Being nice vs Being safe
I have such a hard time when it comes to being nice versus being safe. I want to believe that people are generally nice and not up to some sinister deed. I also want to believe that I could tell right off the bat if someone were up to no good, however that is not the case in either scenario. You hear all the time about someone answering their door to a seemingly harmless person only to end up on the evening news.
I think my first encounter with this was when I was 9 years old and we first heard of "The Night Stalker". We lived in Southern California at the time very close to where he was terrorizing families. The first night he was on the news I remember getting ready to head outside to cool off in our 8 inch deep kiddie pool, it was extremely hot that summer and we did not have air conditioning. It was dark outside already maybe 8:30 or so and my Mom stopped me as I was headed out the door and told me there would be no night swimming that night. Or as it turned out for any night that summer. We kept our doors and windows locked after dark, and man it got HOT!
When I lived by myself in Bakersfield I was particularly cautious, especially after that murder happened in my apartment complex, I swear I didn't sleep for days after that happened. I would never answer the door if I didn't know who it was, but I never thought twice about going walking at 5am before it got dark (not alone of course).
Then I had children and my weirdo senses went into overload and I swear I now have to remind myself that not everyone is a potential kidnapper, just some people! Case in point today. I was on the phone with a friend when my door bell rang. I usually don't answer the door just shout through the glass, but O beat me there (as I was screaming don't open the door, she opened it), and my garage door was standing wide open so really if this guy had wanted to harm us he could have. He starts asking me all sorts of personal questions, to which I give generic answers. He starts asking me if I know so-and-so down the street, which I don't, but I really don't know many of my neighbors so he could have been just making it all up as far as I was concerned. I quickly tell him I'm not interested in whatever he is selling, so he asks if I could tell him about my neighbors. There was no way I was going to give him info about anyone, but the sweet little 7 year old next to me starts spouting it all off, I quickly shut her up and start to close the door when he says, "I didn't catch your name", to which I answer, "that's because I didn't give it to you", and close the door.
Now this poor guy was probably just an average "Joe" doing his job, and really can't blame a guy for trying to make a buck, but he was way too personal way too fast and that's just not OK with me. I am a TOTAL people pleaser and hated to be rude but as I always say, "Safety first". Do you think he'll egg my house tonight?
I think my first encounter with this was when I was 9 years old and we first heard of "The Night Stalker". We lived in Southern California at the time very close to where he was terrorizing families. The first night he was on the news I remember getting ready to head outside to cool off in our 8 inch deep kiddie pool, it was extremely hot that summer and we did not have air conditioning. It was dark outside already maybe 8:30 or so and my Mom stopped me as I was headed out the door and told me there would be no night swimming that night. Or as it turned out for any night that summer. We kept our doors and windows locked after dark, and man it got HOT!
When I lived by myself in Bakersfield I was particularly cautious, especially after that murder happened in my apartment complex, I swear I didn't sleep for days after that happened. I would never answer the door if I didn't know who it was, but I never thought twice about going walking at 5am before it got dark (not alone of course).
Then I had children and my weirdo senses went into overload and I swear I now have to remind myself that not everyone is a potential kidnapper, just some people! Case in point today. I was on the phone with a friend when my door bell rang. I usually don't answer the door just shout through the glass, but O beat me there (as I was screaming don't open the door, she opened it), and my garage door was standing wide open so really if this guy had wanted to harm us he could have. He starts asking me all sorts of personal questions, to which I give generic answers. He starts asking me if I know so-and-so down the street, which I don't, but I really don't know many of my neighbors so he could have been just making it all up as far as I was concerned. I quickly tell him I'm not interested in whatever he is selling, so he asks if I could tell him about my neighbors. There was no way I was going to give him info about anyone, but the sweet little 7 year old next to me starts spouting it all off, I quickly shut her up and start to close the door when he says, "I didn't catch your name", to which I answer, "that's because I didn't give it to you", and close the door.
Now this poor guy was probably just an average "Joe" doing his job, and really can't blame a guy for trying to make a buck, but he was way too personal way too fast and that's just not OK with me. I am a TOTAL people pleaser and hated to be rude but as I always say, "Safety first". Do you think he'll egg my house tonight?
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