Omar beats the wife beater

[Carol]

Thanks for being willing to open the door and get involved. Alot of people wouldn`t have unfortunately.

Truthfully, I'm not sure if I would have done the same. Not that I would want to ignore a neighbor in distress, but I generally don't get the door unless I'm expecting a guest or a pizza. I used to have neighbors below me that fought quite a bit. I'm really not sure what I would have done if I had heard them going at it and then heard a knock at my door. My first reaction would have been to stay silent and ignore the knocks. Omar's experience is leading me to rethink the situation.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Truthfully, I'm not sure if I would have done the same. Not that I would want to ignore a neighbor in distress, but I generally don't get the door unless I'm expecting a guest or a pizza. I used to have neighbors below me that fought quite a bit. I'm really not sure what I would have done if I had heard them going at it and then heard a knock at my door. My first reaction would have been to stay silent and ignore the knocks. Omar's experience is leading me to rethink the situation.

It's a good point. I live in thugville and I definitely do not answer my door. It's either a salesman who snuck in through the security door or one of my gang-banger neighbors high on crack or full of booze. Either way, I don't open the door.

 

[girlbug2]

Maybe, but I really doubt it since that was the first time I've ever even talked to her.

Oh I don't know, you may be surprised what things people pick up on about a person they never had a chance to talk to. She may have observed you repeatedly without your realizing it, may have heard you talking through the walls or something, may have heard things about you. Maybe something about your vehicle or the way you maintain your apartment balcony added to it. A lot of little clues can help form an impression of a person.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Truthfully, I'm not sure if I would have done the same. Not that I would want to ignore a neighbor in distress, but I generally don't get the door unless I'm expecting a guest or a pizza. I used to have neighbors below me that fought quite a bit. I'm really not sure what I would have done if I had heard them going at it and then heard a knock at my door. My first reaction would have been to stay silent and ignore the knocks. Omar's experience is leading me to rethink the situation.

It's a good point. I live in thugville and I definitely do not answer my door. It's either a salesman who snuck in through the security door or one of my gang-banger neighbors high on crack or full of booze. Either way, I don't open the door.

Interesting. I can't imagine NOT getting the door if someone knocks or rings the bell. Over here is is considered downright rude if you don't get the door. Even jehovas witnesses usually get a polite 'not interested'. Then again, I do live in a quiet little village where nothing much usually happens. I'd probably react differently if I lived in a high crime area.

 

[Carol]

Interesting. I can't imagine NOT getting the door if someone knocks or rings the bell. Over here is is considered downright rude if you don't get the door. Even jehovas witnesses usually get a polite 'not interested'. Then again, I do live in a quiet little village where nothing much usually happens. I'd probably react differently if I lived in a high crime area.

For me it's habit. I spent the first part of my adult life in the city and learned early on that if the doorbell rang and you weren't expecting anyone, it was someone that was pressing buttons trying to get in to the front door of the apartment building (for whatever reason). If you used the intercom to ask them who they were, they wouldn't answer and would buzz your door even more furiously because you just gave them an indication that you were home.

A unwanted knock on my apartment door inside the building was generally not someone I wanted to deal with. Sometimes it was a drunk college student who got enough beer nerves to knock on my door to hit on either me or my room mate. Or worse it was the guy in the unit next to me.

Habits die hard. While I don't live in Boston anymore, there is an unquestionable level of security that is provided by not opening your door to someone you aren't expecting. While I wouldn't consider my neighborhood to be a high crime area, every now and then I see a reminder that my city has its issues.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Interesting. I can't imagine NOT getting the door if someone knocks or rings the bell. Over here is is considered downright rude if you don't get the door. Even jehovas witnesses usually get a polite 'not interested'. Then again, I do live in a quiet little village where nothing much usually happens. I'd probably react differently if I lived in a high crime area.

I live in the Detroit metro area. The Jehova's Witnesses I've seen pack heat. No, just kidding. Actually, I've seen them riding their bicycles through some rough areas and wondered why they were still alive.

Detroit lost its status as 'Murder Capitol' of the world a few years back, but recent revelations have shown that it may just be because people stopped reporting murders to the police, and the police stopped taking murder reports. No one cares. A guy froze to death in the ice up here last winter with his legs sticking up in the air, and people played ice hockey around his body for several days before anyone called the police.

Warning, graphic image:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090128/METRO08/901280491

No, I do not answer the door. And when I am in my apartment, I'm armed.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Detroit lost its status as 'Murder Capitol' of the world a few years back, but recent revelations have shown that it may just be because people stopped reporting murders to the police, and the police stopped taking murder reports. No one cares. A guy froze to death in the ice up here last winter with his legs sticking up in the air, and people played ice hockey around his body for several days before anyone called the police.

Warning, graphic image:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090128/METRO08/901280491

incredible....

 

[shesulsa]

... jeez ...

 

[CoryKS]

I live in the Detroit metro area. The Jehova's Witnesses I've seen pack heat. No, just kidding. Actually, I've seen them riding their bicycles through some rough areas and wondered why they were still alive.

It's because God is protecting them, of course. Would you like to buy a Watchtower?

 

[Flying Crane]

I'm sure, but since he was the aggressor and I was in my apartment with my wife, sister and her 3 week old baby as well as a naked, bleeding woman, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right.

The necessary consequence of man’s right to life is his right to self-defense. In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. All the reasons which make the initiation of physical force an evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.
If some “pacifist” society renounced the retaliatory use of force, it would be left helplessly at the mercy of the first thug who decided to be immoral. Such a society would achieve the opposite of its intention: instead of abolishing evil, it would encourage and reward it. - Ayn Rand

sounds to me like you were probably within your rights (non-professional opinion). But that won't stop someone from trying to go after you. And defending yourself against such a charge, even if you win, can be tremendously expensive and can turn your life inside out and upside down for a long time. And even if you win, it doesn't mean you will be able to recoup the costs of your defense.

Just mum on the details, that's all.

 

[Stac3y]

I don't open the door without checking to see who it is first, and I have planned escape routes if it looks like someone dangerous who is determined to get in. It sounds ridiculous, especially since I live in a peaceful area now, but I used to live in New Orleans, and also in a gang-infested area of Baton Rouge, and in a meth-infested area in Dayton, Ohio.

I will, however, cross the street in my pjs to shut down loud parties that my college age neighbors occasionally have. They are SCARED TO DEATH of me. It's the angry mom vibe, I think.

And I call the police every time I think something violent is going on. Always did. Not that they always showed up.

Congratulations, Omar, on defending your home and family. I'm very glad you are all okay.

 

[MA-Caver]

I live in the Detroit metro area. The Jehova's Witnesses I've seen pack heat. No, just kidding. Actually, I've seen them riding their bicycles through some rough areas and wondered why they were still alive.

It's because God is protecting them, of course. Would you like to buy a Watchtower?

Cory, that is THEIR opinion of why they are still alive... actuality of it is they usually carry NO money on them at all. Most thugs know that. So they're not worth attacking unless it's to get some anger out and they're easy targets. Now if they wanted some sex then the girls might have serious cause to worry. Yet from the article Bill just showed us... it might be some time before THAT get reported... sheesh...

Detroit lost its status as 'Murder Capitol' of the world a few years back, but recent revelations have shown that it may just be because people stopped reporting murders to the police, and the police stopped taking murder reports. No one cares. A guy froze to death in the ice up here last winter with his legs sticking up in the air, and people played ice hockey around his body for several days before anyone called the police.

Warning, graphic image:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090128/METRO08/901280491

No, I do not answer the door. And when I am in my apartment, I'm armed.

Mein Gott! How horrible. Such a lonely death. Not so bad dying that way since hypothermia usually induces sleep then coma and finally death so it's not painful but the last moments before he went unconscious must've been sad indeed.
His last (probable) thoughts were proven right.... "nobody cares."

I feel confident to open a knocking door to "repel boarders" if need be. God help the ones that try to gain entry when I don't want them to. If it ever happens I might be writing posts from prison depending upon the jury/judge/attorney/Asst. DA. I get.

 

[CoryKS]

Cory, that is THEIR opinion of why they are still alive... actuality of it is they usually carry NO money on them at all. Most thugs know that. So they're not worth attacking unless it's to get some anger out and they're easy targets. Now if they wanted some sex then the girls might have serious cause to worry. Yet from the article Bill just showed us... it might be some time before THAT get reported... sheesh...

My sense of humor, let me show you it.

 

[MA-Caver]

My sense of humor, let me show you it.

No need... I got it the first time... :lol: seriously...

 

[bekkilyn]

I absolutely do not open the door to anyone that I don't know and/or have been expecting. I don't live in a high crime area, but there are still local stories every now and again about someone who unwittingly opened their door to a stranger and then got robbed or attacked and sometimes killed. It's just common sense to keep the door closed and locked.

Secondly, once I'm at home and busy with my own thing, I don't want to socialize or talk to other people. I am accommodating to other people's needs and wants enough at work and don't need to take it home with me.

Now if someone were seriously in trouble, it would depend on the situation as to what I would do. Most likely, I would end up calling the police though.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

If i play my cards right in the foreclosure market in 2 years or so once I've enough saved, ideally I won't *HAVE* neighbors and an intruder's friend-or-foe status will be much more easily discerned, if I see any at all.

 

[Flea]

I can't even count the number of times I've looked up from my dishwater to see some random stranger come up my steps, try my door, and leave. What makes this particularly creepy is that one has to go pretty far out of one's way to get to my door. It isn't accessible from the street; you have to go around the whole complex to the back parking lot, cross to the opposite side of the lot, and up a flight of steps. I'm not self-centered enough or paranoid enough to think anyone is singling me out, but ... why my door? They're probably trying every door in my complex, but that doesn't make it any less creepy.

I'm glad to have a layout such that I can see who's at the door without necessarily being seen. It comes in handy. And since moving here, I've become much more selective about opening too. Of course, my organic doorbell (see above left!) usually takes care of the unwelcome ones before I even get to the kitchen window.

I can't wait to move. I hope to list my condo some time next week, just as soon as the contractor finishes up.

 

[Omar B]

Scary!

 

[Carol]

Organic doorbell :lol:

One of my colleague calls them "Natural Proximity Alarms"

 

[Tames D]

I can't wait to move. I hope to list my condo some time next week

Flea, Do me a favor and make this a priority. That will make me feel better.