52 percent of people won’t answer the door for a stranger. A cop says that’s a huge mistake.
Ask anyone Millennial and younger what the scariest sound in the world is, and you’ll get some interesting answers. Your phone buzzing with an actual, honest-to-God phone call would be one. Someone unexpectedly knocking on your door would be the other. For many of us, when we look out the window and see someone we don’t recognize approaching our house, the instinct is to pretend we’re not home.
Door-to-door salesmen and solicitors are still shockingly common, and the only thing worse than an unexpected knock from a stranger is that same stranger being a pushy and aggressive salesman who won’t take No for an answer! So staying quiet and waiting for them to leave seems like a reasonable strategy to avoid anxiety and conflict.
A police officer on TikTok just issued a word of caution for us introverts who like to hide out from knocking strangers: “Don’t do that.”
Officer Randall Arsenault, a former policeman from Canada and a super popular TikTok creator, shared the warning in a recently reposted video.
“Somebody comes to your home during the day, knocks on the door, rings the doorbell, and you don’t answer because you don’t want to be bothered? Don’t do that, OK?”
“Two minutes later, they kick in your door, it’s a daytime break and enter, happens all the time. … They get inside your house, they panic, not expect anybody to be there, bad things can happen.”
It’s sound advice. Most home intruders, believe it or not, aren’t looking to hurt anyone and would rather avoid a potentially violent confrontation. They’d much prefer an easy chance to walk around and take what they want. So by pretending to not be home, you actually make yourself a perfect target.
