Weirdos at my door - Indiana Style!

[Mr. Bloom]

I had to be up at 4:30AM to leave town...and what happens at 11:30?

Teenagers running through the neighborhood ringing doorbells and running!

So, what did I do?
a) roll over to Silver and say "those DARN kids!", or
b) yell profanity out that window and threaten to call their parents, or
c) grab my bathrobe and run barefoot after them in the street.

Well, if you guessed "c", you'd be right.

While I was running with one of the neighbors, Silver gets the car (smart!!) I hop in and we catch them in two blocks!

While Silver calls the cops, I'm reading the little snits the riot act. One of them says..."What's the big deal?"

My response: "I'm standing here in the street barefoot in my bathrobe and you're wondering if I think this is a big deal! You ruined my sleep, I'm ruining your night. Explain it to the cops!"

I went home and slept like a baby after that one!

It's just a shame I did this stuff too as a kid I guess that's living proof that they still stand a chance to be productive members of society

[makbike]

Mr. Silver/Silver - sorry about the little twits, glad you caught them. I'd say, just a guess mind you, that these are kids who are able to "talk" their way out of problems but saying "I'm sorry..." or "I won't do it again, promise" and their parents believe them or want to believe them. They are not held accountable for their actions by most of the adults in their lives that is until they rang your bell.

Now, I'm glad my old house came without a doorbell and even happier that standing on the inside looking out is my buddy Gaston, a 130 lb Great Dane. I don't get many strangers at my door. Maybe you guys should invest in a "big" dog with a big bark. They do wonders at keeping kids and others at a distance.

[Duck on Wheels]

Or, just as likely, they're kids who never learned to say "I'm sorry" because their parents have been making excuses for them all along, "kids will be kids" and "what're those folks so uptight about" and "who are they to complain about my son/daughter" and so on. Like the time a friend of mine saw a kid rip the outside mirrors off her little car (2CV), marched up to the kid's door and ... got bullied backwards down the doorstep by his dad with "Well whad'ya expect parking a car like that in this neighborhood!" It may well be that the cops need to give the parents a good talking to along with the kids. But hopefully it'll help not only your one night's sleep (what was left of the night) but many nights to come. Maybe even save you some days of energy wasted fuming over litter, "tagging" and other random acts of vandalism. Good for you for telling them off.

[IFjane]

I had to be up at 4:30AM to leave town...

Mr. Silver - what on earth did you do to have to leave town before dawn???

[Blueberry]

Good for you!!! (and you have my sympathies for having to be up at 4:30).

We're moving into a house without a doorbell. Does that concern me? Not one bit! We've got a very large Golden with a very large dog bark. If you don't see him, you're thinking Rotty.

We know in advance we're moving into a neighborhood where you get more solicitations - everything from the local elementary school organizing the kids to go door to door asking for $ for the school to homeless (it's a nice area, but it's close to some areas that aren't). I'm glad these topics have come up recently, as I'm sure I'll be dealing with these issues soon enough.

CA

[bmccasland]

Yippee for chasing them down. Nearly snorted my coffee when I read that since they got you out of bed, you were going to ruin their night.

At least they were only ringing doorbells. A couple of weeks ago to young lads, ages 20 & 16, were arrested for torching cars in my neighborhood. They were chased down by a resident and held until the police arrived. Their excuse - they were bored.

[Jenn]

I guess the days of the phone calls in the middle of the night asking "Is your refrigerator running, when you say yes, then they reply, you better go catch it." are over.

[silver]

Mr. Silver - what on earth did you do to have to leave town before dawn???

Mr. is a banker. He works in another town which is two hours away by car. We have a condo there that he lives in during the week. He drives home each weekend and every other weekend he come home on Thursday night and works from here on Friday. He usually drives back to Bloomington on Sunday afternoon, but occasionally he will spend Sunday night here and go back early Monday morning returning there in time for his workday. Adding to the complications of this already complicated arrangement is that we live in the Central time zone and he works in the Eastern.

The reasons for this arrangement are too complicated to explain. But most important things are the Mr. likes his job, the kids are happy in their school here, his parents are happy in their assisted living home here and we are working hard to make it work.

[silver]

Thank goodness there was no property damage, in the past, we have had a window on the second floor broken with stones thrown be kids, and some kids threw a VERY large pumpkin at the front door and DENTED it (it's a metal door). We never figured out who did those.

We don't have kids mad at us, so these are random occurances to the best of our knowledge.

We live in a very nice neighborhood, but with lots of kids who have too much money and time to spare. Kids who don't understand respect of property and the value of hard work.

To the best of my groggy memory, the kids banged on the door AND rang the doorbell. So not having a doorbell wouldn't have corrected things.

While the kids were going on about what is the big deal and why did we have to call the police, I'm thinking, well, we were sleeping soundly and you all (the kids) INVITED us to come out and play. Obviously THEY wanted some attention. Well, they got it.

Sad thing is....now I fear retribution. We only know for sure who one of the kids were. But if anything happens now, we are going directly to that family.

[mcoleman]

I feel your pain Silver.

Sunday afternoon I came home to a baseball game in the cul-de-sac where we live. DH was out on a ride and one of the guys had left his car parked on the street in front of our house and DH's car was in our driveway. The SECOND time a ball hit our house, I went outside and told the kids to take the game somewhere else. The street is not an appropriate place for a baseball game with cars and houses closeby. They argued that they were only using a tennis ball and refused to stop. There were 3 teenaged boys playing with some younger kids and they hit my garage door hard enough for me to hear it in the back of the house!
I went across the street to talk with the parents of the kids hosting the game, but they were not home. I asked the youngest to have her mom call me when she came home.
I was telling DH what happened when the father across the street came over. I invited him in and he completely blasted me for telling the kids to stop playing. He said they hadn't hurt anything (yet) and I was overreacting. I still cannot believe how he talked to us! We live in a nice neighborhood where the children have and get away with pretty much everything.
I also am wondering about retaliation.

[wannaduacentury]

I feel your pain Silver.

Sunday afternoon I came home to a baseball game in the cul-de-sac where we live. DH was out on a ride and one of the guys had left his car parked on the street in front of our house and DH's car was in our driveway. The SECOND time a ball hit our house, I went outside and told the kids to take the game somewhere else. The street is not an appropriate place for a baseball game with cars and houses closeby. They argued that they were only using a tennis ball and refused to stop. There were 3 teenaged boys playing with some younger kids and they hit my garage door hard enough for me to hear it in the back of the house!
I went across the street to talk with the parents of the kids hosting the game, but they were not home. I asked the youngest to have her mom call me when she came home.
I was telling DH what happened when the father across the street came over. I invited him in and he completely blasted me for telling the kids to stop playing. He said they hadn't hurt anything (yet) and I was overreacting. I still cannot believe how he talked to us! We live in a nice neighborhood where the children have and get away with pretty much everything.
I also am wondering about retaliation.

Sometimes I worry more about the parents than the kids- little twerps.

[wannaduacentury]

I had to be up at 4:30AM to leave town...and what happens at 11:30?

Teenagers running through the neighborhood ringing doorbells and running!

So, what did I do?
a) roll over to Silver and say "those DARN kids!", or
b) yell profanity out that window and threaten to call their parents, or
c) grab my bathrobe and run barefoot after them in the street.

Well, if you guessed "c", you'd be right.

While I was running with one of the neighbors, Silver gets the car (smart!!) I hop in and we catch them in two blocks!

While Silver calls the cops, I'm reading the little snits the riot act. One of them says..."What's the big deal?"

My response: "I'm standing here in the street barefoot in my bathrobe and you're wondering if I think this is a big deal! You ruined my sleep, I'm ruining your night. Explain it to the cops!"

I went home and slept like a baby after that one!

It's just a shame I did this stuff too as a kid I guess that's living proof that they still stand a chance to be productive members of society

Good for you Mr. Silver- my weirdo never came back either and I have no doorbell. I guess he tried the neighbors and they didn't answer and he gave up. I say good riddance. Jennifer

[BellaBeauty]

hahaha! good story! I would do the same...although I have done my fair share of silly teenager things. I have a new found respect for sleep. As a new mom, sleep is hard to come by. If someone messes with the little sleep I do get...watch out!

[Mr. Bloom]

As a new mom, sleep is hard to come by. If someone messes with the little sleep I do get...watch out!

Your sleep and the baby's!!!