Have you ever been stupid?

Hello my little Gems!

Last week I was sitting in my office and saw two guys walk across my lawn through my blinds.

I thought it was my neighbor and his roofing-company-owner-brother, who had said earlier in the day he’d give me an estimate on re-roofing our garage, which is falling apart, so I answered the door.

It wasn’t my neighbor, but rather, two college-age white males. One of them, the slender one, was holding a couple blue fliers in his hand.

“Good evening Ma’am, we’re in the neighborhood demonstrating our new foam carpet cleaning system, and will clean the largest room in your house free of charge” he informed me.

“No thanks” I replied. “My carpet’s in pretty sorry shape. Needs to be replaced more than it needs to be cleaned” I said, while thinking about how it could use a good cleaning…there are a few spots I’d love to have removed.

“We’re happy to take a look at it for you” Slender Guy offered. Heavy Set hadn’t said a word yet. He didn’t seem to have the same level of social skills as his partner.

“The thing is, if I let you clean my carpet, you’ll want me to buy something. And the fact is I’m broke.” I told them.

“Well ma’am, my company pays me a little bit for doing a demonstration, which helps me out, and you’d get your carpet cleaned, so really it’s a win-win situation. We only ask that you tell your friends and neighbors about us” he encouraged.

So I consented. It was about 7:40pm, and Doc was downstairs watching NOVA on PBS with Gator, and Bunch was at a youth activity. Heavy Set and Slender came into my living room, which was littered with the Trappings Of Tuesday (music lessons, scouts, school). We try very hard to keep that room as clean as possible, but it can go from spotless to strewn in .065 seconds when the kids get home. Bunch’s viola was on the floor next to the case, books, backpacks, sweaters, socks, shoes, Cub shirt, PTA fliers all scattered the floor.

As I hurriedly tried to tidy up and point out the stains on the carpet, Slender commented “looks like you’re a musical family”, noting the viola, guitar and grand piano in our small living room. I concurred, babbling on about how Doc played guitar and piano, the daughter viola and piano, and me just piano.

He started jotting down notes on one of his blue fliers and I asked when they’d like to make an appointment.

”Oh we’ll do it right now.” He replied.

Now? I asked.

“If that’s okay” slender said. “We’re just on our last run of the night.”

How long does it take? I asked.

“About 30 minutes” he told me. So I said I guess that would be fine (this would be an example of carpet diem I guess. Ha! I slay me!).

”Are you married” Slender says.

Yes.

“What’s your husband’s name?”

Doc.

“Is he home right now?”

Yep. Downstairs watching tv with the son.

“How many children do you have?”

Two.

“Well we’ll just go get our equipment and be back in about ten minutes. Don’t worry about moving out furniture or anything. We’ll just do high-traffic areas.” Slender says, as he and Heavy Set leave to get their stuff.

I scurried around moving the piano bench, guitar stand and other smaller items out of the living room. NOVA ended and Doc came upstairs and I told him what was going on. By then it had been more than ten minutes, and suddenly my mind started to be a bit uneasy.

What did I just DO? I thought to myself.

I let two perfect strangers into my HOME, and gave them information about my family. I started to desperately hope that they’d return with carpet cleaning equipment and actually turn out to be what they claimed.

But they didn’t.

After about 45 minutes, I was pretty freaked out. So I called the non-emergency police number just in case they’ve heard of some scam in the area. They hadn’t, but they agreed it sounded fishy. “People who clean carpets are interested in stains and spots, not whether you’re married and if your hubby’s home” the officer informed me. Because I didn’t already feel like an idiot.

They sent a car out to talk to me, and scope out the area. But we haven’t seen them since. Doc thinks they were looking for an easy target, and decided we didn’t qualify. Plus they probably (rightly) concluded we don’t have much worth taking.

Anyway, the experience reinforced a few key things for me:

1. If solicitors come on my property, I don’t owe them anything, and according to the police, I should ask them to leave immediately.
2. I need a “No Solicitors” sign on my house.
3. I’ve been too trusting of strangers. Thankfully nothing bad has happened (so far) from this experience, but it’s not the same world today that it was in the past. You can’t just let people into your home any more. You’d think I’d have learned something from the whole Elizabeth Smart story!

My kids were (to say the least) somewhat freaked out when they found out what had happened. I did my best to reassure them and comfort them…but we’ve definitely been more cautious since then about leaving doors unlocked and whatnot.

My bubble has been popped. I’m now officially solicitor and stranger-leery. The next day a knock on the door came right as I was leaving for an appointment. I mean I was standing in the doorway about to open it. I looked through the peep hole and saw one guy wearing a badge. I opened it because I had to leave anyway, and he claimed to be from the U.S. Census Bureau. I asked if I could examine his badge and he readily agreed. It looked legit (but like I have any idea what an official census bureau badge looks like). He handed me the census paper he was holding a stack of, and asked if there were any apartments attached to our dwelling, which would be nice but unfortunately, no. That was it...he thanked me and left.

From now on I’m asking for ID. And I’m being cautious about answering the door, especially when I’m home alone …cause you just never know these days.

Be safe, my little Gems! It's a kind of crazy world.
♥ Blue Jeuls