Curiouser and curiouser. . .
A door-to-door salesman and his helper came to my front door today. In and of itself, for most locations, no big deal. But we have been here for 30 years and this is the first dtd salesman that ever rang our bell. We're not totally in the boondocks, but we're far enough off the beaten track that if you don't know anyone who lives up here, you won't know where we are just by my giving you my address. First he asked what I did for a living. I told him I was newly retired; he asked where I worked. I told him and he didn't know the company, which I found strange because the company is the 2nd largest employer in our area. Okay, I thought to myself - he's truly a "traveling" saleman. But that was the first curiouser. He was selling a "green" cleaner from a company called ProTek Chemical. He was demonstrating a few things about it, all from my front porch - I wasn't about to let them in the house because Dale is traveling and I was home alone. It seemed to be an okay product, but I wasn't "wow-ed", if you know what I mean. Plus, we've been duped by "wonder" products before (think - ShamWow; more like - Boy Did We Get Shammed). 
Now for the second curiouser part. When the doorbell rang, Sammie barked, of course. Now my Sammie is EVERYBODY'S friend, and I DO mean everybody. I stood with the door partially closed so she wouldn't get out but she did peak around my leg at them. Suddenly I heard her give a low growl and run to the other side of the house. (Guess she's not a watchdog!  ) They asked if she was a sheepdog (guess they could tell because I was wearing my Tarheel OES Rescue t-shirt!) and said how cute she is. I tried calling her to come back but she would have NO part of it. Just hid in the back hallway by the garage door with the most scared look on her face. 
As the main guy was talking, he said something to the affect of, "It cleans it just like-at." (Shorthand for "like that.") I heard the drawl in his voice and said in my best southern drawl, "Cleans it just like at, huh? Where you from, bud?" He looked a bit startled, then pulled out his wallet and showed me his Kentucky driver's license. Said he didn't think his drawl was noticeable. Said they've been traveling "all across the country" selling quart and gallon bottles out of their back-packs. Third curiouser. He showed me the company's pamphlet and said I could check them out on the web (I did - they seem to be more for commercial users), that they were rated by the BBB. I told him I wasn't going to buy today because my husband wasn't home, and asked if I could send the order in from the pamphlet if I wanted to buy it later. He said no, the first purchase had to come from a salesman in person - that's how they make their commission. Said he couldn't guarantee that another salesman would be in the area any time soon, but if one did happen to come, I could just buy from him. Then he asked for the pamphlet back! Fourth curiouser. As they left, I expected to see them drive out of my driveway. They didn't - they walked! I have no idea where they parked or where they were heading from my house, but - fifth curiouser. After they left, I went around to make sure all the doors in the house were locked and put the alarm on. Probably nothing to worry about, they were probably really just salesmen, but like I said - no one ever comes selling door to door in my neighborhood and it just didn't feel right. Especially since my friendliest sheepdog ever wouldn't go anywhere near them. Hmmm . . . |
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| I'd give a call to the police, not on the 911 line. But do it now, just to be safe. Just say you were a bit concerned about traveling salesmen especially since you are off the beaten path a bit and alone in your house right now. Maybe nothing, but not bad to let them know someone is passing through.
Also, ALWAYS trust your dog's creep-meter. Mine rarely ever meet someone they don't like but if they do, I pay very close attention. |
guest wrote: I'd give a call to the police, not on the 911 line. But do it now, just to be safe. Just say you were a bit concerned about traveling salesmen especially since you are off the beaten path a bit and alone in your house right now. Maybe nothing, but not bad to let them know someone is passing through.
Also, ALWAYS trust your dog's creep-meter. Mine rarely ever meet someone they don't like but if they do, I pay very close attention. I agree. Seems very strange and I say trust your and Sammie's instincts. |
| Chris,
That is very scary.. I would call the company and ask if they had salesmen in your area going door to door, and specifically ask if that particular salesman if you can remember his name from the drivers lic, works for that company. |
| Dale's driving home tonight (thank God!) and he called a while ago and I told him what happened. He thought it was strange too, especially the part about Sammie not wanting to go anywhere near them.
I pulled the company's site up on the web and sent them an email asking if they have door-to-door sales people. Will see what they come back with. I remember the guys' first names, but I don't think they gave me their last names. I also didn't look at his driver's license close or long enough to get his last name. |
Drezzie's Mom wrote: Dale's driving home tonight (thank God!)
I am relieved to hear that!!! |
| I had a similar experience a few years ago. I just got home from work and was walking up the driveway. I young girl (18-22 years old) comes up to me and asks me if I want to buy magazine subscriptions; if she gets enough, she can do some kind of work training, blah, blah, blah. I told her I wasn't ready to buy. She said she understood and asked if she could use my bathroom. Being the good Christian that I am, I let her in the house (I know, dumb move).
As she's walking to the bathroom, she notices my laptop on the table and says "that's the same kind your neighbor across the street has". I thought that was an odd thing to say. Were they casing the houses in the area to rob them at a later time? She left and I went over to my neighbor and told her what happened. We didn't like the feel of the whole situation, so we called the cops. They came out, we gave a description of the girl. They knew who it was. She and a guy were going door to door trying to sell magazine subscriptions for a legit company (according to the police). What they had a problem with is that these two did not have a permit for soliciting. They drove around the neighboorhood looking for them to tell them to either get out of town (they weren't even from my state) or get a permit. Never saw them again. |
If you remember, we had this experience too, and, Max peed on the gals foot. 
I would call and let the officials in your area know... just so they are aware. Can't be too safe these days.  |
| Sounds creepy I'd trust both of your instincts on this one |
| I'd call the police just to give them a heads up. Most
places you need a permit to go door to door -at least for sales. Something sounds really off about this, and especially with Sammie. I always trusst it when my dogs are acting funny about someone. They've just been right too many times when my mind was somewhere else. Be extra careful for a while. You can never be too safe. Shellie |
| I had a similar incident happen here a few months ago. We are a gated community so I have no idea how they got in, anyway, I send them away from my house, but I heard the next day that a number of houses where broken into. One of them was my neighbor next door. Thank God I always take Violet to the door with me and she stands right next to me when strangers come by. |
| Please try not to worry. It sounds fairly innocent, especially since he showed you his driver's license. We get door-to-door solicitors here all of the time. From windows to mulch. There might be something to the fact that they would not leave a pamphlet or maybe didn't have enough.
I don't think it's a bad idea though to let your local police know anyhow... |
| This economy, has made for desparate times for many people. Call the police and keep your alarm on when not at home and your alarm on at night. You being home and retired would probably deter them, but you never know.
In the future, the moment your dog has that low growl, lock the door and speak through the screen. Tell them that your husband is on a rampage and they better leave... act like your husband is unbalanced and you don't know what he would do. Could it be a Gypsy (sp?) group? They are all over the place, they got my neighbor. She is a little old lady (91) and they came DTD and told her that she needed a new drive way and it would cost her 5K, she paid it up front, they jack hammered up her drive way, and then told her to finish it it would be 5K more... in the mean time someone reported the work being done without a permit and it is what saved her more money, the police used her situation in a sting to catch these guys. She was then left with no drive way and a bunch of rubble. My dad taught me that dogs have a sense that we don't have, they can "smell" dishonesty or bad people. When your dog is scared for no reason, or has that low growl, you should heed it every time, do not believe what you are seeing or hearing... trust your dog, not your eyes. My dad was a very wise man and he had a connection with animals like I have never seen again, and I trust my dogs telling me if the person is good or bad. Heck, I learned to trust them to tell me if food has turned too, after I experienced a day of barfing from eating duck that had turned and my mutt dog would not eat it... I guess he knew something I didn't know, now I listen to the dog on lots of stuff. |
| People around here are very cautious about door-to-door since a high profile case several years ago where some magazine sellers pushed their way into the house, robbed, molested and killed the husband and wife.
Trust your dogs! If they are afraid it is because they sense more than you do. |
| I agree, Chris, very curious. I am interested to hear what the company says about them. It may be entirely innocent, but it brings to mind the "travelers" or modern day gypsies who have a bad rep for duping people in similar scams. |
| Please be careful. We had a similar visit last October. And three nights later, we were broken into...WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING! Thank goodness, Lizzie scared them off, while the other 2 lazy bums slept. All they got was my purse, which was a pain in the butt! Call the police, if you haven't, and ask them to do extra drive bys. AND please lock all of your doors and windows, and be safe! |
| We just bought 2 gallons for $112 from a walking salesman for this protek company.. Same deal, he was walking, had jugs in his backpack and was not from around here. Oh, and our odd didn't like him either... At all!! He demonstrated marking on a towel with a sharpie, and the ink disappeared before our eyes. After a few more pitches, we were sold. After experimenting with the product for the last 2 hours I'm very disappointed and want my money back. It cleaned windows and left streaks.. I had to go back over them with Windex. I used it one area of the bathtub, then used a Lysol bathroom spray on another part of the tub, and the Lysol worked much better. I even tried the sharpie trick on 2 different types of fabrics, at various strengths, and the ink didn't budge! Like Kristen said, I'm not sure what the salesman had in his bottle, but what we bought does not work. This guy made it sound like this stuff would wipe out anything.. I feel stupid for falling for it. Im going to try to get a refund, and stick to my mr clean magic erasers!! |
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