If anyone has info that this is a legitimate door-to-door survey, it would be nice to hear … otherwise we would agree with Karma, who sent us the report, that the line of questioning is potentially unsettling:
Hello, just thought I’d share another door to door solicitor
experience that just happened in my Genesee area home at 8:15
tonight… a college aged young man, dark hair, Latino, around 5’6 to
5’10?, with an identification card on a lanyard around his neck,
knocked on my door tonight. The front door was open and the screen was
closed. Porch light off. He asked if I was “the mother of the house”.
I was a little confused about the question, then he introduced himself
as Gabriel, a college student from UCLA who was looking to talk to
parents of children high school to toddler age, do I have any children
in that age range? Even though I do, I said no, in an effort to get
rid of him… he made some kind of note in a basic spiral notebook, I
glanced and it looked like he had made a basic map of the houses on
the street, maybe? He said was talking to some parents in my
neighborhood and didn’t want to miss me. Asked if I know of any other
parents of children of that age in my neighborhood. I asked why would
I tell him about the children in my neighborhood if I didn’t know him
or why he was at my door? He said, I did introduce myself and that I’m
speaking about educational materials. He went to open a binder to show
me something, but I told him no, you didn’t tell me why you’re at my
door and no, I didn’t have time to talk. I closed the door.I’m never happy about solicitors but when strangers come to the door
to talk to me about my child and the children in the neighborhood, my
mama bear hackles are raised. I’m a teacher, too, and I can’t imagine
why someone would go door to door about educational materials, or
would want to talk with parents right at the bedtime hour. It could be
an innocent reason, but it’s just not feeling right to me.
As usual, we’ll add the footnote here that door-to-door solicitors are supposed to have and show licenses; the city code governing solicitors is in the resource section at the bottom of our Crime Watch page.
| 31 COMMENTS