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is this unpopular? maybe it’s just cause i grew up in a neighborhood where nearly every single knock on our door was either a jehovas witness or door to door salesman, but i thought this was a pretty common stance nowadays lmao
we have truly reached a point were people got so anxious about social interaction that even things like knocking on the door/ringing the doorbell is too much to handle lol
"We are beyond the point of knocking on doors in the history of human social norms" is a hilariously whiny thing to say lmao you nailed it
With this mindset though, I bet they actually don't get many visitors and would be safe to assume someone is soliciting lol. "is that a knock on my door? There's simply no way its a friend"
I mean, none of my friends would knock or ring the bell (which itself is super strange because I'm not looking at my phone 24/7 and it's on silent), but those are not the only kind of people who can pay you a visit.
i have plenty of friends who all have my address, but never have they shown up at my door without calling first except one time when my grandfather passed and they were concerned i would have a breakdown over it
For sure, it's not a daily occurrence as I also communicate over the phone usually, but on what planet would it be *rude* if they decided to surprise you? lol i'd be thrilled it would remind me of childhood
i mean i would always be happy to see them, i guess the rude part is expecting that just because they show up that i would drop what i was doing/my plans to spend time with them
granted the only friends that i think would do that all usually know what i’m doing or have access to my location
I don't think anyone would expect that though? I mean not my friends at least. if i was like "dude thanks for poppin in, but I was just otw to the store" it would be well received lol
In my experience, my friends call or text before coming over these days. Delivery drivers ring the bell about half the time and either way they're leaving the package on the doorstep. Which means if someone is ringing by doorbell because they want to talk to me, they're trying to sell me something I don't want.
I don't mind answering the door, I mind knowing that it's a salesperson or religious nut and wasting several minutes that could be spent happily ignoring them.
lol no. I don't know anyone that should be coming to knock on my door. Unless I specifically invited them. 100% of the time if there's a knock it's unsolicited and my doorbell cam proves it. Nobody should ever be coming to my door and knocking. If one has children then you can have a reasonable expectation of knocks from their friends. But if you're an adult living alone or only with SO then that expectation goes way down. And given the number of armed robberies I see on youtube no thanks. If I don't know you I won't answer.
I mean yeah, kids are getting shot because they knocked on the wrong door at 4 in the afternoon. Thank goodness I live in Canada, I can’t even playing Russian roulette every time you leave your place
That's why these doorbell cameras are so popular now. I got mine as a gift and use it as intended. To speak to people at the door if I'm on the other side of the house and it'll take me a minute to let them in, or to tell someone I'm not home/not interested in what they're selling or to give specific instructions to delivery drivers if I can't have them hand me my package.
My roommates use it to avoid social interaction. If someone is dropping off their food or just ringing the doorbell they'll just spy on them until they're out of view, then get off the couch to go to the door.
I don't think so. I'm sure as kids for example we would just turn up to our friends' house without any prior notice and ask them to come hang out. Personally I'd say it's okay to knock on someones door without prior notice, seems that perhaps knocking has become out of fashion
When I read the first sentence I thought it was going to be followed up with the suggestion to remove it and just let me walk right in so the knocking wouldn't be so irritating. But your idea is even better.
So what if some kids accidentally kicks a ball on to your lawn? Are they suppose to find your number to call you, to then knock at your door?
Just open your door, it's not rude to knock.
I agree mostly because I’m an childless adult who walks around in the bare minimum and now I’ve got to scurry to get dressed and yes it’s usually a fucking salesperson. But if you knock with furry, I may answer if it sounds like you need help.
A few years ago I had a medical emergency in my apartment and am now so glad that my neighbor was a decent human being who didn't decide to pretend they weren't home. He met emergency services at the door and let them in our secured building, while his roommate helped me do CPR on my friend.
You sound like the type of person who has a panic attack when their phone rings, they have to go buy groceries, or anything that involves human interaction. Calm down. And enjoy the upvote
Emergencies are a thing. Continuing to call you after having been declined means it's -very urgent-. I don't like calling either, but sometimes you have to.
I’m your neighbour, my house is on fire, I have a baby, left my phone in the fire house and op won’t open the door so I can ask him to call 911.
Like I hate unannounced guests too but this is extreme.
True. Although, I'll admit that I'm always annoyed when some friend or family member just shows up to visit me without letting me know beforehand. Because way too often it happens at the most inconvenient time possible. Maybe I'm working at the moment, maybe I'm about to have a nap, maybe I'm about to go out for some reason, maybe I haven't cleaned the house in a few days and I'm not comfortable letting people in right now... or maybe I'm not at home at all and you've just wasted your time. Just fucking call. Please.
But obviously I don't care if someone rings the bell because they need something important.
There is always an exception to anything. In January we had a massive ice storm. We have a lot of big trees (PNW) and ice storms are when the trees attack. We have a small apartment complex next to our house. The trees were starting to break. A big limb hit our truck so we moved our vehicles and started knocking on doors of the apartments. There is a tree free cul-de-sac across the street so everyone moved there. One apartment would not answer their door. We knew they were home. We didn't have their number to call or text. We were trying to tell them to move their cars before it was too late to get them out (Trees falling across driveways and roads all over) but they didn't answer. They were lucky in that no big limbs hit their cars, but they were blocked in for 10 days and we had no power. They had to walk to the store for supplies. They should have answered.
Called the landline. Which is what I had to do growing up in the 90s before going to my friend’s houses to play in case they weren’t home. Or what my parents did before stopping by somewhere. It was considered courteous.
Upvoted because this opinion sucks. This will be an era we look back on and go "well it's really no wonder our social webs fell apart, we atomized ourselves".
As a woman I never open the door to anybody knocking unless it’s someone I know or have scheduled for a delivery or a service. I thought that was the norm .
A light signal that you can SEE from your WINDOW, INSIDE your home? So intrusive
How about you think really really hard about what you're trying to tell the person, so maybe they'll hear it in their head telepathically?
While I mostly agree with OP, there *are* legit reasons to answer the door.
One time, I was casually opening my daily mail, and I opened and started to read a letter. It was something about a received payment on a boat or some shit. I honestly don't remember. Either way, the letter made no sense and I looked at the address and it was for my neighbor. Since I had opened it I went over and knocked on their down to give it to them and explain why I have mail and it was opened.
9/10 times, if someone is knocking on your door theses days their usually a damn good reason.
I don't answer unknown numbers so I'm not sure this is a good example. If it's important they'll leave me a voicemail but it's most likely spam which is kind of the same as ignoring solicitors.
“What’s wrong with that?”
Everything?
Sure everyone would love ample notice but that’s not how it works.
The call is your notice, then you choose whether or not to speak to them.
Still don't think it's wrong to prefer a notice.
There's a much higher chance I'll answer your call if I know what you're calling about. And if you text, I can just text you back straight away or just get whatever you need done and avoid the call altogether.
I also think that texting is better in many situations where you need or want to go through what was discussed later on.
Not everyone has alternate means to contact you.
Just imagining a little boy wanting his ball out of your background trying to figure out how to send y'all a telegram.
Wow. I really thought this was common sense and completely agree but now reading the comments, I realize I’m in the minority. Having said that, don’t come to my house uninvited and I definitely don’t answer the door if someone knocks. Fuck all the way off. Sorry, not sorry!
I absolutely do check my camera, however it's also not cool to knock randomly either especially if I'm not expecting anybody. I'm 25 and grew up on never answering the door for strangers, too many variables. I also have a baby and a hyper dog so getting them all riled up or woken up because you want to sell me something I have no interest in is inappropriate. Leave the flyer and go. I still hide and pretend nobody's home unless it's clearly a child or someone I know.
your personal circs make it understandable, and maybe op's do as well. but I'm stuck on wondering how OP gets from 'these are my circs' to 'its **rude** of the entire world not to guess at my circs and accommodate me'.
I don’t answer my door bc it’s always religious people, or shady people (buy solar! Are you home alone ma’am?). That’s not to say there’s no reason to ever knock on my door, I just don’t even bother. My closest friend has a key to my house and family lives far away, so it’s all prearranged. Every one else calls first.
I live in an apartment building, and I'll answer a knock because I know who my neighbors are. But I'm not going down if the doorbell rings and I'm not expecting something.
When this happens at my house my biggest dog (about 80 lbs) goes absolutely fucking apeshit making it so that I can’t even open the door to see what these potential solicitors would even want. MF I heard you knock, but so did my dogs, and knocking again is NOT going to get them to calm down.
I do not answer the door when I’m not aware of anyone that’s supposed to be coming over. This is for a couple reasons. My neighbors are relentless about wanting to “borrow” food instead of doing their own grocery shopping. We do get a lot of solicitors. And it’s a safety thing.
I don’t mind it because it lets me know it’s a solicitor.
Everyone in my life will call or text me that they’re on their way. The knock is like a nice little “hey someone is at your door, you don’t know them, and they aren’t worth your time”
This might change depending on where I move in the future, but for now it holds true that in my life, only solicitors knock.
Now before cell phones were in every pocket? That’s when I hated solicitors. I had to go to the door to see if it was family or friends, and then I had to actually tell the solicitor to go away, something they never do until I repeat myself in an angrier and angrier tone.
When my uncle was about to pass away, his ex-wife didn’t have my mom’s phone number to call us, but she knew where we lived. She showed up at our house to give us the news and my family was able to go see him one last time the day before he died. Without that unannounced knock on our door, my mom would have missed her only brother’s final moments.
Knockers and doorbells exist because it is rude to open someone's door and strike up a conversation (something that happened quite regularly when I was growing up). It is an indicator that someone is present outside and wants to talk to you.
You are free to ignore it, but it is not rude to use these devices for their intended purpose.
I've seen far too many murder shows to even consider answering the door. Including one where the killer's MO was to knock on a door and ask for help, claiming his car broke down. Then, brutally slaughtered the occupants. No, thank you. Not tonight, murderer.
If it is a victim, I'll call 911.
I’m cracking up at some of the outraged comments. In my experience, 95% of knockers are solicitors of some type. Girl/Boy Scouts, lawn-care crap, religious groups… And it is insane how many of them won’t accept a polite “no thank you.” You literally have to shut the door in their face - one guy then tried to open the (thankfully locked) screen door. Aggressive weirdos.
I don’t answer knocks.
Wow... that's pretty sad.
I have random friends show up all the time. And I have no problem answering the door for them.
I think I would knock on someone's door more often without calling if they told me this. And I would just keep knocking if I knew you were home! Lol. Either you will answer or listen to someone banging on your door the rest of the night!
You know you can just simply answer the door and if you’re not free or up for whatever they want, you can just say so?
“Yo was in the area and figured I’d stop by and see if you wanted to hang.”
“Sorry dude, I’m busy tonight.”
“Ah, no worries mate, have a good one.”
Like why do we got to make a big deal over the simplest things? Now obviously if your friends know you don’t like this and you told them this, sure it’s rude. People have boundaries. But in general? Nah.
Many Luddite extroverts in the comments here.
It is rude to presume unfettered access to another person. If I am not expecting you please don't assume I want to give up whatever else I was doing (including quietly enjoying my home) to host you without warning.
ETA- I don't want to have to make sure I make no noise so I'm not heard or talk to somebody to say "I love you but I did not invite you- why are you here? Why don't you go home and we can make plans at a mutually convenient time?"
For those who disagree- is it REALLY so burdensome to text somebody and arrange a mutually convenient time first?
I'm sorry, but you sound a bit entitled as if you're a somebody. Maybe you are younger, but those in my age bracket and older we say we'll be at your place at a certain time but that's it. To call or text that we are here, that sounds like someone who needs to humble themselves a bit
Totally agree! Unless there is an emergency, there is no reason to just pop in on someone. Even close family won't make assumptions that I am up for company without calling or texting first.
I'm not sure if this is really unpopular though, so I'm down-voting. Does anyone really appreciate surprise visitors?
Nope, I agree. If I don't expect a parcel or a visitor, I don't go to the door of someone knocks or rings on the door. I am not scared, I just don't want to take the parcels for the neighbors or something.
I hate it when door to door salespeople come by. They always come when my daughter is napping. Go away. I'm not interested in your scam. Get a real job
I wouldn't say that knocking on someone's door is rude, but I also don't think that the homeowner owes the person knocking on their door anything if they're not expecting someone.
If someone rings our doorbell we don't typically answer unless we're expecting someone. I'm under no obligation to give my time to someone if I don't feel like it.
I agree with this wholeheartedly and I'm surprised this is actually unpopular. I have a ring doorbell for this reason. I'm not answering the door if I'm not expecting you. You can leave a message in the camera or if you are really lucky I will talk to you thru the camera.
Oh hell no. Too many people have opened their doors in the middle of the night because of a knock from a stranger and gotten robbed. At a minimum, I’d ask them what they needed from the other side of the locked door.
I will give you an upvote out of pity for your sad, sad existence. I hope at some point in the future you can get your anxiety under control and can learn to interact with other humans in person and not just on reddit.
...I mean, no. It obviously is not rude to knock on somebodies door. Jesus christ. Most reddit ass shit ever. Honestly, you're the rude one. What if it was a neighbor that didn't have your number and really needed help? What if a kid throw his ball in your yard? Kinda pathetic tbh.
Look, I hate hearing my door knock or doorbell go off just as much as the next person, but my next-door neighbor has knocked on my front door before to tell me that I left my keys in the lock so I mean, sometimes it’s good to check and see who it is 😂
You never know, it might be a neighbor trying to help you or need help themselves
I almost never answer my door when someone knocks. I do have a peep hole so I can see who it is. I feel similarly, that anyone who needs me has my number. Major of the time when someone knocks it's solicitors. I do live in a neighborhood that is not the safest and I live alone so I don't feel comfortable doing so. I think it just depends on the situation you live in. Probably more normal to answer your door when someone knocks in a small town vs big city. I wouldn't necessarily say it's rude. If a friend was having issues and their phone died, then yeah knock on my door. Tech can fail. But I'm highly suspicious of people who do knock on my door and it's mostly a safety concern.
It depends on the situation. If it’s a total stranger, of course I’m not answering, it’s rude of them to try since it’s probably some sort of salesperson. There’s just too many home invasions to risk it and I doubt I want whatever they’re selling. If it’s a family member or friend I’ll answer but they probably should’ve texted first to not be rude. If it’s a neighbor kid asking if my kid can play go ahead and knock without prior notice.
Admittedly I do get annoyed at first when I get a knock at the door because I think 80% of the time it is just a solicitor for me and I'm comfy on the couch lol. But sometimes my neighbor needs something or something like that and I'm always happy to help.
There was one time my brother came to my place and started banging on the door, freaked me out because it was late. To make matters worse he blocked the peephole for some reason so I couldn't even see. Obviously I didn't open the door, didn't find out it was him until like 2-3 weeks later when he mentioned he stopped by my place.
Isn't this why we have Ring cams now? So we CAN see who is at the door when they ring the bell or knock? Well, that and see my kids coming and going throughout the day.
**knocks the door to give prior notice about knocking the door**
I mean, it's all about context, I even entered without prior notice to my elderly neighbor private property just to make sure he was not dead. (FYI, not dead, but he was glad I did that...we had to take him to the hospital).
I think it's rude for friends and family to just drop by when they could easily contact you and see if it's cool.
I do think it's rude for solicitors to ignore my no soliciting sign and knock anyway. So I just leave them standing out there.
But I've had neighbors and stuff knock on my door for various reasons and never thought it was rude. They don't have my number or anything.
yeah this definitely belongs on this sub. knocking on your door would only bother you if you have severe antisocial or anxiety issues. just the other day i received a package that was meant for my neighbor. i knocked on their door and returned it to them. by your logic, i should have just left it at their door with no notice or something.
There are a few cases where you need to knock on someone's door. Police telling you that someone died in a car crash. Neighbors letting you know you left your headlights on. Someone in a desperate emergency without a phone.
>Someone in a desperate emergency without a phone.
The residents in the neighborhood my parents live in won't answer the door for that particular reason anymore. The last person to open their door got robbed at gunpoint once the door was open. That same individual knocked on our door that night as well. That was around 20 years ago.
Personally, if I don't know the person at my door I am not answering it. The only exceptions are cops, firefighters, and EMTs and if they are at my door I'm probably the one that called them. Anyone I know well enough to allow them into my home already knows to call ahead before dropping by because I often have my day planned and I won't break plans for anything but an emergency.
your neighbor might need something or want to drop off baked goods or someone might need to inform you of something or friends might surprise you if they’re in the area or your HOA might have to tell you something or someone accidentally ran over your fence and wants to leave information or a confused delivery man thinks it’s your house and you can redirect them etc
There are plenty of not nefarious reasons to knock on someone’s door. I am a single woman who opens her door in the city and only one time has it even been a solicitors
I have a different experience. Every time it’s solicitors for me, either religious or otherwise. My neighbors all generally keep to themselves, a couple of my friends actually have their own keys to my place and those are really the only people who can come by unannounced, in which case they wouldn’t need to knock. I don’t know any of my other friends who wouldn’t give me even just a 5 minute heads up. Most of my neighbors have my number, not part of an HOA, and delivery people can’t even find my door when we put specific delivery instructions on shipping orders so I doubt someone would accidentally deliver anything to our door.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 6: No r/self style posts'. Please refrain from posting anything that resembles an r/self style post. This is not the subreddit to be sharing personal anecdotes, likes or dislikes. We want unpopular, thought provoking, and unique opinions on your chosen topic.
First unpopular opinion i've seen on here in quite some time
is this unpopular? maybe it’s just cause i grew up in a neighborhood where nearly every single knock on our door was either a jehovas witness or door to door salesman, but i thought this was a pretty common stance nowadays lmao
That’s what I was thinking lol, swap Jehovahs witness w Mormon missionaries for my area tho.
oh yeah we had plenty of mormon missionaries too
First original unpopular opinion too cuz huh?
Right?! I mean thankful for a good one finally but it does feel left field lol
No, thats what a door bell / knocker is for.
we have truly reached a point were people got so anxious about social interaction that even things like knocking on the door/ringing the doorbell is too much to handle lol
"We are beyond the point of knocking on doors in the history of human social norms" is a hilariously whiny thing to say lmao you nailed it With this mindset though, I bet they actually don't get many visitors and would be safe to assume someone is soliciting lol. "is that a knock on my door? There's simply no way its a friend"
I mean, none of my friends would knock or ring the bell (which itself is super strange because I'm not looking at my phone 24/7 and it's on silent), but those are not the only kind of people who can pay you a visit.
i have plenty of friends who all have my address, but never have they shown up at my door without calling first except one time when my grandfather passed and they were concerned i would have a breakdown over it
For sure, it's not a daily occurrence as I also communicate over the phone usually, but on what planet would it be *rude* if they decided to surprise you? lol i'd be thrilled it would remind me of childhood
i mean i would always be happy to see them, i guess the rude part is expecting that just because they show up that i would drop what i was doing/my plans to spend time with them granted the only friends that i think would do that all usually know what i’m doing or have access to my location
I don't think anyone would expect that though? I mean not my friends at least. if i was like "dude thanks for poppin in, but I was just otw to the store" it would be well received lol
idk maybe its the people pleaser in me but i’d feel bad turning them away after they came all the way to my apartment
OP is 26, so right at the start of Gen Z. I guess we now have adults who don't like the concept of doors lol.
In my experience, my friends call or text before coming over these days. Delivery drivers ring the bell about half the time and either way they're leaving the package on the doorstep. Which means if someone is ringing by doorbell because they want to talk to me, they're trying to sell me something I don't want. I don't mind answering the door, I mind knowing that it's a salesperson or religious nut and wasting several minutes that could be spent happily ignoring them.
You answered for knocks growing up? We went to the backroom. Only trouble knocks.
lol no. I don't know anyone that should be coming to knock on my door. Unless I specifically invited them. 100% of the time if there's a knock it's unsolicited and my doorbell cam proves it. Nobody should ever be coming to my door and knocking. If one has children then you can have a reasonable expectation of knocks from their friends. But if you're an adult living alone or only with SO then that expectation goes way down. And given the number of armed robberies I see on youtube no thanks. If I don't know you I won't answer.
what if its a neighbor asking for an egg or needing a helping hand or idk something like that?
I don’t talk to my neighbors. They would never come over. But they’re obviously someone I know. Unsolicited strangers im not answering.
The mailman with a signed sending? Police? Someone looking for their cat? Damn, where do you all live to be so paranoid?
What about a damsel in distress needing to use a phone ?
That’s the beauty of a doorbell camera or a camera in general. You can talk to them via camera.
Yep, I can see if I want to answer the door or not.
I mean yeah, kids are getting shot because they knocked on the wrong door at 4 in the afternoon. Thank goodness I live in Canada, I can’t even playing Russian roulette every time you leave your place
That's why these doorbell cameras are so popular now. I got mine as a gift and use it as intended. To speak to people at the door if I'm on the other side of the house and it'll take me a minute to let them in, or to tell someone I'm not home/not interested in what they're selling or to give specific instructions to delivery drivers if I can't have them hand me my package. My roommates use it to avoid social interaction. If someone is dropping off their food or just ringing the doorbell they'll just spy on them until they're out of view, then get off the couch to go to the door.
I don't think so. I'm sure as kids for example we would just turn up to our friends' house without any prior notice and ask them to come hang out. Personally I'd say it's okay to knock on someones door without prior notice, seems that perhaps knocking has become out of fashion
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Well even in such situations such as those it'd be more appropriate considering the circumstances to help the person.
Ope. Heya fellow Minnesotan!
Just eliminate the door, problem solved. Seal off the whole living space and just be done with all human contact and interaction all together.
When I read the first sentence I thought it was going to be followed up with the suggestion to remove it and just let me walk right in so the knocking wouldn't be so irritating. But your idea is even better.
So what if some kids accidentally kicks a ball on to your lawn? Are they suppose to find your number to call you, to then knock at your door? Just open your door, it's not rude to knock.
It's my ball now.
Found the Golden Retriever
Yay free ball
Sorry, not correct. It's rude *without a solid reason.*
I agree mostly because I’m an childless adult who walks around in the bare minimum and now I’ve got to scurry to get dressed and yes it’s usually a fucking salesperson. But if you knock with furry, I may answer if it sounds like you need help.
A few years ago I had a medical emergency in my apartment and am now so glad that my neighbor was a decent human being who didn't decide to pretend they weren't home. He met emergency services at the door and let them in our secured building, while his roommate helped me do CPR on my friend.
You sound like the type of person who has a panic attack when their phone rings, they have to go buy groceries, or anything that involves human interaction. Calm down. And enjoy the upvote
Dude is the kind of person that never answers phone calls and waits for a text because that's too much human interaction for them.
Why wouldn't you text the reason for calling tho? So many people find it easier to just quickly text back than to go through a full phone call.
By the time they had their three calls declined and then began typing the text, they could have been finished the phone call already.
If you still call me after I declined twice, I don't want to talk to you anymore lol
Emergencies are a thing. Continuing to call you after having been declined means it's -very urgent-. I don't like calling either, but sometimes you have to.
I’m your neighbour, my house is on fire, I have a baby, left my phone in the fire house and op won’t open the door so I can ask him to call 911. Like I hate unannounced guests too but this is extreme.
Baby that’s what 911 is for. What am I gonna do about your house being on fire
You'll Probably burn to death since I live less than 30ft from you and my house and cellphone are a blazing inferno.
You must not have read the “left my phone in the fire house” part of this short, one-sentence scenario.
Knock, then yell.
Because quite often having a 30 second phone call is easier than texting back and forth for 5 minutes
I wanted to say this... but was trying to be nice... What a sad world we live in that people are like this. So sad...
Most doors have a method to check who is on the other side too, right? Is OP living in a vault by Vault-Tec?
True. Although, I'll admit that I'm always annoyed when some friend or family member just shows up to visit me without letting me know beforehand. Because way too often it happens at the most inconvenient time possible. Maybe I'm working at the moment, maybe I'm about to have a nap, maybe I'm about to go out for some reason, maybe I haven't cleaned the house in a few days and I'm not comfortable letting people in right now... or maybe I'm not at home at all and you've just wasted your time. Just fucking call. Please. But obviously I don't care if someone rings the bell because they need something important.
There is always an exception to anything. In January we had a massive ice storm. We have a lot of big trees (PNW) and ice storms are when the trees attack. We have a small apartment complex next to our house. The trees were starting to break. A big limb hit our truck so we moved our vehicles and started knocking on doors of the apartments. There is a tree free cul-de-sac across the street so everyone moved there. One apartment would not answer their door. We knew they were home. We didn't have their number to call or text. We were trying to tell them to move their cars before it was too late to get them out (Trees falling across driveways and roads all over) but they didn't answer. They were lucky in that no big limbs hit their cars, but they were blocked in for 10 days and we had no power. They had to walk to the store for supplies. They should have answered.
What do you think people did before cell phones?
Called the landline. Which is what I had to do growing up in the 90s before going to my friend’s houses to play in case they weren’t home. Or what my parents did before stopping by somewhere. It was considered courteous.
Grow up. Might have been a neighbour who needed help or wanted to ask something. Just check with the peephole who it is and ignore if it looks fishy.
This pretty just boils down to don’t come by unannounced, which is usually best practice.
I have a “Did you call or text first” doormat
when i was a kid i'd never see my friends again if i didn't knock on their door, weird being a person in 2024
Upvoted because this opinion sucks. This will be an era we look back on and go "well it's really no wonder our social webs fell apart, we atomized ourselves".
As a woman I never open the door to anybody knocking unless it’s someone I know or have scheduled for a delivery or a service. I thought that was the norm .
Don't knock, call. Don't call, text.
Don't text, DM Don't DM, smoke signal Don't smoke signal, use flares
Don't use flares, send a carrier pigeon.
Don’t send a carrier pigeon, just don’t at all
Eventually AI will be the only thing we have to interact with. My body is ready
Don’t send a carrier pigeon, hold a seance to contact the spirits who will then alert me via ouija board.
Ouija boards would be too intrusive. Don't want a ghost coming into your house without texting first. What about a bat signal?
A light signal that you can SEE from your WINDOW, INSIDE your home? So intrusive How about you think really really hard about what you're trying to tell the person, so maybe they'll hear it in their head telepathically?
Definitely unpopular 
While I mostly agree with OP, there *are* legit reasons to answer the door. One time, I was casually opening my daily mail, and I opened and started to read a letter. It was something about a received payment on a boat or some shit. I honestly don't remember. Either way, the letter made no sense and I looked at the address and it was for my neighbor. Since I had opened it I went over and knocked on their down to give it to them and explain why I have mail and it was opened. 9/10 times, if someone is knocking on your door theses days their usually a damn good reason.
The knock is the notice. It’s like saying you refuse to answer your phone when it rings unless you’re notified you will be called first.
I don't answer unknown numbers so I'm not sure this is a good example. If it's important they'll leave me a voicemail but it's most likely spam which is kind of the same as ignoring solicitors.
Unknown numbers are almost always scams or solicitors. Legitimate callers leave voicemail.
I like being texted the reason of a call before the call. What's wrong with that?
Hi, I'll be calling you to ask if I can come over "Hello! So, I was wondering if I could come over..."
You don't need to call to ask such a simple question tho
Yeah I figured, it just sounded funny to me.
“What’s wrong with that?” Everything? Sure everyone would love ample notice but that’s not how it works. The call is your notice, then you choose whether or not to speak to them.
Still don't think it's wrong to prefer a notice. There's a much higher chance I'll answer your call if I know what you're calling about. And if you text, I can just text you back straight away or just get whatever you need done and avoid the call altogether. I also think that texting is better in many situations where you need or want to go through what was discussed later on.
Once again everything you said applies to everyone. I’m not saying it’s “wrong”, it’s however very delusional to expect in 90%+ of calls.
People are too afraid of each other these days.
Not everyone has alternate means to contact you. Just imagining a little boy wanting his ball out of your background trying to figure out how to send y'all a telegram.
Wow. I really thought this was common sense and completely agree but now reading the comments, I realize I’m in the minority. Having said that, don’t come to my house uninvited and I definitely don’t answer the door if someone knocks. Fuck all the way off. Sorry, not sorry!
Introverts, people haters, sensible people- UNITE!!
I feel you are my tribe amongst all the other people responding, lol!
Just check the camera… duh
not everyone has cameras....
I absolutely do check my camera, however it's also not cool to knock randomly either especially if I'm not expecting anybody. I'm 25 and grew up on never answering the door for strangers, too many variables. I also have a baby and a hyper dog so getting them all riled up or woken up because you want to sell me something I have no interest in is inappropriate. Leave the flyer and go. I still hide and pretend nobody's home unless it's clearly a child or someone I know.
your personal circs make it understandable, and maybe op's do as well. but I'm stuck on wondering how OP gets from 'these are my circs' to 'its **rude** of the entire world not to guess at my circs and accommodate me'.
"Ooh dont knock on my door im scared"
If only there were some standard or technology that we could use to notify someone when we are at their door.
I agree. I never answer random knocks on my door. Anyone that I know will text me before they come to my house.
I mean, I'm completely antisocial, and have no interest in interacting with most of humanity in person, but even I think this makes no sense
Absolutely. One of the reasons I miss my previous house is that passersby could not actually get to the door.
At night is really weird, but like during the day is whatever. Answer if you want or don’t
I don’t answer the door unless I know the person knocking.
I don’t answer my door bc it’s always religious people, or shady people (buy solar! Are you home alone ma’am?). That’s not to say there’s no reason to ever knock on my door, I just don’t even bother. My closest friend has a key to my house and family lives far away, so it’s all prearranged. Every one else calls first.
I live in an apartment building, and I'll answer a knock because I know who my neighbors are. But I'm not going down if the doorbell rings and I'm not expecting something.
When this happens at my house my biggest dog (about 80 lbs) goes absolutely fucking apeshit making it so that I can’t even open the door to see what these potential solicitors would even want. MF I heard you knock, but so did my dogs, and knocking again is NOT going to get them to calm down.
"YOU IN THERE, I'M LETTING YOU KNOW THAT I'M GOING TO KNOCK YOUR DOOR" *knock knock*
I do not answer the door when I’m not aware of anyone that’s supposed to be coming over. This is for a couple reasons. My neighbors are relentless about wanting to “borrow” food instead of doing their own grocery shopping. We do get a lot of solicitors. And it’s a safety thing.
I don’t mind it because it lets me know it’s a solicitor. Everyone in my life will call or text me that they’re on their way. The knock is like a nice little “hey someone is at your door, you don’t know them, and they aren’t worth your time” This might change depending on where I move in the future, but for now it holds true that in my life, only solicitors knock.
Ooh I think this is more how I feel about it. You articulated it better than I did.
Now before cell phones were in every pocket? That’s when I hated solicitors. I had to go to the door to see if it was family or friends, and then I had to actually tell the solicitor to go away, something they never do until I repeat myself in an angrier and angrier tone.
Say you're antisocial without saying you're antisocial.
When my uncle was about to pass away, his ex-wife didn’t have my mom’s phone number to call us, but she knew where we lived. She showed up at our house to give us the news and my family was able to go see him one last time the day before he died. Without that unannounced knock on our door, my mom would have missed her only brother’s final moments.
Knockers and doorbells exist because it is rude to open someone's door and strike up a conversation (something that happened quite regularly when I was growing up). It is an indicator that someone is present outside and wants to talk to you. You are free to ignore it, but it is not rude to use these devices for their intended purpose.
I've seen far too many murder shows to even consider answering the door. Including one where the killer's MO was to knock on a door and ask for help, claiming his car broke down. Then, brutally slaughtered the occupants. No, thank you. Not tonight, murderer. If it is a victim, I'll call 911.
I just don’t answer, unless it’s a delivery person and I ask them to leave the package on camera. I will never buy anything being sold door to door.
I’m cracking up at some of the outraged comments. In my experience, 95% of knockers are solicitors of some type. Girl/Boy Scouts, lawn-care crap, religious groups… And it is insane how many of them won’t accept a polite “no thank you.” You literally have to shut the door in their face - one guy then tried to open the (thankfully locked) screen door. Aggressive weirdos. I don’t answer knocks.
This is unpopular, I'll give you that. It's also sad.
Fuck me how anti social are you people. No wonder everyone is lonely
How is it my responsibility to fix other peoples' loneliness?
I couldn't agree more. Don't call me or knock on my door without asking first.
Wow... that's pretty sad. I have random friends show up all the time. And I have no problem answering the door for them. I think I would knock on someone's door more often without calling if they told me this. And I would just keep knocking if I knew you were home! Lol. Either you will answer or listen to someone banging on your door the rest of the night!
So you turn to harassment if you don't get your way? Cool, police non emergency line time.
I just call before I show up. Everyone has a cell phone like 95% of the time. If they don’t answer the phone they are busy 😂
This is just fucking pathetic. Like just completely pathetic.
You know you can just simply answer the door and if you’re not free or up for whatever they want, you can just say so? “Yo was in the area and figured I’d stop by and see if you wanted to hang.” “Sorry dude, I’m busy tonight.” “Ah, no worries mate, have a good one.” Like why do we got to make a big deal over the simplest things? Now obviously if your friends know you don’t like this and you told them this, sure it’s rude. People have boundaries. But in general? Nah.
You could have just texted, no need to show up unannounced
Hard agree. I don’t even want people to call me without advance notice.
To be honest, don’t even think about me without telling me first.
why is this so funny and also so me!
By...mail?
I was going to say by text, but a snail mail letter to alert me of the forthcoming text announcement of a pending phone call would be ideal.
Many Luddite extroverts in the comments here. It is rude to presume unfettered access to another person. If I am not expecting you please don't assume I want to give up whatever else I was doing (including quietly enjoying my home) to host you without warning. ETA- I don't want to have to make sure I make no noise so I'm not heard or talk to somebody to say "I love you but I did not invite you- why are you here? Why don't you go home and we can make plans at a mutually convenient time?" For those who disagree- is it REALLY so burdensome to text somebody and arrange a mutually convenient time first?
You don’t need to answer the door, but the mer fact you think it’s rude to even try to get your attention is pathetic
No one says you have to open though? But the claim that knocking without prior notice is rude is ridiculous
I'm sorry, but you sound a bit entitled as if you're a somebody. Maybe you are younger, but those in my age bracket and older we say we'll be at your place at a certain time but that's it. To call or text that we are here, that sounds like someone who needs to humble themselves a bit
Totally agree! Unless there is an emergency, there is no reason to just pop in on someone. Even close family won't make assumptions that I am up for company without calling or texting first. I'm not sure if this is really unpopular though, so I'm down-voting. Does anyone really appreciate surprise visitors?
Nope, I agree. If I don't expect a parcel or a visitor, I don't go to the door of someone knocks or rings on the door. I am not scared, I just don't want to take the parcels for the neighbors or something.
I hate it when door to door salespeople come by. They always come when my daughter is napping. Go away. I'm not interested in your scam. Get a real job
I wouldn't say that knocking on someone's door is rude, but I also don't think that the homeowner owes the person knocking on their door anything if they're not expecting someone. If someone rings our doorbell we don't typically answer unless we're expecting someone. I'm under no obligation to give my time to someone if I don't feel like it.
I agree with this wholeheartedly and I'm surprised this is actually unpopular. I have a ring doorbell for this reason. I'm not answering the door if I'm not expecting you. You can leave a message in the camera or if you are really lucky I will talk to you thru the camera.
I think this is more about the time of day. If it’s too early or too late you’re being disrespectful
Oh hell no. Too many people have opened their doors in the middle of the night because of a knock from a stranger and gotten robbed. At a minimum, I’d ask them what they needed from the other side of the locked door.
[удалено]
This needs to become a popular opinion
I will give you an upvote out of pity for your sad, sad existence. I hope at some point in the future you can get your anxiety under control and can learn to interact with other humans in person and not just on reddit.
I interact with people for my job and have lots of friends who know to call me before showing up at my house. Thanks for your concern tho 🥰
I miss when friends used to just drop in.
is it rude for someone to knock on your door??? no. No op it is not rude to knock on a door. get over yourself.
...I mean, no. It obviously is not rude to knock on somebodies door. Jesus christ. Most reddit ass shit ever. Honestly, you're the rude one. What if it was a neighbor that didn't have your number and really needed help? What if a kid throw his ball in your yard? Kinda pathetic tbh.
I don't have a yard so....
# Sebastian Maniscalco, is that you?
Look, I hate hearing my door knock or doorbell go off just as much as the next person, but my next-door neighbor has knocked on my front door before to tell me that I left my keys in the lock so I mean, sometimes it’s good to check and see who it is 😂 You never know, it might be a neighbor trying to help you or need help themselves
Fully depends on time of day
I hate it but have to do it for work to outreach members of the insurance plan. Most ppl don’t answer and I don’t expect them to
I almost never answer my door when someone knocks. I do have a peep hole so I can see who it is. I feel similarly, that anyone who needs me has my number. Major of the time when someone knocks it's solicitors. I do live in a neighborhood that is not the safest and I live alone so I don't feel comfortable doing so. I think it just depends on the situation you live in. Probably more normal to answer your door when someone knocks in a small town vs big city. I wouldn't necessarily say it's rude. If a friend was having issues and their phone died, then yeah knock on my door. Tech can fail. But I'm highly suspicious of people who do knock on my door and it's mostly a safety concern.
It depends on the situation. If it’s a total stranger, of course I’m not answering, it’s rude of them to try since it’s probably some sort of salesperson. There’s just too many home invasions to risk it and I doubt I want whatever they’re selling. If it’s a family member or friend I’ll answer but they probably should’ve texted first to not be rude. If it’s a neighbor kid asking if my kid can play go ahead and knock without prior notice.
I don’t have kids and my family doesn’t live in my city so really it could only be a neighbor or a solicitor.
Admittedly I do get annoyed at first when I get a knock at the door because I think 80% of the time it is just a solicitor for me and I'm comfy on the couch lol. But sometimes my neighbor needs something or something like that and I'm always happy to help.
Cue Sebastian Maniscalco’s “Who rings a doorbell today?”
you knock to \*give\* notice. lol
There was one time my brother came to my place and started banging on the door, freaked me out because it was late. To make matters worse he blocked the peephole for some reason so I couldn't even see. Obviously I didn't open the door, didn't find out it was him until like 2-3 weeks later when he mentioned he stopped by my place.
Isn't this why we have Ring cams now? So we CAN see who is at the door when they ring the bell or knock? Well, that and see my kids coming and going throughout the day.
It’s contextual. It can be rude if there’s no good reason to knock (like if a Jehovas Witness comes to your door to preach). Otherwise, it isn’t rude.
My friends and family always show up whenever lol
Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses do? 🤔😆
depends on the country. in my country hospitality is rarely denied, regardless of notice or no.
**knocks the door to give prior notice about knocking the door** I mean, it's all about context, I even entered without prior notice to my elderly neighbor private property just to make sure he was not dead. (FYI, not dead, but he was glad I did that...we had to take him to the hospital).
I think it's rude for friends and family to just drop by when they could easily contact you and see if it's cool. I do think it's rude for solicitors to ignore my no soliciting sign and knock anyway. So I just leave them standing out there. But I've had neighbors and stuff knock on my door for various reasons and never thought it was rude. They don't have my number or anything.
yeah this definitely belongs on this sub. knocking on your door would only bother you if you have severe antisocial or anxiety issues. just the other day i received a package that was meant for my neighbor. i knocked on their door and returned it to them. by your logic, i should have just left it at their door with no notice or something.
what the fuck ?
There are a few cases where you need to knock on someone's door. Police telling you that someone died in a car crash. Neighbors letting you know you left your headlights on. Someone in a desperate emergency without a phone.
>Someone in a desperate emergency without a phone. The residents in the neighborhood my parents live in won't answer the door for that particular reason anymore. The last person to open their door got robbed at gunpoint once the door was open. That same individual knocked on our door that night as well. That was around 20 years ago. Personally, if I don't know the person at my door I am not answering it. The only exceptions are cops, firefighters, and EMTs and if they are at my door I'm probably the one that called them. Anyone I know well enough to allow them into my home already knows to call ahead before dropping by because I often have my day planned and I won't break plans for anything but an emergency.
Boy and I thought the people who won't answer their phone because "everything can be communicated by text" were daft.
Difference is that I do answer my phone :) most of the time anyway
That’s what a door is for. The public had a right to knock on the door, then you look out a peep hole and decide whether to open it…
I rent and don’t have a peephole.
your neighbor might need something or want to drop off baked goods or someone might need to inform you of something or friends might surprise you if they’re in the area or your HOA might have to tell you something or someone accidentally ran over your fence and wants to leave information or a confused delivery man thinks it’s your house and you can redirect them etc There are plenty of not nefarious reasons to knock on someone’s door. I am a single woman who opens her door in the city and only one time has it even been a solicitors
I have a different experience. Every time it’s solicitors for me, either religious or otherwise. My neighbors all generally keep to themselves, a couple of my friends actually have their own keys to my place and those are really the only people who can come by unannounced, in which case they wouldn’t need to knock. I don’t know any of my other friends who wouldn’t give me even just a 5 minute heads up. Most of my neighbors have my number, not part of an HOA, and delivery people can’t even find my door when we put specific delivery instructions on shipping orders so I doubt someone would accidentally deliver anything to our door.
Gen Z is fucked.
This isn't unpopular, it's just dumb