That Creepy Solar Power Enthusiast Roaming the Neighborhood at Night Is Back!

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Remember that time two years ago when a creepy guy rang my doorbell at 9:30pm on a weeknight hoping to ask me some questions about my solar system?

Well, HEEEEE'S BAAAAACK!

Last night at around 8:40pm, the SAME GUY rang my doorbell, said he noticed the solar panels on my house and wanted to know if we could answer some questions about them. My wife, who answered the door, told him no.  I guess he forgot that we shooed him away two years ago? Or thought that maybe we'd changed our minds?

Again, who does this? And if the stranger in question reads this board: Maybe you should leave a note with your phone number or email address instead? If you don't have any paper with you, well, you know where I live and you could always come back later.

kthxbye.

Comments

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Was creepy then, still creepy now.

But now that you've brought it up, after 2 years, how are you liking your solar panels? :)

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Loving them! Over the course of a year, I'm averaging generating 375kwh/month.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

Speaking of that, Google has a new project called "Sunroof" (being piloted in the Boston area) that determines from the data that they have how well your roof would work for solar. Ours is much better than I thought it would be.

I'd be interested in knowing how yours matches up with their calculations.

https://www.google.com/get/sunroof/about/

PS: I'm not the creepy guy :-)

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

oh, SUUUURRRRE you're not the creepy guy.

I did check that Google page and I'm trouble getting useful information out of it. At least, there don't seem to be any metrics that I can also look up for my system.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

"ask me some questions about my solar system" - at first glance, I thought this was going to be a survey about astronomical knowledge.

Or evangelization, along the lines of "Have you accepted that Pluto is not a planet?"

[mem-winterhill.livejournal.com]

"Have you accepted that Pluto is not a planet?"

Bwaaa-ha-ha! I'm totally using that on him if he comes by my house.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Why is it okay for him to ask you via a note, or the internet, but not in person?

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Because he could be an axe murderer? Or casing the joint? OK, that's not likely, but telephone and email is generally less threatening; I would have more control over the situation.

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I think it's the stopping by at night that most creeps me out. People are putting their kids down or getting ready for bed themselves. The streets are pretty quiet. It just feels threatening.

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Is 8:40 that late? Coming back 2 years later is strange. However, talking with your neighbors face to face about a common interest can actually be a good thing. So many times in Somerville the only time neighbors talk to each other is when one neighbor has a complaint against the other. Kind of sad if you ask me.

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

It's late if you have young kids. And I thought I implied that if he had contacted me first via email or phone and asked to make an appointment, I probably would have worked something out. But I could have been clearer on that point.

[ron_newman]

At this time of year, it's a bit late, being about 45 minutes after sunset.

[somergirl80.livejournal.com]

I think it's disturbing that so many here lack the street smarts that us Somerville natives grew up with. Kudos to wobblymusic for not being so naive. Whether you are from here or not, I applaud you! It's refreshing to see someone with some street smarts and common sense.
Personally, I wouldn't have even answered the door. I used to know all of my neighbors but this city just isn't like that anymore and it is a city where most crime you don't hear about on the 6 o'clock news and some of it doesn't get reported. This isn't Mayberry!
I find a lot of people who live here now to be very weird and creepy. They've brought a lot of weird events here too.
This guy is definitely creepy and over stepping his boundaries. You don't know his intentions.
Your concerns are valid.

[wobblymusic.livejournal.com]

Not sure what you mean by weird events. As someone who was on the Arts Council for many years, and still helps out regularly, I like weird events!

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Yes, because Somerville was such a crime free utopia 25 years ago compared to today.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

I think it's disturbing that your need for control over the situation is so strong that in person human interaction is not okay.

I think it's more disturbing that you're probably far from alone.

What have we done?

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

We created a world with severe power differentials based primarily on traits like gender and race, which leads to e.g. cops refusing to help women who are robbed/assaulted/raped because they should've known better than to answer the door at night to a stranger. Your reality where we shouldn't worry about stuff like that is nice and all, but it's not other people's reality.

[teko.livejournal.com]

We have become rightfully paranoid about people repeatedly coming to our doors at bizarre hours. This not "disturbing". This is smart.

If someone repeatedly came to my door after 8pm to try to sell me anything at all, I would call the police.

[ron_newman]

In this case, it's not clear whether the visitor is trying to sell something, or just curious about his neighbor's solar installation.

[totient]

I don't think the problem here has anything to do with whether he's selling something or is just curious. The problem is not even just that he's coming by at what for some people is a late hour, though certainly that's part of it. The problem is he's not respecting a previous request to buzz off.

[siderea]

I dunno. Why don't you post your home street address and we run an experiment to find out?

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

I personally think the hour mentioned is too late for someone to come to the door randomly like that.

Evil Genius

[tequilamckngbrd.livejournal.com]

He could be an evil genius targeting homes with solar power to do his evil deeds. I mean, he comes at night, when you shouldn't have any power. Brilliant!

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Has anyone asked him to identify himself and explain his purpose?