Go ahead and knock

Do you know what happens when you ring my doorbell early in the day and my household is still asleep? I have five cats... it's not pretty.

Think chaos and mayhem times five.

I had about 1.25 seconds to absorb the doorbell sound when I heard a mass of thundering kitty feet. Something crashed to the floor. Something large thudded against a wall - hard. Pictures fell. Glass broke. And someone screamed like a little girl (that'd be me).

And who was at the door? A pair of door-to-door gospel types in nice clothes with briefcases, they could have been insurance salespeople too but I'm guessing they're from the new church just around the corner. On an early Sunday morning, too.

Now I'm not anti-religious or anything like that and I realize they have a goal to bring new members in, meet the neighborhood, get to know peeps... I just won't open the door in my jammies early in the morning, not unless it's an emergency or a neighbor or a friend in need. Sorry, them's the House Rules. 

I'm finding that people generally just don't understand that "to solicit" means "to ask". They're asking me to open the door, they're asking me to listen - they ARE soliciting. Even if they don't sell a product, just the nature of going door-to-door and asking for anything is soliciting. I have a "no soliciting" sign and it's big.  No one sees it.  So I'm adding a new sign next to that one:

"We are illiterate, diabetic, unemployed, inarticulate, atheisists. Don't bother."

Is that too harsh? *grin*