WWYD?

[Bad Santa]

I feel this forum has a decent selection of older people so I'm going to posit this question.

You're relaxing after a day of doing what you do. Working if you're still working, whatever else if you're retired.

It's dusk. Not quite dark yet but definitely not light outside.

There's a knock at the door. You answer it (presumably) and there are two young girls there They have stepped off the porch and are about 8 feet from the door. They appear to be well dressed, as in not poor. They're probably 10-12. If it matters, they are brown skinned.

They ask if you have a chore they can do for money. Specifically they say they could take out trash or something for a dollar.

What would you do?

 

[mavic3usa]

I never open my door after dark.

 

[AnDronioBanderos]

In this day and age, the age of innocence is unfortunately gone and depending on where you live communities vary widely. So I would imagine that, from reading your post that you felt uneasy? Rightly so in my opinion.

From this point forward TLDR applies!

I live in a small community, in a village with good people with great community values. Everyone looks out for one another and genuinely care, this is the life I like.

I previously lived in a remote, equestrian village area, and in between both moves, I had the misfortune of living in the subburbs of the capital city which I found awful and while one would seemingly rate one above the other, I rate them on my personal experience. Just to add, I have been working all around the world for many years and have seen many different things when in different countries.

But from reading your post, I feel this was something you did not feel comfortable with and there would be multiple alerts for me.

1. What are kids doing randomly knocking on doors looking for work? Unless they are known to you or your family.

2. What kind of parents let their kids do this unaccompanied?

3. Is this innocent or planned with a motive?

4 is this a precursor, scouting exercise to guage your living circumstances.

We all know that when we were younger or during different times, things like boy scouts or girl guides knocking on doors was pretty widely accepted.

But going back to your question, I would not let anyone, kids or otherwise, enter my home. Over here, even during trick or treat season, parents always accompany kids..

What would I have done in your situation? I definitely would have politely declined the offer and text a few neighbors to check if they were approached also

Not sure what the eventual outcome was in your situation but always think of the what ifs and trust your instincts.

Without knowing your neighborhood, I still would reach out to neighbours and check if you were the only one approached.

Main thing is that I hope you did the right thing tit your circumstances and you are safe..

 

[Paul Harvey]

I feel this forum has a decent selection of older people so I'm going to posit this question.

You're relaxing after a day of doing what you do. Working if you're still working, whatever else if you're retired.

It's dusk. Not quite dark yet but definitely not light outside.

There's a knock at the door. You answer it (presumably) and there are two young girls there They have stepped off the porch and are about 8 feet from the door. They appear to be well dressed, as in not poor. They're probably 10-12. If it matters, they are brown skinned.

They ask if you have a chore they can do for money. Specifically they say they could take out trash or something for a dollar.

What would you do?

Tell them thanks, but don't need the trash taken out. Here's a buck each anyway and good luck.