Don't Come Knocking!

I went to get my hair cut this afternoon and left the kiddos with G.G. When I came home, about an hour later, I walked in to find some man inside the house with them. There was no vehicle outside so I was alarmed. G.G. informs me that he was there trying to sell her a vacuum. I was shocked that she would let someone in the house, especially with the kids there, so I asked her why. Why would you let some man inside the house? Seems pretty dangerous to me.

So she explains, in her sweet, kind of helpless way, that a woman came to the door and asked to do a free demonstration. G.G. expressed to her that it was not a good time but the woman wouldn't take no for an answer. She said that it was the only day they were doing them and she wouldn't get paid if she didn't do it, and that G.G. wouldn't have to pay anything. Of course G.G. gave in and agreed to the demonstration. And here's where the switch-a-roo happens. A man came in with the vacuum (it was actually a foam carpet cleaner) to clean some of the carpet. And then, the woman left!

I don't know how long he was in the house before I got there. Long enough to do a demonstration I guess, because he was packing his stuff up. All I know is I was completely taken aback when I walked in, expecting to see my kids and their G.G. watching t.v. or playing, and basically running into some strange man. My first instinct was to grab the kids and run. My next was to scold G.G. for letting him in.

First of all, don't you think that in this day and age, door-to-door marketing is a bad practice? Do people really let complete strangers into their homes? I know that I wouldn't, especially if I were home alone with the kids.

Secondly, I can't believe that these people pretty much forced themselves in. No means no! I feel as though they preyed on our sweet G.G. Granted, nothing bad happened, but the whole situation just seemed sketchy to me. To make it even sketchier, after he left, he stood at the end of the driveway for about 15 minutes waiting to be picked up by  a van without any sort of business name or logo anywhere on it.

And lastly, when it was all said and done, G.G. had no idea what they were selling. She thought they were selling vacuums when they were actually selling a carpet cleaning service. I feel like reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

What do you think, am I overreacting?

Would you let door-to-door salespeople into your home?