I have never had much love for door-to-door salesmen/women. My motto has always been, if I need new windows, I'll call YOU...don't call me...and certainly don't come pounding on my door and repeatedly ringing my doorbell as if you're some long-lost friend who just today found my address and are dying to see my face.
When I opened the door, she said "Hello, ma'am, how are you today??" enthusiastically. I said "Well...my children are napping..." perhaps a little too curtly. Her face fell and she said she was sorry and that she has small children as well. I asked her how I could help her and she explains "we" are going to be doing some work on the next street over and I wanted you to know it may be loud. My initial annoyance from my judgment of being bothered by a salesperson dwindled slightly and gave way to a little guilt as I realized maybe this woman was just trying to be kind. But in the next breath, she informed me my neighbors were all meeting with her to discuss some energy bill and inquired as to whether or not I was aware of this situation. My annoyance started to bristle again. I told her no, we were not aware, but are not interested. She looked at our house, said it was beautiful but that it needs new windows and would I like a quote. Again I told her no, we're not interested...she tried again and again I said "We're not interested, thank you." She walked away and I shut the door.
Every time a solicitor comes to my door, I call Jason. Why? Because they annoy me. Since Jason is a police officer, I know these people have to have a permit to come to my door and bother me. So I called him to let him know there was a solicitor in our neighborhood, maybe he'd want to check it out. Of COURSE I told him of her awesome way of getting my attention. He happened to be very close to home and found her quickly.
After Jason spoke to her, he called me and told me she knew the person complaining had to be "the lady with the blue van...I woke up her kids and she was reading her bible. But the guy next door was really cool! He was a movie star and has horses!!"
Ouch.
What kind of impression did I leave with her? A grumpy, rude and curt lady who was reading her bible. I definitely didn't leave the mark of Christ. Oh how far I am from what I would like to be. Like Paul said, I do the things I do not want to do and I don't do the things I want to do. Lady selling windows - I'm sorry for being short. I'm sorry for not letting this little light of mine shine.
3 comments:
Ouch. That stings.
Thanks for sharing with us though. Maybe it will help us to avoid making a similar mistake. Probably not though. We are all human after all. Good thing our salvation isn't based on our ability to let our light shine brightly.
I think you might be putting too much weight on the woman's judgment of you, Keri. She offered a deceitful heart; you responded with one that was honest. Remember, you didn't judge; you evaluated honestly and came to a conclusion that was unfavorable, as honest evaluations sometimes will. There's a big difference.
I do not like door to door either. I had o call the local cable company to tell them to get rid of their door to door. I said I get enough adverts from my mail box, my inbox and my web browsers.
It doesn't matter what you are doing, it's none of her business. When I do answer the door I walk OUT of the house onto the step so that they are not in nosing around.
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