Religion Comes Knocking

[Dorath]

We had an early edition of the first edition DMG, with the thief looting the demon statue. Freaks them out every time.

[lordlundar]

Oh god, I should have some of my first edition stuff by the door just in case. There's some fun stuff in there about Succubi and other daemons, and they even have pictures too!

[IDrinkaRum]

Our D&D books are in our basement. However, in our bookcases in the living/dining room combo in our townhouse, we have a whole shelf of graphic novels (i.e., Grimm Fairy Tales, Red Sonja, Hercules, etc.) and art books (from In the Land of Hummel to Conan to Michael Monte Moore to Nene Thomas to Luis Royo). So yeah, they might just back out slowly.

[Dorath]

Me an one of my old roommates used to invite them in and make sure they saw the AD&D books. The look on their faces and how quickly they left was priceless.

[Jadedcarguy]

I could try either the local bookstores or the used bookstores.

Do that.

As Boozy said, once they got your info you're on their radar forever.

[IDrinkaRum]

Heh, I can do that too Boozy. Thanks for the suggestion. I completely forgot about the whole "know name, come visit" thing.

Though I would want to add it to my collection of religious books (i.e., books on St. Therese of Lisieux, Our Lady of Lourdes, The Incorruptibles, the books by DC Talk). I could try either the local bookstores or the used bookstores.

[Boozy]

He gave me a card with a website & a 1-888 number to request a Book of Mormon. I might order one (it's free) 'cos I like to read as much as possible, I'd like to learn what the Mormons believe (without having to talk to a missionary).

Do. Not. Order. A. Book.

Once they have your name and address, they will never leave you alone again.

If you want to know what Mormons believe, go to your local library or do some Googling.

[IDrinkaRum]

HAHAHAHA! I have been reading this post and thinking, "Man! There must be no Mormon missionaries in the Northern Virginia area 'cos I haven't had them visit."

Well, tonight we had an Elder come to the door. I chatted with him. It's a rule, I suppose, that both me & my husband have to be around to talk to him/his missionary partner. Daughter is sick tonight, hubs was running late to his D&D game & so I just passed some time with the poor guy. He was pleasant.

However, I'm sure I made a poor impression. My hair is sticking up on end (I have naturally curly hair and today it looks like I put my finger in a light socket) and I'm wearing black sweatpants & a black shirt with white skulls all over it.

He gave me a card with a website & a 1-888 number to request a Book of Mormon. I might order one (it's free) 'cos I like to read as much as possible, I'd like to learn what the Mormons believe (without having to talk to a missionary).

I don't know ... I thought he was nice and I love to talk to people. *shrug*

[Amethyst Hunter]

My dad had his bloody hand behind his back (right hand) and he says "you don't want me to do that" and the guy replies "sure I do! come on!". So, out comes the hand.

The bloody hand. He told me he never saw a guy clear out so fast in his life.

That is awesome.

It used to piss me off when we still lived in our old Illinois house - which was situated well out of town and into the farmland/woodland areas - and we'd get solicitors all the way out there (spring and autumn were the most popular times for them to 'visit'). A whole frigging town not even 5 miles away for them to annoy, and they had to come out THERE?!

I won't openly be rude to them, but I'm not inclined to encourage them to stick around either. I hate soliciting, especially religion-based, and unless I know you or I'm expecting a serviceperson to show up my general feeling on unannounced visitors is "GTFO of my 'territory'."

[LadyMage]

I have two stories in this vain, one from my mother and one from me.

The first one is my mom's story, she had this sweet dog named cinnimon, who would "smile" on command. The smile looked like a snarl, even though she was very gentle. Well one day, some JW's came knocking at mom's door, the dog comes running as she answers the door and she sees who they are. She walks away for a moment and whispers "smile" to the dog. We never had any witnesses since then.

The second happened in a Russian orthadox church at my uncle's wedding. It was my second or third year in college and the priest approched me. The guy looked like Rasputian, which both freaked me out and made me laugh internally. He asked if I had a faith at the time, I said I was agnostic and had been since highschool. He tried to convert me and convince me of intelligent design, well I pointed out the dinosaurs and had a lovely, friendly debate, it was kind of cool.

[Shangri-laschild]

We've had Mormons bring babies along, too, so they're not entirely without guilt in that regard.
These were usually really young couples who hadn't figured out the whole baby thing yet, though. The last time it was very cold out and they hadn't dressed the baby appropriately, much less themselves so Mom let them in to warm up and evangelized them right back.

*raises eyebrow* I have a feeling those weren't actual missionaries and just members of the congregation. Missionaries (unless you are past retirement and on a couples mission which I don't remember how it works) are either two guys or two girls. They aren't allowed to be alone with members of the oposite sex on their mission.

To those of you who are nice to them you have no idea how much you make their day even if you don't give a damn about what they have to say. They get so many rude people or even people who threaten them and try to hurt them which is really sad because a lot of them are some of the most respectful polite guys I've ever met.

[Rapscallion]

Damn - that's a repeat of what my grandfather did many decades past to JWs. He'd been cutting up some meat with a large butcher's knife and came to the door with it still in his hands - dripping. I inherited some of his sense of humour (you may have seen elements of it), but I can't keep a straight face like he could when giving me fifty pence and telling me to go and buy him some skyhooks. Apparently he didn't have to wait long for them to leave.

Rapscallion

[lordlundar]

With a meat cleaver and bloody hands.

This is actually one incident my dad was guilty of with a door to door salesman. He hunts deer for food, and he was cutting the meat up, which naturally results in bloody hands. Guess who comes knocking?

Yup. The poor salesman. My dad opened the door and the guy greeted himand held out his hand to shake. My dad had his bloody hand behind his back (right hand) and he says "you don't want me to do that" and the guy replies "sure I do! come on!". So, out comes the hand.

The bloody hand. He told me he never saw a guy clear out so fast in his life.

[DesignFox]

This whole talk of JW's reminded me of something funny that happened to myself and my co-worker.

A family had just moved here from somewhere in the midwest. They needed to switch their phone numbers to local numbers, but we couldn't do that in store for them. So, we provided them with the information they needed, and while the father was on the phone with customer service, the rest of us chatted it up.

They were very sweet people, and we chatted for a bit after the dad was off the phone since we had no other customers at the time.

Then, as they were leaving, they said they had a "gift" for us.

And we both got pamphlets about how to save our souls.

We very politely wished them a nice day, etc.

But we had a good laugh when they walked out of the store.

Apparently, we're in need of salvation...hehe.

[tropicsgoddess]

Only once since I've lived in my current neighborhood have I had a Jehovah's Witness or LDS person come up to pass around literature. When I see them at the bus stop I'm nice to them, I'll take their literature and have a small light conversation with them unless I'm in a rush or something.