Maybe this has been going on for awhile.

But I hadn't noticed it. Until this week, that is.

Twice in the last few nights, young people selling something have come to my door and knocked loudly. We can debate the whole question of answering a knock on the door when you don't know who's there another time. But the reason I bring this up is the identical way they knocked.

It wasn't just a normal knock, knock, knock.

It was a loud sing-song rap on the door. It sounded sort of like the opening to that old "Shave and a haircut...two bits!"

It was the kind of thing a neighbor would have done in the old days when coming over to collect your father for their bowling league night. In any case, it sounded a note of faked familiarity. I believe it is intended to make you think it is someone you know.

I suspect they were coached.

The first visitor to my porch was a young woman wanting to talk about windows. The second knocker was a young man who didn't really get a chance to say much. But he clearly was selling something.

That's not an easy way to make money on a cold night. And at least they weren't lying about having run out of gas and needing a few bucks or whatever.

But I feel like I got tricked into even answering the door. That will not happen again.

Feel free to drop by. But please give us a call first.

 

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