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I have had pretty good luck with telling Witnesses, "Thank you, but no."

Just because the doorbell or phone rings does not mean we have to answer it. No answer at the door conveys its own message.

Most of the door-to-door 'school fundraising' visits from strangers have sounded like scams to me, and the answer is, "No." But when my neighbor's kid does this once or twice a year, I buy out his stock... and give the candy bars or cookie dough away. Let someone else get fat; I've done my part.

BTW, this young school-age lad (with his mom along) is usually raising money to keep the music program alive at his school. We all know these programs have been de-funded; this is one cause I find all-too-believable.

I did not think the reply to the OP sounded like bigotry as much as annoyance... being acquainted with both, I do see a difference. However, being both patient and civil helps with both cases.

The JW's knocked on my door once and left a pamphlet. The secomd time, they just passed by my door - and I have no idea why. I felt left out.

eweiss they could have possibly be doing other areas that day or following up on interest. I agree Jeff Clef, a "thank you I'm not interested works very well.

In my experience, specifically asking the religious proselytizers not to come back has been an essential part of getting them to in fact not come back. Simply saying "Thank you, I'm not interested" has several times been interpreted as "Thank you, I'm not interested at the moment but please do come and see me again another time". After very kindly informing them that I wasn't interested and would they please not come back, I haven't had any knocks on the door for that reason in at least three years.

Going door to door for one's religion can't be easy. I'm sure there must be a lot of responses that are outright hostile, and I don't think they deserve that. They're just trying to do what's required of them.

The crack about religion and intelligence reminded me of a classic Bob Newhart gag:

"Speaking of music, I don't really like country and western music...Oh, but don't think I'm trying to denigrate anyone who DOES like country and western music...Oh, and if you DO like country and western music, denigrate means to put down or make fun of."

Kurt

OMGosh it happened again!

This time it was a young adult with a bunch of cleaning supplies (looked like she was selling). She saw me through the window as I waved her away, but she kept standing there ringing. Then she started whistling.

I asked her to leave. Nicely.

I went back to teaching and she stayed there knocking at the door!!! I went back out with my camera phone and said "I'm taking your picture to send to the police if you do not leave." She muttered, cussed under her breath and left.

GRRR!

Wow! You seem to have had quite a few bad ones there lately.

I hope your luck with "visitors" improves.

Seriously??? That is the epitome of rudeness. Wow.

Just curious, DO you have a No Solicitors sign?

I just added one this afternoon. Just handwritten, but hopefully it will do the trick.

If you really want to end the JW visits, I used to be one (full time)* and I can tell you how. Telling them 'no thank you' will not discourage them from returning. Putting up signs about lessons in progress probably will not either, as from their point of view, the information they are trying to give you is the most important thing in the universe.

If you want to stop their visits (more or less) permanently, tell them "Please put this house on you Do Not Call list." (use that exact phrase). If you Really want to be sure, find out what the address of your local congregation is, and mail them a letter to that effect. In that letter, it helps to specifically say you do NOT want them calling on you periodically (ie-yearly) to see if you still want to be a Do Not Call (or they do that).

*FWIW, In defense of David_A it is true that the JW Organization strongly discourages more than the minimum of education legally required. Critical thinkers generally do not last long as a member of the group. I would not say they were dumber than the average resident of the area where we lived at the time, but they definitely mock "intellectuals" (of course, a lot of religious groups do that back there).

This thread needs to be removed. I doubt Pianoworld.com was intended to be a forum to belittle other's religious beliefs and how there is a lack of intelligence in associating with certain groups.

If, d4v3, these groups have made a specialty of being a pest species, their own actions have exposed them to criticism.

It is hardly your business to tell pianoworld members what they can and can't say.

GONE FISHING.

Please do not feed the WILD ANIMALS.

Excuse me sir... but you need to go back and read the rules and disclaimers for this site.

"You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this BB to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law."

I took the liberty to bold the words that most of these posts on JWs exemplify. Im sorry if you thought this site was free to spew hate speech of others you disagree with, or ones that you seem to think deserve it.

I don't think anyone was intending to offend anyone.

The poster that said:



was and has been affiliated with that group. He is stating what he learned there. That is no different than throwing a blanket statement out there like: Catholics teach against birth control, or Muslims must pray 5 times a day.

I like to read all these opinions, I learn from them. Opinions are not always right, nor are they always wrong. They are opinions and in America we have freedom of speech. It is the best way to learn and from that form our own opinions. Which of course will make someone else mad and/or offended if we dare speak them.

There's a big difference between saying that a group discourages education and that people of that group are of limited intelligence! The latter is absolutely offensive.


BTW (and OT), Catholic teaching is against artificial methods of birth control. NFP is accepted and encouraged.

So is people showing up at your door trying to sell their religion. Talk about annoying - not to mention arrogant.

I'm not sure what your point is. That because something is annoying, it's okay to write stuff like that here? Tell them to go away; you're not interested. Just like the forum rules say we're not interested in seeing offensive posts on this site.

BTW, I have a sign posted on my front door "Absolutely NO SOLICITING of any kind". And at the side door: "No soliciting at this door either".

I have clearly made a statement that was too broad, too general, and too likely to offend people. I am certainly willing to retract, modify, delete, or whatever people would like me to do with the offensive post. If a moderator wishes to delete my post or cut out parts of it, they are most welcome to do so.


Note: I have tried myself to delete the offensive material, but the user-editable time period has apparently expired for those posts. Please, moderators, step in and do whatever is appropriate.

How about a sign saying:

'No callers, unless by prior appointment'