Need some ideas...

[trystinn]

Here at the Tryst Inn we have a fairly narrow driveway cut at the street, bordered on either side by tall trees, then a little drive up to our home. The driveway itself then opens up to allow for four cars to be parked head first towards the north property fence and also for additional cars behind them - all the way right up to the front porch which we keep free for unloading and loading (which we do a lot of here, oddly enough). We did, on one occassion, fit twelve parked cars neatly in the driveway. It feels protected and a tad isolated, just the way I like it.

So how come all sorts of salespeople feel perfectly free to drive right up to the bottom step of the porch and come ring the doorbell? Drives me insane. Its all I can do while they are blathing about their "services" on my front doorstop to interrupt them and ask "why the hell are you parked right in front of my porch?" I could literally stand on the bottom step of the porch and kick their headlights out then go for the radiator. Literally.

Its rude. I'm sorry, its JUST RUDE. I was under the impression, back when I had to run things out to people's homes, that you take the furthest possible parking spot so as not to interfere with the running of the household unless you were delivering something HUGE and HEAVY. Carpet cleaning services I haven't ordered are neither.

There's also a safety element to this, as well. So what are my options, folks? Can I put up "NO SOLICITING" & "PRIVATE DRIVE" signs? What legal protection, if any, do they serve? Personally, I've always been rather fond of the "Forget the dog, beware the owner" signs - but the whole concept of flame orange signage is so unbelievably tacky I'm hesitant to add them.

I have no issue with standing at the front door, behind the screen door, shotgun in hand screeching "Get off my property!" at the top of my lungs - but there would seem to be something a bit less drastic I could try.

Comments

[alfrecht.livejournal.com]

I have a good friend (archer904, actually) who is somewhat famous in our circles for messing with salespeople and proselytizers. When he was a teenager, he used to LOVE being at his friends' houses when the Jehovahs and others would come around, because he'd ask to answer the door and just totally mess with them. He stripped down to his underwear and opened a beer and said "What the hell do you want?" once; another time, he pretended to be a black woman and talked with them through the door.

I'm always tempted to get into a conversation with these people, but generally I've just said "No, thanks, not interested" when they came around in the last few years. I had the Legion of Mary (a Catholic organization) come to my door in Cork a few years ago; and I also had Irish female Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door last year. The born-agains (Irish) and the Mormons (American boys) were fond of stopping people on the street in Cork, and one night, I ended up talking with these three born-agains for about 45 minutes or so (as soon as I said a sentence to the one who stopped me, his two friends came over and had to relieve him), the upshot of which was they couldn't talk to as many other people while they were dealing with me.

If I ever have property of my own, I think I'd like to get a sign that says "Trespassers will be sacrificed."