Unlocked doors, Unannounced visits

applecruncher

applecruncher

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Ohio USA
When I was a kid, and even on into adulthood, people didn’t call in advance to say they’re coming over and relatives usually didn’t bother to knock..…they just came in because the door would be unlocked and open - especially in nice weather.

That seemed to change sometime in the 1970s. Now it’s considered rude to just show up, and doors are usually locked (for safety reasons).

Is this your experience?
 

Yes and no. I was a kid in the 60's..and we always had our door closed so people had to knock but my grandfathers' door was always on the latch and he had open house. I don't know anyone who has an open door these days

I prefer the locked door approach..
 
I've lived about 79 years in 5 different states and NEVER lived where people just walked in. Knock, Knock....
 

Thinking back, it's really strange that people tolerated walk-ins - even in smaller towns. They could be in the bathroom, undressing, "busy" in the bedroom, eating a meal, or just not want to be bothered. :shrug:

I remember when my older brother bought his first house – he was 22 and single )this was in 1967). Sometimes groups of girls would walk back and forth in front of his house. When they worked up the nerve to knock, he would just look out the little window in the top of door….just looked and did nothing. I thought that was so funny! :rofl:
 
Back in the mid 70's I lived near my in-laws. They would walk in any time as we would walk into their house. Fine.

Where I live now the doors are never locked in the daytime and we often forget to lock them at night. Our friends have dropped by occasionally but usually call first. And we've dropped by their house. I like advance notice of visitors so I can put my bra on first!
 
My grandas' house always had people in it, he was never alone. He lived in the roughest part of what was then a the largest crime ridden city in Scotland . He had my eldest brother living there as well as my auntie, and various members of the family who came and went when they fell on hard times. None of them had a penny to scratch their arse with, so nothing to steal either ..he lived in a bottom floor tenement flat and all his neighbours were poor. Everyone was welcome in his house, and if they weren't his large family of sons and daughters' let them know quick smart.
 
Unlocked doors have always been a foreign concept to me, but maybe because I was born and raised in NY.

Unannounced visitors run the risk of bodily harm.
 
SifuPhil said:
Unlocked doors have always been a foreign concept to me, but maybe because I was born and raised in NY.

Unannounced visitors run the risk of bodily harm.
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The town I lived in near in-laws had a population of 3,000. Where we live now has no crime.
 
SifuPhil said:
NO crime? None?!?

Keep your location a secret! ;)
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My husband bought this house 21 years ago. Many of our neighbours have lived here for 40 years. None can remember a crime here. This is a coastal road with a long line of small villages (1 shop, 1 cafe, 1 pub, 1 restaurant along nearly 5 miles of villages), and in the village down the road from us there was a robbery a few years ago. And someone tried to steal a car that was parked on the road in another village. Our village is a single row of houses along the loch, forests behind us.

We never lock our car and sometimes my dh forgets his keys in it. No cause for worry.
 
At another site I frequent we were discussing unannounced visitors (about a yr or so ago). Someone said his hs gf (30+ yrs ago) showed up on his porch and left a note with a batch of cookies or whatever. (He wasn’t home, found it later with a note.)

Well, another member said the old gf would have quickly learned the meaning of the Second Amendment. Most of us all laughed out butts off, but mod didn’t think it was funny and gave the member a 7 day gag/time out and gave the rest of us a speech about gun violence then locked the thread. :rolleyes:
 
My doors are unlocked all day, but locked when I go to bed. When unlocked, 2 of my grandsons best friends simply walk in while calling out "hello". I don't mind. Everyone else knocks or rings the bell.

When growing up, my parents doors were never locked except at night.
 
I keep my doors locked all the time.

When I was a young adult and my parents were still alive, I had a key and used to just come in hollering "hello." I tried doing the formal knock on the door and my mother told me not to be silly; and before my hips were replaced, my son and DIL had a key and used to walk right in -- they were helping me and it was very hard and slow for me to go to the door, so this was a great help to me. Still, they would call before she came so she wouldn't startle me. They still have an "emergency" key -- I was glad they did the day I dislocated my shoulder!

Other than that, nobody just walks into my house. It's creepy.
 
I keep my doors locked at all times too. When I was growing up, we didn't do that and we had what we called "drop ins". People would just show up unannounced which was the way everyone did back then. But, today, I don't really like for someone to show up unannounced because who knows what I might be doing or how I will or won't be dressed. When my husband was sick with cancer, we had those type several times which caused a problem. He didn't feel like having visitors but both of us endured it and didn't talk to them about it because we didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
 
Where I was born and raised, we would go visit our grandparents / aunts, unannounced .. ( very few had a phone then) no doors were ever locked day or night ..... Cars were quite often left open with the keys in the ignition.
in the summer we slept on the front lawn as we didn't have such luxuries as air conditioner, we never had a reason to feel afraid ..
We lock all doors now days..
 
Ameriscot said:
Back in the mid 70's I lived near my in-laws. They would walk in any time as we would walk into their house. Fine.

Where I live now the doors are never locked in the daytime and we often forget to lock them at night. Our friends have dropped by occasionally but usually call first. And we've dropped by their house. I like advance notice of visitors so I can put my bra on first!
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LOL, Annie, my granddaughter and her family are going to build close to me and they have a habit of walking in unannounced.....I going to have to set some rules.
 
Jackie22 said:
LOL, Annie, my granddaughter and her family are going to build close to me and they have a habit of walking in unannounced.....I going to have to set some rules.
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Yes, set rules! I hate getting busted looking like some old saggy granny in a tshirt! I'm sure I grossed out the postman the other day when I had to sign for a package and he had to hand it to me.
 
Everyone locks doors here in the big city, and no one drops by unannounced - as everyone has a phone/cell phone to call to check if its ok or if we're even home. I don't like anyone dropping in on me and never open my door unless I'm expecting someone, as those strange knocks on the door are usually people selling something or bible thumpers that snuck into my building.

In my childhood, relatives would often drop by without calling. We were usually home in the evenings and weekends, nowadays people are much more busy and out and about, so its crazy to drive all that way and find nobody at home.
 
I don't think we even had a key to our doors when I was a kid. They were never locked and if it was summer, the door was always open. I walk into my sisters' and my moms' homes without knocking and vice versa but then I don't show up without calling first. We all have keys in case the door is locked.
 
I will never forget in the early 1940's my mother pulling down all the shades and locking all the doors so that my uncle and his family would think that no one was home and go away.
 
I grew up in the city, and everyone kept their doors locked, I still do today especially at night. If someone wants to come in, they just knock or ring the doorbell, not a difficult task. I could never be one of those people who have a revolving front door, where neighbors and visitors just wander in whenever they like. I'm not always dressed for company...Ameriscot, I doubt if you look like a shaggy old granny just because you're wearing a tee shirt, lol...I'm often in tee shirt and sweats or shorts around the house, and even I don't look that bad! :p
 
I couldn't lay my hands on our house keys if my life depended on it. Our doors have never been locked as far as I know. The only exception is that we throw the deadbolts on the nights the grandkids stay over. Toddlers are prone to sleep walk! I usually take the keys out of my truck, but that's due to fear of lock out as opposed to than security. Daughter leaves hers hanging on the mirror. Wife has a proximity fob so hers just lies in her purse.
I routinely go to town and whatever tools,(shovels,chainsaw,etc) happen to be in the truck when I go have always been there when I got home.
The main reason that most folks at the store in town pull their car keys,is that Buddy, a retired teacher with Alzheimer's would just take the nearest car if he forgot where his was.
 

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