This morning as I was getting ready for work, someone knocked on the front door. I opened the door to find an attractive young man wearing a tool belt standing on my doorstep. I quickly dismissed the thought that perhaps someone had sent me an early Valentine's Day present and asked him what he needed.
He proceeded to explain that he was replacing some siding on our townhouses and needed to make two quick cuts in the siding. The problem was he didn't have access to an electrical outlet and was wondering if he could use one of my outlets to connect his extension cord. I immediately had a vision of Silence of the Lambs. In the span of five seconds I imagined this man handing me an extension cord and then while my back was turned, shoving his way into my house, kidnapping me and stowing me away in his basement where I'd become his reversed version of a veal.
I plugged the extension cord into the wall and then nervously hovered near the front door as he cut up his siding. He chatted with me the whole time, telling me about how his boss left to run an errand and that's when he realized he didn't have a power supply. Then he asked me if I had caught the awful cold that's been going around and made sure I had been taking antibiotics and mucinex. Within five minutes he was done and I handed the cord back to him.
Clearly I lived to blog about it.
It was an innocent encounter. But it bothered me. I can't decide if the influences of our culture --fearfulness, suspicion, distrust -- affected me, or if it was the influence of the Holy Spirit prompting me to be cautious with this man and protect myself. Either way, I'm glad I'm not stuck in a basement rubbing lotion on myself.
4 comments:
"I quickly dismissed the thought that perhaps someone had sent me an early Valentine's Day present ..."
You are hilarious! I love your blog, and reading your entries makes me happy (even if I don't comment frequently).
i had a creepy experience like this the other day too...this creepy guy knocked on my door asking if i needed someone to shovel my driveway (the one inch of snow that had fallen-um no)and i said no.. but was so afraid the rest of the day he was going to come back and attack me with his shovel! :)
You're safe until he offers you some fava beans and a nice chianti.
i'm scared for you! but glad you "lived to blog about it". you can't be too careful and i wouldn't open the door for anyone that i don't expect or know. just yell through the door for him to go find help from someone else, you are busy or sick or something. i get SO MAD when men approach me in a parking lot for something like, a light for their cigarette or ask a simple little question. in the past it's been younger men and i'm alway so self-protective and ticked off that i tell them, "you need to NOT approach women in this way. find a man to ask for help or a group of people, but don't mess with women who are alone." usually i'm so aggressive and adamant about it that i HOPE they get the message. i'm sure most guys aren't thinking they are going to harm any woman but there are too many risks out there. it only takes one creep to ruin your life or one scary moment to ruin your day. we shouldn't give people the opportunity to do that to us. if you are going to be scared all day if you open the door to some guy...then it's your fault. you invited that option into your life. instead we must take control of all situations and be on the guard. if you are going to open the door to anyone during the day, you might as well leave your door unlocked or even OPEN all day long, what's the difference? i think i'm done with my rant about this. i'm just very passionate about personal safety!!!!!! can you tell? i don't know why though because nothing has ever happened to me.
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