Dropping In
Along with people who cannot visualize an apple, I find it bizarre that there are people who enjoy other people coming over without warning.
(These are probably the same people who are thrilled by phone calls they didn’t expect to have.)
364 comments later…
This one cracked me up:
“This is such a modern question. I wonder what today’s introverts would have done 100+ years ago before telephones! The only way to talk to people then was to go and see them. I imagine introverts back then hiding behind the door, pretending not to be home.”
Where do you fall on the spectrum? I’m a hard no.
5 comments
I’m a hard no. I need time to mentally prepare and also have my house in the state I’m comfortable having guests in.
Depends on the person, of course… but there are LOTS of people I’d love to see unannounced. I suspect this is cultural–I grew up where answering the doorbell was an adventure because you never knew who might be at the door.
This is so interesting. Of course, when I grew up, people didn’t really announce themselves in advance. Occasionally, perhaps, if they were from out of town. And I lived in the countryside, so we couldn’t just walk over anywhere except our immediate neighbours (after we navigated the bull paddock). But usually if we saw a car coming, we’d run and warn our mother. Especially if we didn’t know who it was. “Mum, there’s a strange car driving in!” (We had a walnut tree lined driveway a couple of hundred metres long , so we got a few seconds more warning than we would in a suburb.)
I think if we had friends with kids and we had kids and they lived nearby then we would drop in and out more easily. I have a friend who I can text and say I’ll be there in five minutes to drop something off etc and that’s usually find. But otherwise, it’s all pre-planned. Which is a little sad, because we lose the spontaneity, and the more regular contact, and it becomes too formal, and more of an occasion. Also, less frequent. When everything has to be pre-planned, we are less likely to pre-plan it!
On reflection, I think I’m less worried about how the house looks than how I look! (On a bad hair, no makeup – eg red flushed face – day I’d need 30 secs to spruce up!)
And no, I do not like unexpected phone calls!
Also interesting that a few comments were from NZers, advocating dropping in.
You wouldn’t survive long in a small town, lol. When I was growing up, it was common for people to just drop by — and, to some extent, it still is. My parents’ neighbours regularly pop in for one reason or another, unannounced. Likewise where my grandparents lived. My grandmother always had a pot of coffee brewing on the stove, both for herself and for anyone who happened to drop in. (Baked goodies, too!)
I don’t especially like surprise visitors — I’m kind of a nervous entertainer — but on the other hand, NO ONE (other than BIL, SIL & the nephews) has come to visit us since we moved into our condo, 7+ years ago. We had one of dh’s aunts here for coffee when we first moved in, but that’s because we brought her here. There are several cousins living in the area, and I thought some of them might come for the novelty factor — we’re one of the first/few people in the family to get a condo. But, nada.
I…don’t generally answer the door, so even if someone did drop by, I would probably not see them. I would never stop by someone’s house with the intention of going inside to hang out (unless they were family, maybe). But I will text someone to let them know I’m in the area and will be dropping something off.