A woman says she was shamed after actively ignoring her neighbours’ urgent knocks on her door – because she doesn’t answer the door if she doesn’t know who’s knocking.
The unnamed British woman revealed on the parenting forum Mumsnet that her neighbour had come running to her for help after her son was in an accident.
She explained that she ignored the knocking because she wasn’t expecting anyone to visit, saying she doesn’t open her doors to ‘cold callers’ as a rule.
Her neighbours, whom she’s good friends with, became angry with her when they found out, saying she had been horrible to ignore them when they needed her.
After she shared her story, some people agreed that the woman didn’t have to answer her door if she didn’t want to, but others slammed her, saying it’s ‘weird’ to only open your door to people you know.
A unnamed British woman revealed on the parenting forum Mumsnet that her neighbours had come running to her for help after their son had had an accident (stock image)
The woman revealed she’s been living in her home for six years, and usually gets on well with her neighbours.
She explained that she heard someone knocking on her door one day, but she just ignored it.
‘I never answer my front door because everyone who I’m expecting uses the side door. We get a lot of cold callers and religious people who knock a lot, so I will never answer it,’ she said.
She went on to say she ran into her neighbour with his son the next day, and that the child had a bandage on.
She was told the child had an accident the previous day, and that the neighbour’s wife had come to ask her for help.
The worried mother had forgotten her phone at home and wanted to ask her to call an ambulance for the child, but had had no reply.
Connecting the dots, the woman admitted she had heard the knocking, but didn’t know who was at her door, so had ignored it.
Her answer angered her neighbour, who ‘then asked me why I’d ignored her’.
The woman ignored the knock on her door, because she didn’t know who was behind it, and doesn’t open her doors to cold callers as a rule. Her neighbours, whom she’s good friends with, got angry with her when they found out
‘I explained I obviously didn’t know it was an emergency or I would have course answered. But he told me I was selfish and slammed his door as he went in,’ she said.
She revealed she was confronted by the man’s wife moments later, who told her she had been horrible for ignoring her.
Admitting that she thought her neighbours were still shook up from their child’s accident, the woman said she felt awful, and didn’t mean to ignore them on purpose.
However, she added she ultimately feels the couple are overreacting, because it didn’t seem that the child’s injuries were too serious.
Many people agreed it is peculiar for an adult to be afraid of opening their own front doors to unexpected visitors
When she shared her story on the parenting forum, she got a mixed reaction, with many saying she should have answered the door.
‘Your neighbour needed urgent help from you for a medical emergency for their child. You ignored repeated banging, not just a knock that might be a cold caller. No reasonable person in your situation would’ve ignored it,’ one said.
‘I have no time or understanding for people who have a generic “I don’t answer my door if it’s not pre planned or it’s the wrong door” just bloody answer it,’ another said.
‘They sound dramatic, but I agree with people I don’t really understand the “not answering the door” thing,’ another wrote.
‘I think not answering the door is a bit weird – I get why you do it, though,’ another said.
‘I just cant get my head around the no door answering and no phone answering brigade. I don’t know anyone in real life who think like this, its really weird,’ one said.
‘Just answer the sodding door. Use a chain/peephole or whatever if you are concerned about safety. If it’s a chugger or whatever you just tell them to go away but sometimes people have legitimate reasons to knock,’ another wrote.
While many people didn’t understand how the poster could ignore knocks on her door, others said it wasn’t her fault
‘I think it’s really odd not to open your door in the daytime. Late at night I can understand. To not even look to see who it was makes it even odder,’ one said.
‘It’s your front door, and (apart from someone with a search warrant or other legal power of entry, who won’t need you to answer the door anyway) you can answer it or not as you see fit,’ one went on.
‘But I agree, as an adult, it is a bit weird to be scared to answer your own door,’ one said.
Others said that she should do whatever she wants with her door and only open to who she wants to.
‘Sound like drama llamas and he was downright rude,’ one said.
‘It is your choice whether to answer your door or not and I think your neighbours are being rude, Did you make it clear to them that you did not know it was them rather than not knowing it was an emergency,’ one wrote.
‘It is hardly your fault if your neighbour is an airhead who panics in a minor emergency,’ another said.
