getting the quote is so I can pass it along to my friend so he can compare it to what he charges and see how competitive his pricing is. I messaged him after the guy left to ask if he had heard of this company before and he called me right back. He said that they have a history of about 25% of their roofs leaking after the fact. He also said the company is known to take out liens on houses and then forget to cancel them after the work is done.
Doesn't sound too promising right?
Like I said, I have zero intention of using the company, even if they gave me an amazing price.
Which again, leads me to the question, why is door to door sales even a thing still? I mean I guess it must still work on some level because I'm the freaking moron that has an appointment today right? I'm actually so anxious about the whole thing. It makes me understand a little what the current generation seems to be struggling with (okay, maybe not that much).
More than anything, I just find it annoying. There was a point where I actually told the guy I wasn't interested. He asked why and I said "because I'm in the middle of eating my dinner and I'd like to get back to that".
Yet the appointment still happened. Kudos to him I guess.
Are door to door sales a "thing" outside of the US? Do you see it as much as you used to? How do you feel about them? Should they along with the fax machine disappear forever and never come back?
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