No offense against those very nice polite young LDS men....

[Virginia Dare]

but just why in the name of sense would I a middle-aged college-educated lady like myself discuss with a couple of pimply faced 18 year old strangers who show up uninvited at my door, my religious tendencies or lack thereof? Does this crap actually work?

[tekisui]

1. It works, that's why they do it.

They get far more rejections and door slams, but they find some willing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. "Does this crap actually work?"

It must, fastest growing religion in the world.

But then again, Amway was still in business the last I heard.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Amway sure is. Offshored a lot of it, though.

Thanks, DeVos. :eyes: Republican, of course, and wants to run for president someday.

[Maat]

3. Maybe they feel if they get one out of a hundred, it's worth it.

It is amazing that they really think that a stranger will discuss such things with them; however, it must work with a minority of people, or they wouldn't do it.

I'm just shaking my head; my husband just tells them, "I'm not interested."

[Virginia Dare]

11. I guess it's like playing the slots...n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I really need to get my eyes checked. I read "LSD men"

I knew a girl once who became Jehovah's Witness thanks to a band of merry men working her neighborhood. It didn't last long with her though. I think she was out of it within a few weeks.

I think it's like most sales, you have to hit the right person at just the right time, with the right product to make a sale. When what you're selling is religion, I imagine the return rate could be pretty high since no penalty for regretting an impulse buy after the fact.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. The penalty is eternal damnation, donch know.

The just reward from a loving god.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Obviously I'm a pretty tough sale

That aspect didn't even occur to me. :P

Of course it would to others though. I just failed to consider it.

[JVS]

5. You never make a sale staying at home!

[Cleita]

6. I really think the LDS church puts them in danger doing that.

I'm not proud of this but I purposely let the dogs bark at them so they don't go further than the gate when they approach our property. It does get rid of them and I know our dogs won't attack them, but yet I wonder what kind of trouble they could find elsewhere. I wouldn't let any children of mine do door to door proselytizing.

[Virginia Dare]

12. I agree..

there are some psychos out there, but I guess that's why they travel in pairs. Normally I would have set the dogs on them, but I was expecting someone around that time, so I unwittingly opened the door.

[Subdivisions]

9. They ran my wife right out of Wyoming, and me by default.

They just would not lay off their bullshit and leave us alone. Then, when I told them I'd rather join a satanic cult, they gave us the silent treatment and made us feel unwelcome.

[Virginia Dare]

14. That's a good one..

we had to get downright rude to some very nice old ladies who were Jehovah's Witnesses. My husband was nice and polite to them the first time they showed up, so of course they were encouraged and kept coming back. I hated telling them to fuck off, but what else do you do?

[SoCalDem]

19. My friend's husband answered the door with a beer & a cigarette ..in his BVDs..they did not return

:rofl:

[grantcart]

10. i think there mission is considered a success if they get a single convert

My father's great uncle was the second longest serving president of the Church and spent 3 years in Japan on mission and did not get a single convert - long ago our family was linked to Young and Bennett families (incl first mayor of salt lake city) but have no mormon members in our family now. The greatest growth in the LDS church is in Latin American and in 10 years most LDS members will be native spanish speakers.

[Maat]

17. That's interesting information.

I had read that was the trend (increasing membership outside of the country).

[Momgonepostal]

27. That varies widely

My mission was like that, because I went to Rome, Italy, which at the time was one of the slowest/hardest in the world. But there are a lot of others that are not like that. A friend served in the Las Vegas mission, and his consistently had some of the highest numbers in the world. He said, believe it or not, that the Salt Lake area had a higher baptism rate.

[EFerrari]

15. It works the other way, too. I put on my shiny self and tell them

I'm a very happy atheist and wish them a great day.

lol

[uppityperson]

16. I know. I've asked them that and asked to be put on their "do not contact" list.

I realize that a way to really understand your beliefs is to talk with strangers about them, but I don't want to. They have a list they are supposed to put you on, good for a yr or 2 or some such.

[Momgonepostal]

30. That depends, too.

Missionaries are supposed to have an "area book" with notes on people they've contacted. If your set are good record keepers, they'll make a note of your request and stay away for years. If you have slackers who forget to write it down, the next set might come back because they don't know.

A good area book would be detailed and say things like...
123 Main St. No one home.
127 Main St. not interested, do not contact
131 Main St. REALLY NOT INTERESTED, REALLY DON'T CONTACT
137 Main St. Young woman, small children, said to come back in evening when husband home...etc.

[Carni]

18. I want to drag them in and espouse MY views sometime

I will probaby never do so...but I have always wanted to say "Oh good glad you are here, come right in!" and then once they are in my house I will proceed to rant and rave at them with MY views about politics and religion the stupidity of people who force their opinions on others etc etc--I will not allow them to talk and I will foist assorted reading materials on them about bush/the GOP etc.

As it is I just say, I am not even remotely interested in any of this so please don't stop here again--of course they typically just send a different team 6 months later to bother me again.

[Cleita]

21. I did that once with the wife of a Mormon couple I was

working with up in Idaho. I decided to play with her head for awhile and told her all about my belief in faeries and that God is really a goddess that's a Trinity (I read a lot of mythology) and I just went on and on as if those were my core beliefs. When I do this with my fellow Catholics and Protestants, they turn from me in disgust and tell me how I'm thinking "magically" or they get it that I'm having some fun with them.

Well, this lady got right on board with me and told me that she believed God did have a wife who was a goddess in herself and a myriad of beings that could be my faeries. I was the one who was dumbstruck this time. So be careful. You might find yourself in a strange conversation.

[Carni]

25. LOL! LOL! Thanks for the warning!

That is just too hilarious!

I will definitely keep this in mind, before I haul any watchtower people into the house...that honestly sounds like something that would happen to me! lol

[Balbus]

20. When you buy a hair dryer...

there's a label on it that says "don't use in the shower." Why, you ask? Because there's some really stupid people out there.

Knowing that, you actually don't believe that there's people that can be persuaded by a couple of pimply-faced LDS youths?

[Dawggie]

22. Here in the SE I get little blue haired ladies coming to door wanting to "witness" and invite me to

their church.

I wish they were 18 year olds as I could hhave a lot more fun with them without feeling guilty. as it is, I just have to nicely say "thanks for checking, but no thanks."

[DemGa]

23. I've heard they can be persistent

I told a couple of those guys I was spiritual--not religious--and starting questioning them about those famous gold plates.

They never returned.

[JerseygirlCT]

24. It must, because they keep it up

I have to say though, that they've always been really polite. So I don't mind. In fact, they usually look relieved when I say "no thanks".

[Momgonepostal]

26. I've been an LDS missionary...

Although I was a pimply faced young woman, and 3/4ths of the way college eduated, but I can tell you, that going door to door is generally considered a last ditch effort. It's about the least effective way of finding interested people, so the mission leadership encourages other ways first. Generally, missionaries are encouraged first to work with part-member families, for instance where one spouse is LDS and the other not. Getting members to introduce you to their friends who have questions is another good way.

We pretty much went door to door if we had a cancellation, or just a few minutes before our next appointment, or it was pouring down rain we might find a tall building to work so we could be indoors. We did meet an interesting set of people that way, though...lonely old people, pervy fat men who answered the door in bikini underwear, prostitutes "on the job", and a young woman who told us she speaks to dead people. :silly:

[LanternWaste]

28. It's getting as bad a political canvassers.

It's getting as bad a political canvassers. Well, not quite that bad-- but I'm sure it will be soon...

[guitar man]

29. I like this guy

his take on the whole thing really cracks me up! :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fic56JN7aIw