Unwanted Solicitors...

Yesterday, the doorbell rang and all three of my kids went running to the door! (I want to pause here and ask, "Are my kids the only kids that do this?" I absolutely hate it when they go running and stomping loudly towards the door! There is no way that I can pretend to act like we aren't home and ignore the person at the door!) I opened up the door to a man of a different ethnic background and began to listen to his sales pitch. My kids all came crawling out from under me to see who it was and for a brief moment, I was afraid he might grab one of them and run. First of all, this person said he was my neighbor. I don't EVER remember seeing him in my neighborhood before. He then "said" he was raising money for some sort of scholarship thing for him to attend Ball State. He said that before people took up money for magazine subscriptions but this time, you give money and you don't get anything! (That sort of set me off on the wrong foot just by the way he said it!) He said that the money he was getting was going towards books for Riley Hospital where his Mom worked! He then went on to show me this little piece of paper in a plastic sleeve. It had pictures of books on it, no where at all did it say anything about Riley's hospital for Children, and there was no form to fill out, etc. Just some of his own handwriting saying a bunch of numbers and the price of each group of donations. He said he was trying to raise 20,000 books for Riley. I asked him how much money were the donations and he said without batting an eye, "$1000.00 each or your 20 inch wheels." (My Mom's Cadillac Escalade was sitting in my driveway at the time!) I looked at him and said, "Seriously. tell me how much these are!" He then showed me his homemade sheet and proceeded to tell me that most of my neighbors were buying the 2nd package, but if he could get three more people to buy this expensive package, he would be done! The cheapest package he had "for sale" was $78.00 but he was trying to get me to purchase one that was about $300.00 I told him I was not going to give him $80.00 and he looked at me and said, "Why??? Can't you afford it?" (I wanted to slam the door in his face right then and there! I wasn't feeling too brave at this point anyway and he was making me mad!) He tried telling me that my pregnant neigbhor lady down the street couldn't afford an entire share so she just gave half. (I don't have a pregnant neighbor down the street!) He wanted to know if he could pair me up with her for the other half...$40.00. I told him, "No, why don't you come back tonight about 6pm when my husband is home and talk to him." He kept bugging me for a little while longer and I finally said "No, you will have to talk to my husband!" He then just shook his head and said, "What about your neighbors??? Are they cool?" I said, "Yeah, they're cool" and I shut the door and locked it!!!!!!!!!! (I can't wait to ask them what they thought of him!) He didn't have a permit to be selling stuff door to door and his form was not professional. I am sure Riley would not expect people to give such huge donations for books. It would've been more realistic if it were more like 10.00 instead of $80-500.00 He was just up to no good and I was so upset that my kids went running to the door in the first place!
Today, the Schwan man rang my doorbell and I forgot he was coming! I wasn't dressed and there was no way I was going to answer the door! Luckily, the kids were napping and Parker didn't hear the doorbell!
Now, I am off to get ready for my hot date tonight and to go buy a "No Solicitor's" sign for my front door!!!!