Well, this could be a tough call for sure. However, I would have answered the door rather than just shut him out. If he came to mooch more wood, I'd then have explained and simply said no and that would probably be the end of it. But at least I'd have given him a chance to speak up. Perhaps there is more to the story. But I can certainly understand your feelings. Some people do just try to take and if he has not been particularly friendly in the past, then he should not be asking for hand outs.
I think a lot of it is where you live also.. in country where I am at, always stories of friend of friend you hear about in church or school that somebody herniated his back or military family husband got deployed or Joe had a heart attack etc., they need help finishing project x or wood is down but not blocked and split or whatever and a few retires get it set up and 5 or 6 guys go solve problem. There are also abusers that want every free hand out they can get. our group of buddies unwritten rule is everyone gets 1 help.. then we wait to see after if they give back later.. BTW we have a very sweet 70 plus "grams" that always wants to be invited she cooks cakes has salads we helped her when husband had cancer before he passed. She is awesome I pick up her garbage on way to dump with mine. So I we tend to be generous at first. Mr A, probably does all his work by himself no body offers to help so his position is understandable. He's in Sacremento.. if couple lost power for 2 days they probably won't have pipes freeze or die in cold. So this is certainly not criticizing him or his position
Nicely put, Backwoods Savage and Canadian border VT And what is this gas can you speak of, Elvisss222 ?
Well recently I offered to cut down a few trees in a guys yard and bucked them up (2-3 hrs) and all I asked in return was for some veggies from his garden in the fall as he keeps a big garden. He never stopped by with any veggies. fast forward to the next spring, he asked me to cut down a couple more trees. I really didn't know what to say and just said not this year.
Seems fair enough. If you had an agreement and he didn't come through I'd be leary of doing it again.
I didn't say what you were supposed to do - that's for you to decide. What I would do is help if I could, if I couldn't I would be up front about that. If I felt I was being used I would be up front about that as well. I believe one day I will be judged for my actions, so I'd like to be accused of helping too much and not too little.
No, you're right. You definitely handled the situation honorably. You didn't know who it was when he knocked the second time so it's not like you were avoiding him at all... instead of taking to an Internet forum and telling the story about how you didn't hide from the old guy in a colostomy bag you answered the door and handled the situation properly. What did the guy have to say when he came to the house a second time? Oh. Wait, nevermind.
Little child "Mom.........there's a man at the door with a bill." Mom replies " Don't be silly......it must be a duck with a hat on "
Just want to say that I think we all need to make sure comments we make are something we can discuss and not something to bait another member into an argument. Discussion with honest disagreement= good Pizzing match = bad
Not sure where is lives in Sac, but another town over, crime is high. FIL is still in a nice part of town, but people are different now, very guarded. My extended family out there are afraid to shop at walmart. How silly, it was a treat for them to to walmart out here during visits... I can see them thinking an unexpected knock at the door is more than likely trouble.
I ignored a knock at the door just today. I have no idea who it was or what they wanted but I was busy and did not feel any obligation to stop what I was doing at the time. If I had a camera on the door and knew who it was I might have decided that answering the door was more important than what I was doing, but I don't.
WW, this is very true indeed. An extended nephew's wife (niece in law?) parent's home was invaded 4 Christmas's ago by 4 armed thugs. Killed one adult and injured 3 others just for the purpose of stealing. A child hid upstairs in a closet and dialed 911 in time enough for the police to catch all of them leaving the house (one by a window) and taken into custody. Merry Christmas. If a homeowner chooses not to answer a door, I understand completely.
Had a darth.com flash back reading a couple posts on this thread. My time,life,property and right. NOYB
