Do you know what happens when you ring my doorbell when my household's asleep? I have five cats... it's not pretty. I had about 1.25 seconds to absorb the doorbell sound when I heard a mass of thundering kitty feet. Something got crashed to the floor (nothing broke thankfully). Someone screamed like a little girl (that'd be me).
And who was at the door? A pair of door-to-door Gospel Types, male and female. On a Sunday. What-the... did they think they could endear me to their faith by waking up my household with utter chaos and mayhem? Were they expecting me to answer the door and actually have a rational discussion when I've not even had coffee yet? Are they able to read and absorb the prominent "No Soliciting" sign and realize it applies to them too?
No, no... and umm... NO. People just don't understand that "to solicit" means basically "to ask". They're asking me to listen to their spiel, they're asking me to open the door, they're asking me to listen - they ARE soliciting.
Often the word is misunderstand and generally people think that soliciting means selling, but they're wrong and they all work in the door-to-door sales field, even the Gospel Types. All of them. It's in the primary interview. They ask if the new prospective knows the definition of "to solicit" and if they get it right, they're not hired.
I'm adding a new sign to my front door along with the highly visible "No Solicting" sign which no one ever sees. Even if it was a neon and blinking they'd never see it. Anyhow... the new sign will say:
"We are illiterate, diabetic, unemployed, inarticulate, atheisists. Don't bother."
Is that too harsh? *grin*
