5 ms·

They weren’t selling them, they were giving them. I don’t charge my elderly neighbour when I have her around for drinks, I don’t charge when I mow next door’s

They weren’t selling them, they were giving them. I don’t charge my elderly neighbour when I have her around for drinks, I don’t charge when I mow next door’s lawn because I’m doing mine and I may as well. They don’t charge me when they look after my cats while I’m away, and just as I don’t charge them for apples from my trees they don’t charge me for cherries from theirs. Not everything in life is mercenary, nor should it be.

raverbashing 8y ago
> I suppose a lot of them thought it was a sale You see people with packages knocking at your door you think they're selling them and you close the door before they have a chance to explain themselves.
- com2kid 8y ago
  These are people who see me walking around the complex though. Also it was December 27th or so, at 8pm! We introduced ourselves as saying we were from unit nnnn, we'd baked some holiday cookies and we'd love to share. "No thanks", closed door.
  - raverbashing 8y ago
    :(
  - mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
    Sorry you have shitty neighbors. Were it me is take your cookies with pleasure and talk to you.
  - astura 8y ago
    Sounds like one of those "overly friendly" sales pitches to me. Or worse, one of those "pretend you have a gift, forcefully demand payment" scams. Or even worse, Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses using baked goods as an in to talk to you with the real reason why they are there is to solicit you their religion. People used to do something very similar to my grandma a lot, say they are there for something neighbourly and then put pressure on her to buy something when she interacted with them for a bit. It worked on her too, even though she never actually wanted to buy something. I would have said no thanks and closed the door too and I don't have a problem associating with my neighbors at all! In fact, throughout the years I've shared with neighbors baked goods and beers, let them borrow tools, helped shovel snow, invited the young single one to "Friendsgiving dinner"[1] to make sure he had somewhere to go, offered help with various tasks, etc. Most people want to have a bit of a rapport with someone before they are cool with unsolicited baked goods at 8 at night. Especially when you're knocking on people's doors, it can be very unsettling to be interrupted from what you are doing like that. At 8pm people with younger children are in the middle of putting them to bed, it's not like they have the energy to deal with potential scammers at the front door at that point. What would have been appreciated is if you put the bags in a basket in the hallway with a sign "Merry Christmas from Joe Bob and Sally Doe in unit xxxx!" [1] This is Thanksgiving dinner except with friends instead of family.
    - drukenemo 8y ago
      I do think you are the voice of reason here. In the sense that they had the best intention but maybe not the best execution.
- madaxe_again 8y ago
  You said: “not wanting to buy the cookies”, which implies you see the cookies as being an economic transaction. Well, you do that. I open my door to my neighbours, and don’t assume they’re paid schills. What a sad world you must live in. Perhaps if you opened the door once in a while you might meet people, find new experiences, live a little - but if you assume that everyone is out to “get” you, then the only person diminishing your life is you. And yes, I’ve ended up chatting to pushy door to door salesmen. I don’t buy their shit, and politely tell them that if they do come back, I’ll waste their time again.
  - drukenemo 8y ago
    I don't think most people enjoy random visitation in North American and Northern Europe. In Holland, they promote neighbor encounters which are scheduled well in advance. Despite them not happening very often, they do seem to work in creating some cohesion.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

raverbashing 8y ago

> I suppose a lot of them thought it was a sale You see people with packages knocking at your door you think they're selling them and you close the door before they have a chance to explain themselves.

com2kid 8y ago
These are people who see me walking around the complex though. Also it was December 27th or so, at 8pm! We introduced ourselves as saying we were from unit nnnn, we'd baked some holiday cookies and we'd love to share. "No thanks", closed door.
- raverbashing 8y ago
  :(
- mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
  Sorry you have shitty neighbors. Were it me is take your cookies with pleasure and talk to you.
- astura 8y ago
  Sounds like one of those "overly friendly" sales pitches to me. Or worse, one of those "pretend you have a gift, forcefully demand payment" scams. Or even worse, Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses using baked goods as an in to talk to you with the real reason why they are there is to solicit you their religion. People used to do something very similar to my grandma a lot, say they are there for something neighbourly and then put pressure on her to buy something when she interacted with them for a bit. It worked on her too, even though she never actually wanted to buy something. I would have said no thanks and closed the door too and I don't have a problem associating with my neighbors at all! In fact, throughout the years I've shared with neighbors baked goods and beers, let them borrow tools, helped shovel snow, invited the young single one to "Friendsgiving dinner"[1] to make sure he had somewhere to go, offered help with various tasks, etc. Most people want to have a bit of a rapport with someone before they are cool with unsolicited baked goods at 8 at night. Especially when you're knocking on people's doors, it can be very unsettling to be interrupted from what you are doing like that. At 8pm people with younger children are in the middle of putting them to bed, it's not like they have the energy to deal with potential scammers at the front door at that point. What would have been appreciated is if you put the bags in a basket in the hallway with a sign "Merry Christmas from Joe Bob and Sally Doe in unit xxxx!" [1] This is Thanksgiving dinner except with friends instead of family.
  - drukenemo 8y ago
    I do think you are the voice of reason here. In the sense that they had the best intention but maybe not the best execution.
madaxe_again 8y ago
You said: “not wanting to buy the cookies”, which implies you see the cookies as being an economic transaction. Well, you do that. I open my door to my neighbours, and don’t assume they’re paid schills. What a sad world you must live in. Perhaps if you opened the door once in a while you might meet people, find new experiences, live a little - but if you assume that everyone is out to “get” you, then the only person diminishing your life is you. And yes, I’ve ended up chatting to pushy door to door salesmen. I don’t buy their shit, and politely tell them that if they do come back, I’ll waste their time again.
- drukenemo 8y ago
  I don't think most people enjoy random visitation in North American and Northern Europe. In Holland, they promote neighbor encounters which are scheduled well in advance. Despite them not happening very often, they do seem to work in creating some cohesion.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]