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Comment by behringer | Hacker News Reader

And yet if I showed up with exactly what you need in my hand at a reasonable price you wouldn't even think about the sign. The sign doesn't mean anything.

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It’s wild to me people can say things like this so confidently. I’ve said no to everything my entire life. I don’t care what you’re offering, I’m already seething with rage that I have to talk to you. If I want something I’ll look for it same rules as avoiding phishing.

Really? If you're hungry and your coworker shows up with a pizza you just tell them to fuck off?

:wave:

Hey, the rest of the thread is over here. It looks like you moved the goalposts so far away you might be lost.

Not really, it's exactly my point. If you're a game collector and I show up with a game at a good price, that's a sale. If I pull into your driveway with the classic car you're looking for the sale is on the table. The sign means nothing, what matters is what you've got and how much it'll cost.

Those are very niche. How would you have known that's what I'm looking for? Sounds like groundwork for a larger crime. I'll say I'm busy but take your name and number and later do OSINT research on you to level the playing field. Why would I engage someone who knows where my family sleeps when I don't know where theirs sleeps?

Successful cold callers research their customers beforehand to know what they want, and don't call people who probably aren't interested.

If you're a game collector and I show up with a rare game, you're probably interested. Even if you don't buy it, at least I'm not wasting your time. If I show up with an Ethernet switch ASIC, you're probably not interested and I am wasting your time. That's why Marvell would cold-call Juniper and Cisco, not Antonio Romero Monteiro.

Showing up on my doorstep uninvited is at best an invasion of privacy, and at worst a crime in progress that I interrupted.

So you don't want a free pizza because the neighbour's 3 year old son ordered 30 of them on doordash and their freezer isn't big enough?

Definitely not, but I like my neighbors and like maintaining good relations with people in the nighrborhood, so I would forgive them.

You know, I thought about this overnight. I'm pretty sure I feel this way partially because talking to people real time isn't free for me, it has a cost. I have to mask neurodivergence all day to get along in the corporate world, I do not want to put the mask on again unexpectedly when there's a knock at the door. It's my off time, it's like getting paged or something.

The second part is the privacy aspect, I don't want to do business in a power asymmetry -- they can reach me where I sleep but I cannot do the same to them. I don't want anyone I engage in a business relationship with to get any ideas of any type about who/what they see at my home, from judging negatively to jealously to planning to come back and take it. It's unnecessary risk surface for a business transaction.

All this person has done is illustrate a sociopathic inability to understand other peoples’ experiences. Nothing they have said is remotely interesting and is an obvious no from my perspective. The only situation I’d even pick up a phone or answer the door is the neighbor. That would be a no thanks. The fact that they keep pushing and clearly think their juvenile worldview applies to everyone reinforces my original statement. It’s wild to me people can say these things with a straight face.

Turns out I've never in my life had a successful cold caller reach out to me, I guess. I can't think of a single reason in 2024 that a random telephone call would get me to part ways with my money. In fact, I've had very few instances where a salesperson adds value to a transaction period.

I would assume you’re screwing me and turn you down. If you’ve got enough margin to do sales that way, you’re screwing me, even if I can’t see it. It’s a no.

Everybody makes a margin, that's how the free market works.

But let's say you're a communist and I show up with a compound and a few followers, I suspect we have a deal to discuss regardless of the sign ;)

> enough margin

Yes, it would mean something, and, yes, I would think about the sign. In fact, I did this about a month ago to someone who was selling a service I was actively in the market for. As I said, and I can only say this to you again, I can't understand it for you: the sign is an IQ test. I will not do business with someone who cannot or will not read the sign.

You could be offering hundred dollar bills for my garbage - I wouldn't even listen.

Everybody wants something and everybody has a price they'll pay for it.

Not from random strangers soliciting it. The chance that they are going to scam you is much too high to trust anything they offer.

Even in such a situation – and that's actually happened before – I'd still say no and buy the product from a competitor, even if that means paying twice as much.

Also, the last time a doctors without borders person showed up, I tried pressuring her into joining a local protest a few days later until she got uncomfortable and decided to leave.

All types of forceful advertising – be that online ads or door-to-door salesmen – are absolute bullshit and shouldn't exist in a civilized society.

My doorbell is labeled "no soliciting" for a reason.

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