Warm weather equals to people out bothering

[rossum]

Maybe it is because I live in an area that is heavily Catholic, maybe it is because there are about a half a dozen different churches who’s parking lots aren’t as full as their neighboring Catholic Church; but it seems like I get bothered A LOT.
I put this here because I didn’t know where else to put it. I don’t want to get into an apologetics argument with the Mormons, JWs, and the like. I just want them to stop bothering me.
I kindly tell them that I am a happy Catholic, and that I’m not going to change my church or religion. How do I stop them from coming back over and over again, without having an ugly looking "No Soliciting " sign on the door? I’m sure this doesn’t happen to just Catholics, and maybe some former people who used to go out with these groups can give me the magic words to get them from coming back. Obviously, I’m not doing something right.

I know that JWs have an official “Do not visit” list, so the next time they knock, ask them how to get onto the list. Other groups may also have the same thing, so you could ask them as they turn up.

rossum

 

[Kelfa28]

We have a “No Soliciting” sign on our door. Doesn’t seem to work very well.

I think it’s the fact that we live in a neighborhood with a lot of houses, just off a main road but still very easy and safe to walk down. So we get targeted quite a bit by everyone. My husband actually got so frustrated one day when a solicitor left a business pamphlet that was entirely in spanish he chased down the guy handing them out and gave it back to him!

I would love to get a sign I once saw that was perfect.
“We know who we’re voting for,
we’ve found Jesus
and we aren’t interested in buying anything.”

I would love to just silently bring them into our living room and have them see pictures of our, clearly, Catholic wedding on our walls, Crucifix, pictures of Jesus adorned with palms, a mantel with rosary beads and bible and a beautiful picture of the consecration.
If they can’t tell we’re practicing Catholics by just looking around our room…well, I don’t know what to say.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

I know that JWs have an official “Do not visit” list, so the next time they knock, ask them how to get onto the list. Other groups may also have the same thing, so you could ask them as they turn up.

rossum

I will definitely ask. Thanks!

 

[BettyBoop416]

I would love to get a sign I once saw that was perfect.
“We know who we’re voting for,
we’ve found Jesus
and we aren’t interested in buying anything.”

Love it! I’m going to make one of those.

 

[benjohnson]

Around here, reciting the Athanasian creed gets everybody running.

 

[taylorf]

Maybe it is because I live in an area that is heavily Catholic, maybe it is because there are about a half a dozen different churches who’s parking lots aren’t as full as their neighboring Catholic Church; but it seems like I get bothered A LOT.
I put this here because I didn’t know where else to put it. I don’t want to get into an apologetics argument with the Mormons, JWs, and the like. I just want them to stop bothering me.
I kindly tell them that I am a happy Catholic, and that I’m not going to change my church or religion. How do I stop them from coming back over and over again, without having an ugly looking "No Soliciting " sign on the door? I’m sure this doesn’t happen to just Catholics, and maybe some former people who used to go out with these groups can give me the magic words to get them from coming back. Obviously, I’m not doing something right.

I don’t know if there is a magic bullet for the others; however, for the Mormon missionaries nothing will really work. They’ll just keep coming. As a Mormon missionary back in the day, I ignored every “keep away” sign I encountered only because I knew that once you heard the message, you’d more than welcome us in. We were encouraged to knock on all doors, and I was pretty relentless.

When they do knock, just say directly “no thanks, not interested” and leave it at that. Don’t take anything and don’t try to be nice by saying that their message sounds interesting but that the timing is inconvenient. Any unintentional hint that you may be interested at some point will only cause your name and address to be written down and tracked as a future contact. Any time they revisit the area, they’ll pull the list and see you marked as a favorable contact and knock again.

Good luck! They can be annoying…I know I was.

 

[zaffiroborant]

I don’t know if there is a magic bullet for the others; however, for the Mormon missionaries nothing will really work. They’ll just keep coming. As a Mormon missionary back in the day, I ignored every “keep away” sign I encountered only because I knew that once you heard the message, you’d more than welcome us in. We were encouraged to knock on all doors, and I was pretty relentless.

When they do knock, just say directly “no thanks, not interested” and leave it at that. Don’t take anything and don’t try to be nice by saying that their message sounds interesting but that the timing is inconvenient. Any unintentional hint that you may be interested at some point will only cause your name and address to be written down and tracked as a future contact. Any time they revisit the area, they’ll pull the list and see you marked as a favorable contact and knock again.

Good luck! They can be annoying…I know I was.

In my little burg if you ignore “no soliciting” signs you can be fined for violating our village ordinance. LDS and JW’s used to ignore them all the time, they don’t anymore.

 

[taylorf]

In my little burg if you ignore “no soliciting” signs you can be fined for violating our village ordinance. LDS and JW’s used to ignore them all the time, they don’t anymore.

Interesting, that would be a tremendous help then, especially if it’s enforced. When I was in Sweden, I was told a similar ordinance was in place, but I never saw a case where it was enforced. If anyone ever complained, I lied and said I didn’t read Swedish very well.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

In my little burg if you ignore “no soliciting” signs you can be fined for violating our village ordinance. LDS and JW’s used to ignore them all the time, they don’t anymore.

We have a no soliciting sign at the front gate of the apartment complex. Maybe I should remind them of that.

 

[zaffiroborant]

Interesting, that would be a tremendous help then, especially if it’s enforced. When I was in Sweden, I was told a similar ordinance was in place, but I never saw a case where it was enforced. If anyone ever complained, I lied and said I didn’t read Swedish very well.

It’s only enforced if people call the police, I doubt claiming ignorance would relieve one from responsibility of breaking the law.