Everywhere, Signs

 Sam Clayton (Gene Hackman): See that he does it! You see to it. 

 Carbo (Jan Michael-Vincent): What he said, is it that important? 

Reporter (Robert Donner): Must be. He said it twice. 

Bite the Bullet, (1975)

First, the tone on my phone alerts me that there is a person on the driveway. Then, a different sound chimes when they have reached the front porch. Finally, if they press the button on the Ring doorbell Alexa tells me they've pressed the button on the Ring doorbell.

Joy goes nuts.

For a seventeen-pound Havanese she sounds terribly ferocious. Jed, our fifty-pound Portuguese who really is intimidating, stands next to her to do the IFF - identify, friend or foe. Joy regards anyone not a "peep" to be hostile, and treats them accordingly. To put it mildly, a shit show ensues.

To minimize this...

I really don't need a reason to put up "No Soliciting" signs. There is one visible from the street, staked into our front flower bed. Another, for those who have broken the outer perimeter, is on the door. I suppose a ten foot electrified fence, gun towers and drone surveillance would be a bit much...maybe not, but it's my call. We have signs.

They work, because I've watched people on our driveway-cam look at the ground level sign, turn around and walk away. Not only is there fair notice, but people actually have the common damned decency to honor them. Fair enough?

Yesterday, two people disregarded the sign and rang the doorbell. Chaos ensued. Sometimes, it's obvious who they are - first responder friends/family stopping by to say hi, neighbors, Xcel... Sometimes, it's also obvious they "Just want a minute of my time." Usually, I don't answer. Last night...

"Hi, we represent a leadership organization collecting--"

Uh huh. I demur ("No, thank you" is recorded by the Ring) and close the door. That wasn't so hard. The ring also picks up one of them saying, "Dick." Since that's not my name they probably meant someone else. That was that.

We went out front this morning to take the dogs for a walk and discovered that someone had stomped our sign into the ground. Because our truck is parked in an unusual place we don't have video of the crime, but...

Circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence that does not, on its face, prove a fact in issue but gives rise to a logical inference that the fact exists. Circumstantial evidence requires drawing additional reasonable inferences in order to support the claim.

On the old "Perry Mason" show they went on at great length about the presence of "motive and opportunity." Here, I totally draw the logical inference that one of the assholes who came to the door last night decided to take out their ire on the sign they seemed to find so...distasteful.

My wife, whose doctorate is in leadership studies, mentioned that damaging our sign was a poor example. I had to agree.

Mine is in law. Giving money to unvetted door-to-door solicitors is sometimes to unwittingly be party to a crime. Fly-by-night organizations collect up a few dozen street urchins, give them legit-looking documents and their charges start banging on doors. The kids get to keep a few bucks, the company gets the rest and...

Unvetted is the key. There is no way, in a brief encounter at the door, to know if these are legit students of leadership or just pushy individuals hoping to make a few bucks on a Friday night.

Given what happened, my sense is the circumstantial evidence points to B.

Should you encounter these delightful young people, tell them Dick said hello, that the damage they did to my sign was easily corrected and they should pay attention next time.

I said it, twice. It's important.