how would you have handled this

[mossyoak1851]

i seen a unknown male sitting at my neighbors home where i have seen no males at, he then came to my house and asked to use a phone i agreed to allow him to use my phone this is in mid afternoon i shut the door and then he proceed to try to come into the house i advised him that wasnt in his best intrest and my dog stopped him in his tracks 

[Hozzie]

I probably would have called the cops and had him checked out.  If nothing else, he probably wouldn't come back unless he was really meant to be there.  I also have a big dog so I don't think he would have tried to come in, but I also probably wouldn't have even considered letting him use my phone if he was suspicious at all.

[rugerla1]

I probably would have called the cops and had him checked out.  If nothing else, he probably wouldn't come back unless he was really meant to be there.  I also have a big dog so I don't think he would have tried to come in, but I also probably wouldn't have even considered letting him use my phone if he was suspicious at all.

This ^^^

 

Sadly the days where I trust strangers even enough to borrow my phone are long gone. Very few people don't have phones these days, and my neighbors generally have the same people over all the time. A stranger would be talked to as such and as far as coming in the house uninvited, I guess I'll say, hopefully my dog stops them before he gets all the way in, for all our sakes. I'd just assume call the cops to help this person in need of assistance out.

[mossyoak1851]

i have to big of a heart as i have been working into starting a non profit orginization and ill try to give the benifit of the doubt but today spiked my awareness and my adrenaline jumped, my dog isnt big but she isnt scared of anything, trust me wont be doing that again 

[mossyoak1851]

if the dog wouldnt have came into play he would have seen what i was covering 

[Luke E.]

 I have lived the majority of my life within a couple miles of where My wife and I live now. It's kind of always been a spot where folks seem to have car trouble or lost animals etc.. but now a days I handle the situations a lot differently than I did growing up. I'm out in a rural/farming community and the Stones River passes in my road about 3/8ths of a miles down from me on one side and about 50' the other way out of my drive there's an old 1800's store building with a bit of a gravel lot between it and the stop sign so there's always been folks that lock their keys in the car or lose them while fishing, canoeing or swimming down at the river and the old run down store building and gravel lot seems to be a magnet for car troubles. Like Ruger said, now a days most folks have a cell phone, hell if you can't afford one or would rather spend that money on beer, cigarettes or dope just let Obama know and he'll send you a new phone out of the first thing smokin'. Well it looks like I ran off in the ditch chasing a rabbit but anyways, before everyone had a cell phone it was more reasonable to believe that the person truly needed to use the phone but any more it's a lot harder to believe and due to a poor economy and job market there are far more desperate folks out there. My policy now goes something like this, My wife is to never answer the door for an unknown and she's also to keep one of her guns by her side after a stranger stops by until I get home and also let me know that this has happened. If i'm home I weigh out details such as time of day, the appearance of the stranger, how and how many times they knock on the door, does the stranger start to walk away when I don't answer or are they persistent, Do they have a vehicle there, etc...... If I feel the least bit suspicious then I don't acknowledge them but on the occasion that I do answer I WILL have a gun in the hand that's behind the door and under no circumstances will they ever cross the threshold of the door. We have no land line anymore and we're not really itching to hand over our cell phones to a stranger so we really don't have any reason to answer the door.

 I'd have to say in your particular scenario, the very second that the guy tried to take a step through the door, I would have kicked the backside of the door hard enough to knock him well away from the door and then based my next moved on his reaction. I did that very thing once before when I heard someone walk up on my porch talking about someone getting shot and then my unlocked door started opening with no knock first. As it turned out it was my neighbor's son that had been shot 8 times and both his parents had been shot to death next door. That's a long story and I won't get into it now but until I realized who it was that I had knocked backwards off the porch it was a bit alarming to say the least. I'm glad your dog persuaded him to wait outside. Be careful.

[wileecoyote]

I never answer my door for any strangers. I have multiple security systems to alert me when anything crosses my property perimeter or approaches my house, so I have time to prepare for the worst and check them out on video before they even get close enough to knock. If they persist in knocking or won't leave, I only talk to them through the closed and locked door (from a position of cover) and tell them to leave. If they declare an emergency or ask to use the phone, I tell them I have already called the police for them, and I ask for their name so the police can meet them down on the road (off my property). This rarely happens in my rural area, but both times it happened to me in the past 10 years turned out to be criminals looking for trouble, and both were soon arrested. Edited July 15, 2014 by wileecoyote

[Dolomite_supafly]

Here is how I handled the last time someone tried to come in our house.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/58575-an-interesting-night-we-had-last-night/

[JAB]

I am in a unique situation because my closest neighbor is my mom.  My neighbors on the other side are my sister, her husband and kids but they live a little farther up the road so that trees mostly block my view of their place.  We also live out in the sticks on a dead-end road so the chances of an unknown someone just happening by are slim.  Anyhow, if there were some unknown person sitting in my neighbor's (mom's) yard I wouldn't wait for them to come to me but would go and find out what the heck they were up to - but only because of it being my mom's place.

 

The last time an unknown person or persons (Jehovah's witnesses or some other equally annoying 'want to talk to you about God' group) showed up at my place I headed them off before they even got in the front gate, thanked them for their concern and politely asked them to leave and they politely did so.  Okay, so my dog was at the fence doing her Cerberus impersonation and I had a .357 on my hip and wasn't wearing a shirt (I am pretty much always armed at home) so that might have influenced their decision not to tarry, I don't know.

 

I am not going to allow anyone to force their way into my home.  Luckily, my dog probably isn't going to allow that, either.  I have 'No Trespassing' and 'Beware of Dog' signs on my main gate (but not on the gate between my yard and mom's.)  I also have a 'No Soliciting' sign on my front storm door.   In such an incident I would prefer to head any potential, unknown and uninvited 'guests' off before they even get inside the fence.  Failing that, I am not allowing them in my home.  I don't have a land line and I doubt I'd let them use my cell phone.  Instead, depending on how the situation 'feels' to me, I might offer to call someone for them.  The last thing I would want to do would be to relinquish control of my cell phone (my method for calling 911 if necessary - not that, if there were a violent threat, the police could get there in time to do anything but put up yellow tape and draw a chalk outline, anyhow) to a stranger.

Edited July 15, 2014 by JAB

[peejman]

I have little kids so I wouldn't let them into my house.  I also don't have a land line and wouldn't hand a stranger my cell phone, so that guy would be pretty much SOL.  I try to be a nice guy, but anything further would depend on the vibe... if the guy or the situation seemed shady, he'd be encouraged to be on his way.  There's a gas station less than 1/2 mile up the road, maybe they can help you out. 

[mossyoak1851]

I still had my work phone on me and my girl was home she was actually headed to our room to retrieve my ar15 cause she seen him and got worried she is from a super small town and isn't use to clarksville

[Pcdokk]

It's unfortunate our society has changed to where being kind to strangers can become an invitation to an assault. No one knows what a people are going to do out in public but when a stranger comes to my door my senses go on full alert. I never open the door to anyone I don't know and have dogs and protection available at all times. Better safe and apologetic than getting a butt whoopin' by trying to "help" some crazy person.

[A.J. Holst]

Time of day, body language, attire - all comes into play when a stranger steps onto our porch.

 

I will say, our 25# Jack Russell mix would be the first line of defense, she goes INSANE when a stranger comes a knockin' and we have not raised an aggressive guard dog!

 

This includes pest control, pizza guy, UPS / FEDEX guy, repairman, etc - we've got to crate or lease her to open the door) If my wife is home by herself, there is no doubt my dog would lay down her life for "Mom"

 

Highly unlikely someone we know would show up unannounced or unexpected after dark, so I govern myself accordingly.

 

Need to use the phone - we no longer have a landline, but with a cell phone, predicated upon behavior, I may or may not give access to the phone, but they WILL NOT be allowed into my home to use the phone.

 

I would also be on the lookout for a second / third person who could get the drop on me.

 

Erratic or aggressive behavior, I'm calling Five Oh for backup as soon as I retreat back inside / close the door (note all during this time my insane dog is trying to get out to "meet and greet" the stranger and I would probably mention, 'yep, she'd bite the snot out of you')

 

Desperate people do desperate things.

[Metalhead]

I open the door for no one. If it's anyone I know, they know to call me before coming over. My wife is the same way, if not even more aggressive about it than I am. A AT&T salesman (at least, that's what he said he was) came to the house last week. I was at work, and my wife was outside in the garden. She and my dogs were less than pleased with this. He left in a hurry.

[bersaguy]

I live in Gallatin and it still has a low crime rate for a town so close to Nashville but I look for that to change in next couple of years and things get worse for our country. My friends that plan on coming by the house will always call. If I don't answer they leave a voice mail message to call them. If I don't call them right back they don't stop by. I have my front door open most all day but storm door is locked with handle lock and hook lock so you can't just open it. If someone has to knock on my door they already have 1 strike against them and it would not be a smart move to go for strike 2. I have a sign above the door with my house phone number on it with instructions to get back in your vehicle and call me or get back in your vehicle and leave but don't press your luck by pulling on my storm door cause that is strike 3 and we all know what happens when you strike out!!!! If a local bait customer/friend is going to send a future new customer to my house they call first and ask if it's ok and then they tell me what they are driving and their full names and I tell them when to stop by. Like I said in a previous post. Up until 2008 I never locked my doors even at night and I have lived here since 1998. I added a dead bolt to my front door yesterday...................... :up: :up:

[bersaguy]

Time of day, body language, attire - all comes into play when a stranger steps onto our porch.

 

I will say, our 25# Jack Russell mix would be the first line of defense, she goes INSANE when a stranger comes a knockin' and we have not raised an aggressive guard dog!

 

This includes pest control, pizza guy, UPS / FEDEX guy, repairman, etc - we've got to crate or lease her to open the door) If my wife is home by herself, there is no doubt my dog would lay down her life for "Mom"

 

Highly unlikely someone we know would show up unannounced or unexpected after dark, so I govern myself accordingly.

 

Need to use the phone - we no longer have a landline, but with a cell phone, predicated upon behavior, I may or may not give access to the phone, but they WILL NOT be allowed into my home to use the phone.

 

I would also be on the lookout for a second / third person who could get the drop on me.

 

Erratic or aggressive behavior, I'm calling Five Oh for backup as soon as I retreat back inside / close the door (note all during this time my insane dog is trying to get out to "meet and greet" the stranger and I would probably mention, 'yep, she'd bite the snot out of you')

 

Desperate people do desperate things.

 

I would never open my door to let anyone use my cell phone cause they may break and run with it. I would be on one side of door and tell them I would place a call for them if they needed help but the door would remain between them and I and my gun that I wear or have in pocket around house. I love my LCP house carry.....................jmho

[Dolomite_supafly]

We had a very nicely dressed guy demand to come in our house the day after Christmas, no doubt casing the house for a later robbery. We turned them away then several months later they came back while I was overseas. When they came he, not dressed as nicely, and a few other guys were in an old beat up van. He came onto our porch and my wife met him with the muzzle of an AR. He high tailed it out of the area pretty quickly and we have not seen him since.

 

So how someone is dressed has no bearing on how I treat someone because I treat everyone I do not know as if they are up to no good.

[Junkstack]

I open the door for no one. If it's anyone I know, they know to call me before coming over. My wife is the same way, if not even more aggressive about it than I am. A AT&T salesman (at least, that's what he said he was) came to the house last week. I was at work, and my wife was outside in the garden. She and my dogs were less than pleased with this. He left in a hurry.

^^ This. People open their doors for anyone these days! I just don't understand it. Peep hole + non-sound proof door = all you need. You're perfectly capable of seeing and talking to them without opening the door and opening your first line of defense. If I don't know you, or I'm not expecting you, I don't open my door. Simple as that.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Junkstack

[Guest boutwell]

 As it turned out it was my neighbor's son that had been shot 8 times and both his parents had been shot to death next door. That's a long story and I won't get into it now but until I realized who it was that I had knocked backwards off the porch it was a bit alarming to say the least. I'm glad your dog persuaded him to wait outside. Be careful.

 

I know this is an older thread, but I sure would love to hear that story, Luke E.