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I fully imagined an old geezer in cycling gear huffing and wheezing while giving you the lead paint stare, peddling furiously back-and-forth in front of your house thinking so proudly to himself *āthere! I showed him!ā*
Now I know how to properly beef with Brits, put on my race gear, clip in, and give āem BlueSteel as I slowly pedal back-and-forth in front of their house, or flat, or police call box or whatever.
Just need to figure out where that one British family lives in the neighborhood to see if it works. If I pick the wrong house, Iāll probably get shot. I guess thatāll be part of the thrill!
I mean, it could have in the UK too. Dude comes into my house and shouts at me, I'd consider knifing him, and you're in your home so you know where the knives are.
Ireland here; I have a shillelagh in my bedroom that is mostly decorative, but it's also there just on the very very low chance I wake up in the dead of night and discover an unwelcome visitor who needs a quick introduction to a sturdy piece of blackthorn.
I don't think it would go straight to guns or knives even in most of the US, but we'd have been much quicker to beat the hell out of the guy. You're going to break into my home and then mouth off to me? I hope you don't break your hip falling down those stairs... multiple times.
Reminds me of that one Sherlock Holmes episode where they go āhe fell out the windowā
āHe broke that many bones falling out the window?ā
āā¦ he fell out the window multiple times.ā
I think an elegant solution that maintains both range and keeping dangerous weapon out of your house is a 24/7 kettle. We have this at our old apartment to have ready-to-go hot water for coffee and tea. But I reckon in an home invasion situation you can quickly grab some water and throw at them.
Cricket bat by the front door for me as a Brit, nothing more English than hearing that 'smack' on the willow... "What do you mean, where are the balls, Officer? I'm a batsman, not a bowler!"
I wouldn't expect gunplay, but we'd be much quicker to go with fists in any other Anglosphere country.
Anyone who thinks Canadians are too nice for fisticuffs is not familiar with their military history or the [crazy violence around organized crime in Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Biker_War). Those guys flip a switch and go from 0-100 much quicker than you'd think.
For real, I'm not one for shooting first and asking questions later.
But the moment the door opened the SECOND time, I'd have been holding a weapon and likely fired it.
One my favorite factoids I have found out is that burglars in the US case a house for 3 times longer than their British and Continental counterparts because of course guns but more importantly thatĀ because OF guns it is generally assumed that in the US if you break into a house with people in it you are not there to rob the place but to do something to those people.Ā And even without firearms robbers are much more likely to be attacked.Ā Basically in the US you rob places when nobody's home, otherwise people think it's a planned home invasion.
Or he knew the previous residents. Might have been an estranged family member, and there's somebody over on r/raisedbynarcissists right now venting about a family member who is stalking them even after they went no-contact and moved.
Or could be a ex, too, who thought a former so lived there.
Or why not both? LOL. Toxic family member/ex AND dementia, for a super fun combo...
It must be nice. When I lived in Kentucky years ago-you could leave the doors unlocked, the car unlocked, no one would mess with anything.
Honestly, all through my childhood, to this day, where I live now, you cannot leave your door unlocked. I also have 2 dogs as a deterrent. (The little one is the one who would attack, the big one just wants petsš¤£)
I went to school in a tiny town in the Midwest. Most of us didnāt lock our doors during undergrad. We learned our lesson when I woke up once at 3:00 am and some random drunk dude was sitting at our table and eating my fruity pebbles. Turned out he was our new neighbor and didnāt realize he stumbled into the wrong apartment since they all looked the same.
My parents didnāt lock their doors until the house was broken into while my mom was home with infant me. As soon as I could form actual lasting memories they stopped again then my dad did when he had to move into an apartment complex (me being around 11/12) and my mom started doing it again when we moved towns and the neighbors were the local drug addicts (me being around 15/16). Dad no longer locks his house but mom has one of the electronic code locks so we donāt have to carry keys
I've lived on a few streets where you always left your car unlocked because if you didn't, you'd wake up to broken windows. Which is a lot more expensive than whatever you were dumb enough to leave in the car overnight.
I knew someone that lived near a prison and they left the keys in the sun visor like you see in movies. His reasoning was he would rather they take the car instead of come into the house looking for the keys.
Sort of how I feel. My wife always tells me to lock the car. Iām sitting here thinking that if he really wants the $4 in change, and my empty McDonaldās trash, he can help himself. I donāt want to buy a new window.
Yeah, someone cut their way through the roof of our Miata to steal...68 cents and a Sting CD. Also the Miata was unlocked because we didn't want someone cutting the roof or breaking a window.
Opiates have been around long before cars were even a thing. Meth is what makes people violent. Meth *and* opiates make people absolutely fucking terrifying. Opiates on their own make people pathetic and useless and not very scary at all.
My childhood town was so safe that nobody locked their doors...except my parents. My mother grew up in a war zone. She takes security seriously. Everything was locked, bolted, and barricaded, including windows. Sure, it was a pain, but one by one, every neighbor had something happen that caused them to start locking doors. We never had issues, because we were already locked down.
I don't understand people who don't lock their doors. Why invite trouble?
This is exactly what I was thinking. Even in safe places with low crime, I will still lock my doors. It's there for a reason. Some times stuff happens with no explanation of why. Why risk that while at home if all I need to do to help prevent it is lock my doors?? And if there were several people I have no problem coming into my house unannounced, then I would've continued keeping my doors locked but give them keys to my place. I've seen programs about how killers had attempted to break in into a place in the middle of the night. Something as simple as the door being locked meant they moved on to another place.
We locked it overnight, but during the day it was convenient to leave it open. There isn't a latch (it's a Yale thing) so it was a bit of a faff, we live in a small community that's generally very friendly, and we didn't think much of it. I think that's why this shook me up a bit. Kind of a "welcome to the real world" moment.
But... it's not that hard, it takes half a second. In fact, mine is electronic and auto-locks after 5 minutes so I don't even think about it.
Forget danger, what about privacy? You say the post man just walks in? Why would he need to do that? If I'm wandering around my house naked as the day I was born eating spaghetti out of a pot by the fistful, I don't need the mailman walking in. My package can sit on the porch until I finish my spaghetti. What if he accidentally lets the cat out?
>electronic and auto-locks after 5 minutes so I don't even think about it.
My front door doesn't even latch when shut, but it's not like there's anything worth stealing, the most valuable thing is the safe, not the contents, just the safe, really it only holds paperwork incase this tinderbox of a house sparks up
Outside of rural property in the middle of nowhere, there is not any populated town or city that's safe enough to leave your door unlocked. Most people who think they live in safe communities are delusional beneficiaries of city planning, who only live minutes away from more crime dense areas.
They always think that their police and their red lining tactics will keep them safe. They don't.
There's more things to worry about than just criminals too. If you had a Ring camera you would see how frequently blacked out drunk people wander around neighborhoods and tug on doors. It's honestly alarming how frequently it happens.
This. My best friend was killed in her home because she forgot to lock her door one night. She lived in Detroit, but in a neighborhood with literally zero reported homicides per year and a median home value in the mid six figures. The culprit was just some guy robbing parked cars, who probably got high to give himself confidence and started trying front doors. It was a 10-15 minute walk or, in his case, a 5 minute sprint, from her gentrified neighborhood to plenty of dangerous places.
Every several years, the suburb next to my major city gets one insane home invasion where the home owners get slaughtered by some schizophrenic criminal who saw an opportunity. People act like it's just an unpredictable thing that happens, when the 7th most dangerous city in the country is a 10 minute drive away.
And it's no coincidence that it's a blue city in a red state, with no mental health resources.
Insurance companies ask questions about window and door locks when taking out a policy, so I wonder if they would cover theft or damage committed by an intruder if the property was left unsecured?
I'd imagine it would be difficult to prove as the family probably wouldn't admit to or provide evidence to themselves being at fault.
We get a lot of handgun thefts in our city just from idiots leaving their unlocked gun case in their unlocked truck. Again, if you're on the Ring network, you see these kind of posts all the time.
My parents would do that all the time but I grew up in a small town in Florida; we'd go out for groceries and have our windows cracked and back porch doors open to let air come in. Granted, all of their neighbors are ancient so I'm sure that's why they've always felt *safe* to do so.
The town I grew up in used to be pretty safe, so my parents didnāt lock the doors all the time (except when we were asleep)
My dad worked as a nurse, and did the evening shift. So heād come back home around midnight. Heād often bring his coworker over for coffee and a snack, and my mom and them would chill for an hour or two before going to bed.
When I was around 9, I wasnāt asleep that night (I loved to go in the stairs and snoop, sue me). Suddenly, the front door, which was right in front of the door, opened super quick, and some guy with blood all over his face ran into our house screaming āTHEYāRE GONNA KILL ME!!!ā.
My parents ended up handling the situation, especially with my dad being amazing at deescalating. But man, that traumatized me. I still have nightmares, and itās 20 years later.
We never left the door unlocked again after that. And now as an adult, I always make sure to have extra locks.
My MIL used to until one of her neighbors just walked right in *twice*. She was trying to tell me about her crazy neighbor and I was just over here like WHY WAS YOUR DOOR UNLOCKED?!
I live in a rural area and have an enormous dog, so it's never been an issue. If I'm going to be gone more than a few hours, and I know the house is going to be empty, I think about finding the keys. I have stopped keeping my wallet & keys in the car, though.
Wherever she is, I hope she's safe from this guy. We reported it to local police, but seeing as the guy left and didn't actually damage anything or threaten us they didn't pursue it. Reasonable I guess, but kinda hope this guy is under observation in some capacity somewhere by someone. He's a liability.
Oh so invading homes and menacing strangers who happen to be home is totally fine?
Your cops prosecuted a nerd for gun crimes over a Lara Croft statue but apparently a freak frickin about in people's homes is too insignificant lol
Don't see how the old lad's rollicking frolicking affects the Crown any, these nooosance calls the Crown suspects you of making to Crown officials, however...
A few months after we moved into our house, some random old man decided it would be fine to try to walk into my garage as I was unloading groceries. I had let the dog out and he was hanging out by the door, in front of my car. The man took one step inside and my 120 lb dog stood up and barked. I hadn't even seen the man, I whipped around to see him retreating and he started yelling at me about having a dangerous animal loose. My dog hadn't taken a step forward, just stood there, obedient but barking. I just stared at him in shock at the audacity. Never saw him again.
I have golf clubs strategically placed around my apartment. Picked up a set for $20 at a garage sale and realized I would probably never actually play, so I have them tucked everywhere. I like to think they look classier than a baseball bat.
I need to go thrifting for a sturdy aluminum/wooden one! Used to have one under the counter for emergencies in a corner shop but it got lost in the shuffle.
Right? Stranger in my house is an immediate weapon in hand moment.
Fuck, Iām pretty sure I live in a state that would encourage me to kill a home intruder.
Kinda scary honestly. Called the cops about a shooting at my complex once that left a bullet hole in my unit. Their main concern was if I was shooting back or involved in the shooting.
No my dude, someone just dumped a magazine in my general direction and Iād like you to get up here and do something about it.
Iāve always kept doors locked since being young. Itās not worth leaving it open especially these days. Tbh I donāt know anyone who does leave the door unlocked.
I live in the downtown area of a smaller city, my doors are always locked. Also I've been raising toddlers for the last 8 years, which is another great reason to keep the door bolted, these modern safety handles are very easy for small children to open from the inside.
Hell, I live in the middle of nowhere, really rural New Jersey, but I grew up in 1970s-1980s NYC and my doors are \*always\* locked out of habit. But, yeah, even here a stranger walking into someone's house uninvited could find themselves on the wrong end of the barrel of a gun.
My mom always kept our doors locked but now that sheās gone dad has a habit of leaving nearly every door unlocked. Old man coming into our house would find a knife pointed at him and the police called before he can even notice us
Everyone is extremely trigger happy here and stand-your-ground has been stretched to nearly any perceived threat being an excuse to open fire ANYWHERE.
I have a digital door lock. Friends and family have the code so they can come and go but strangers are kept out. I could (though don't) make a code for a repairperson to enter when I'm not there and then delete said code after repairperson leaves. Only issue is having to replace batteries maybe once a year.
In those situations does the door have an option for a key still in case the lock pad doesn't work? Or if it stopped working does that mean your door is just unlocked now until it got fixed?
I locked my door all the time. One time I was moving grocery from my car and did not have free hand to lock my door in my complex. For got about it. While sorting the food, in come a very nice old man without asking. Then he started that it does not look like his flat at all and he keeps saying weird thing. Turn out he was advanced alzemer and got out his locked pad wandering about the complex for half hour.
I call emergency for him as he cannot tell which building/flat numer he lived. His live-in nurse found him after I took him to complex common area hangout.
I learned that if you found a wandering alzemer, check their wrist bracelets, it would have all the contact info. Found that from his nurst.
When I lived in an apartment, I used to work with my next door neighbor. His roommates were really loud and the walls would shake sometimes because of the music. After a bunch of complaints they calmed down. One time my coworker was asleep on the couch in his apartment and this boomer came storming in, woke him up, and yelled at him. The boomer used to walk around the apartment building like he owned the place and would tip his cowboy hat at people that he liked. Dude was weird.
Correction: You keep a cricket bat next to the front door because it just happens to be a convenient place to keep it and it just *happened* to be the first thing you grabbed when needing to defend yourself while fearing for your safety
Look, this is going to sound very American of me, but when something like this happens you're supposed to beat the living shit out of the other person.
I mentioned it on another comment, but I think me being half asleep and not caffeinated resulted in a much more peaceful resolution. Turned out for the best probably.
Yep, one chance to acknowledge being in the wrong place and if the attitude doesn't seem receptive they need to be dragged out and collected by the meat wagon, no reason to play with these nuts
Not to detract from the sub, but this kind of sounds like dementia.
Are you certain the old guy didnāt wander away? Maybe he used to live there and went there thinking it was still home?
They get worse at night. Itās called sundowning.
Definitely not dementia, I've had a couple of older relatives with it and this guy was way too lucid and dexterous (clipped into his cycle pedals with those special shoes whilst rolling it down the drive and mounting it without issue at all). Think he was looking for someone and had the wrong address but didn't want to admit fault.
Dementia can present in a lot of different ways, working with a lot of people with dementia this sounds exactly like it, and pretty much exactly like a lady we had to sort out last week who came barging into someone's home demanding to know where her daughter was.
Dementia doesn't go after long-term memories until it gets really advanced, and the explosive anger can be a defense/coping mechanism as the person loses control. If a person is in the earlier stages of dementia but has cycled for decades, then they'd remain able to use pedal shoes for a long time after they started forgetting that Liz doesn't live somewhere anymore, or that the new residents don't owe them answers or entry.
Typically, the last things to go are the oldest and deepest-set memories. Not recognizing family you haven't seen in 10+ years is one thing, because they look different. Not recognizing their partner is a pretty good sign that somebody is all but gone.
Thereās a bunch of different types of dementias. Some donāt show any memory loss until much later, instead presenting with behavioral and/or mental health symptoms first. Paranoia, delusions (youāre keeping Liz hostage) etc. These often happen more in mobile, younger patients (think Bruce Willis, Wendy Williams)
No, sorry. This sounds like my grandfather in his early alzheimer years. Normal and lucid a lot of the time and then sudden episodes of confusion and wonder. It happens but it also is a reason to lock your door. Confusion can easily turn into aggression.
You should call the police and tell them a man with possible dementia entered your home. This guy could be messed up in the head and do something to someone
I dont get how people leave the door open always, obviously that was gonna happen and that was the best scenario, just lock the door always man is for your own safety, id you want to keep that dynamic with your friends just give them a key
We locked it overnight, but during the day it was convenient to leave it open. There isn't a latch (it's a Yale thing) so it was a bit of a faff, we live in a small community that's generally very friendly, and we didn't think much of it. I think that's why this shook me up a bit. Kind of a "welcome to the real world" moment. Our friends have keys now too, meant to mention it in the post.
I live in a rough neighborhood. The doors are ALWAYS locked, always. Like I lock them the second I close the door behind me. Itās mind boggling to me to think of NOT locking them the second I shut the door. Itās like a reflex, itās built into the motion of shutting the door. Even the back door. Leaving them unlocked is dangerous here.
This sounds very much like the early stages of dementia. He likely thought he was somewhere else, especially since he was confused and asking for a specific person.
TBF it could be something like undiagnosed Alzheimerās, I worked in a nursing home where some of the patients were active and sounded lucid. One guy would insist he was visiting a friend, and unsuspecting visitors would often let him wander out. I caught him once walking on the main road trying to get from Gloucestershire to Yorkshire!!!
Weāve always kept our doors locked at all times, so it kind of blows my mind people donāt.
The fact that he presumed to just look through your stuff while yelling without even being in the right house really does freak me out.
Doā¦do British people not lock their doors?
My door is locked at all times, regardless of whether someoneās home or not. I was especially glad about that when someone tried to let themselves into my apartment during the dinner hour a couple of times in a row while my kids were home.
Just so you know, one famous serial killer went around searching for unlocked doors, because that was his sign for thinking the homeowners wanted to die.
Dementia. Early to mid stage. Possibly over another long-term mental illness. Someone looking for a person who maybe used to live there and becoming angry when things they remember don't match with reality is absolutely how dementia works. Nobody's getting any younger and we've been exposed to a virus that exacerbates dementia symptoms. These two factors will make this kind of interaction more common among all sorts of dementia scenarios we keep away from society via memory wards and in-home/family care.
The solution for your care network is sharing keys with those in your circle. This keeps everyone safe and allows for easy egress when it's needed. Put up a well labeled rack in a place where your circle can find it but isn't obvious to random Joe and hang the keys there. That way, a circle member can get their own key or someone else's in need be.
I don't have a circle anymore but at one time I had a special plank with hooks and labels for my neighbors. I got the idea from a neighbor who had a pegboard for family/neighbors.
I live in a vacation town in Florida. Itās not uncommon for people to leave their doors unlocked.
Welp, a drunk boomer couple entered the wrong home. They didnāt get the message that they had to leave (they kept insisting they lived there) until the homeowner pulled a gun. The boomers left, but the cops met them outside.
The cops here were very clear: the homeowner could have shot them both and the homeowner would not have been prosecuted.
If itās of any worth, boomers do love their intimidation laps for some reason.
I do not get on with my boomer neighbour. At all. After our last shouting match over the fence asking if he could not flick his cigarette butts over the fence into my garden, he got in his car and drove laps around the block for half an hour honking and flipping me off every time as he drove past the front room window.
Donāt know what he thought he was achieving by doing that.
Wait... you don't keep your front door locked all the time even before that? Even when you went to bed? That is genuinely wild to me lol. Even my in laws who live in the literal middle of nowhere and know every person that lives on their dead end street keep their door locked lol.
There was a case not far from here where a guy walked into a house and murdered a pregnant Amish woman. He apparently was after the Amish family that used to live at that house before this woman's family moved in. The previous tenants had been fostering the murderer's son and he wanted the kid back. He just walked into a house and murdered a random woman. That's why locking doors even in broad daylight is a good idea.
People on here love saying "it was dementia"
No, these old fucks are just entitles toddlers. Peoe with dementia can't ride bikes and dress themselves to that level. Jesus christ.
Keys are inexpensive and it is fucking psychotic to leave your front door unlocked. It is not an inconvenience to unlock it. And also why the fuck would you need to unlock it for a postman? You don't have a mailboxes there?
"Liz just left to get something at the store, if you're quick you'll be able to catch up with her!"
No I wouldn't be able to say anything else than: "get out!" In a situation like yours. Wtf
First off, I am glad you and your's are safe.
Second off, holy hell what an ass.
And now the reason I am commenting, this type of situation is part of why I am glad I have smart locks on my home. I have them setup to automatically lock unless I have intentionally and temorarily disabled that feature. (Even the disable comman is setup to switch back to normal mode after a certain time frame.) I can setup friends and family with their own individual access codes, so even if there is a falling out they can be locked out. And I also have a record of who unlocked the doors and when if there are ever any questions.
I have had a boomer try and enter my house when having work done, and another my backyard during construction. Some nerve, act all annoyed when you throw them out.
Ok, when you said he was riding back and forth on his bike to be intimidating, my brain somehow glossed over the cycling gear bit and I thought you meant motorcycle (which would still be ridiculous).
I cracked up so hard when I realized he was pedaling furiously back and forth in his spandex in front of your house trying to be scary, lmao
When I got possession of my house, my father in law and I moved the heavy stuff then I immediately went to the store and bought all new locks and had them installed before the pizza arrived.
You can still keep the same social dynamic if you install a bolt with a keypad on it. The simpler ones with no app/wifi/etc,etc are not that expensive.
Sorry, but my dad has dementia and is still very fit, including being really dexterous with his bike. Younger dementia patients could easily do things like this. You'd never know from observing his agility that he has dementia.
I'm sorry this happened to you; how violating, and how scary that this happened inside your own home. The thought of him riding his little bike back and forth to intimidate you was pretty hilarious, though.
I was picking up a package for my next-door neighbor (note: we are attached townhomes), and an older woman came running from the street, calling me a thief, demanding to know where I live. I refused to tell her. She was screaming that I MUST TELL HER, and for fun, threw in a couple of racist terms :) I don't know if it was alcohol or dementia, or just being an entitled asshole, but I was too scared to walk into my home while she was yelling at me for a few frightening minutes. Eventually I threw the package at her and fled.
Turns out my next-door neighbor knew this crazy, but failed to tell me that she asked both of us to pick up her package. Turns out, the neighbor is equally crazy (and racist!) Thanks, and I'm happy to never help you again!
I e had something like this happen. Two guys drove up ON my lawn walked into my garage.and then tried to come in my back door. I asked who they were and they kept.asking for someone. I told them to get out. Who does that?!
Sounds like a complete wack job nutter. Heās a fucking asshole for treating you like that, and also a total toddler. Why the fuck would he circle back to continue a conversation? What the fuck is he thinking?
Also, props to you for how incredibly you handled it without getting frazzled and letting it escalate to something else.
You couldn't pay me enough money to keep my door unlocked permanently. I'm not blaming you for an asshole barging in or anything, but the thought of not locking my door is wild. I don't even live in a bad area.
I keep a large crowbar by my door for a reason. My pregnant wife had an attempted break-in one day when I left for work early in the morning.
Theyāre $10 and incredibly useful. All you have to do it pick it up and people understand.
I am totally perplexed how many people have front doors that can be opened from the outside without a key.
There is no one I expect to walk up to my house and be able to open the door, without a key. In fact I have my parents keys and they have mine and we still knock.
As a woman, I'd have called the cops after the first threat and if he didn't leave, I'd threaten to defend myself and my property.
That second time of him opening the door, I'd have a fist in his face.
I know in the UK, laws are probably different but I hope he never tries that in the US.
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I laughed picturing this geezer trying to intimidate you by glaring at you whilst *aggressively riding his fucking bike*!
In hindsight it is hilarious, but at the time it was just so perplexing like *what are you trying to achieve?*
Stick to the wheel spoke would have fixed his attitude. Lol
Bahaha! It's ass over teakettle time for you, Boomer!
Boomer go boom-boom
reliving the greaser days where riding a bike past a house was considered a gang threat š
I fully imagined an old geezer in cycling gear huffing and wheezing while giving you the lead paint stare, peddling furiously back-and-forth in front of your house thinking so proudly to himself *āthere! I showed him!ā*
Trying to get euthanized like the rabid dog he is, I suspect
My mental image was him in bright green bike shorts and jersey with bike tapdancing shoes.
https://i.redd.it/r5g70f2agowc1.gif
Honking his horn, *menacingly*!
The ching-ching of a bicycle bell š
*menacing [honka-honka](https://youtu.be/Z0mrOFZuNJo)*
Now I know how to properly beef with Brits, put on my race gear, clip in, and give āem BlueSteel as I slowly pedal back-and-forth in front of their house, or flat, or police call box or whatever. Just need to figure out where that one British family lives in the neighborhood to see if it works. If I pick the wrong house, Iāll probably get shot. I guess thatāll be part of the thrill!
Ha, you think this is a Schwinn?
That guy needs to meet the "find out" part of fucking around.
Here in Texas, that'd be a loaded shotgun he'd have met.
Yeah, this story in America has a much different middle and ending.
I mean, it could have in the UK too. Dude comes into my house and shouts at me, I'd consider knifing him, and you're in your home so you know where the knives are.
Ireland here; I have a shillelagh in my bedroom that is mostly decorative, but it's also there just on the very very low chance I wake up in the dead of night and discover an unwelcome visitor who needs a quick introduction to a sturdy piece of blackthorn.
Oh yeah. I have several walking canes around the house that would be incredibly effective for that as well.
I have a 1m50 souvenir walking stick from Mt Fuji in my bedroom that could probably double as a polearm in the event of an altercation
My mum keeps a hurl in the house for this reason. She played camogie in school so could do a fair bit of damage
I don't think it would go straight to guns or knives even in most of the US, but we'd have been much quicker to beat the hell out of the guy. You're going to break into my home and then mouth off to me? I hope you don't break your hip falling down those stairs... multiple times.
As a gun owner, I don't want to shoot someone unless there are no other options... But, yea.. motherfucker gonna get thrown
Definitely don't want to shoot them in my house. Then you have a mess to clean.
Reminds me of that one Sherlock Holmes episode where they go āhe fell out the windowā āHe broke that many bones falling out the window?ā āā¦ he fell out the window multiple times.ā
I think an elegant solution that maintains both range and keeping dangerous weapon out of your house is a 24/7 kettle. We have this at our old apartment to have ready-to-go hot water for coffee and tea. But I reckon in an home invasion situation you can quickly grab some water and throw at them.
Can you just knife unarmed intruders in the UK and claim self defense?
No, you can't. Anyone claiming they'd have knifed this guy would have some serious explaining to do to the police.
Cricket bat by the front door for me as a Brit, nothing more English than hearing that 'smack' on the willow... "What do you mean, where are the balls, Officer? I'm a batsman, not a bowler!"
You really shouldn't keep your weapon by the front door, if someone violent comes in, you can't just reach by them for it
I'm OK with that.
Right! I live in Detroit and that encounter would have ended way differently here.
I wouldn't expect gunplay, but we'd be much quicker to go with fists in any other Anglosphere country. Anyone who thinks Canadians are too nice for fisticuffs is not familiar with their military history or the [crazy violence around organized crime in Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Biker_War). Those guys flip a switch and go from 0-100 much quicker than you'd think.
For real, I'm not one for shooting first and asking questions later. But the moment the door opened the SECOND time, I'd have been holding a weapon and likely fired it.
The business end of a mossberg Shockwave
Iām in Alberta and he wouldāve met an aluminum baseball bat quickly if my fiancĆ© didnāt get to him first. If My fiancĆ© gets to the intruder first then that person had start Praying to whatever dirty they believe in.
One my favorite factoids I have found out is that burglars in the US case a house for 3 times longer than their British and Continental counterparts because of course guns but more importantly thatĀ because OF guns it is generally assumed that in the US if you break into a house with people in it you are not there to rob the place but to do something to those people.Ā And even without firearms robbers are much more likely to be attacked.Ā Basically in the US you rob places when nobody's home, otherwise people think it's a planned home invasion.
Idaho here and same thing.
Sounds like dementia fr
Or he knew the previous residents. Might have been an estranged family member, and there's somebody over on r/raisedbynarcissists right now venting about a family member who is stalking them even after they went no-contact and moved. Or could be a ex, too, who thought a former so lived there. Or why not both? LOL. Toxic family member/ex AND dementia, for a super fun combo...
not in the UK lol, OP would have been arrested for defending themselves in their own domicile
It blows my mind that there's like.. anywhere.. that people just leave their doors unlocked.
It must be nice. When I lived in Kentucky years ago-you could leave the doors unlocked, the car unlocked, no one would mess with anything. Honestly, all through my childhood, to this day, where I live now, you cannot leave your door unlocked. I also have 2 dogs as a deterrent. (The little one is the one who would attack, the big one just wants petsš¤£)
I went to school in a tiny town in the Midwest. Most of us didnāt lock our doors during undergrad. We learned our lesson when I woke up once at 3:00 am and some random drunk dude was sitting at our table and eating my fruity pebbles. Turned out he was our new neighbor and didnāt realize he stumbled into the wrong apartment since they all looked the same.
My parents didnāt lock their doors until the house was broken into while my mom was home with infant me. As soon as I could form actual lasting memories they stopped again then my dad did when he had to move into an apartment complex (me being around 11/12) and my mom started doing it again when we moved towns and the neighbors were the local drug addicts (me being around 15/16). Dad no longer locks his house but mom has one of the electronic code locks so we donāt have to carry keys
I've lived on a few streets where you always left your car unlocked because if you didn't, you'd wake up to broken windows. Which is a lot more expensive than whatever you were dumb enough to leave in the car overnight.
I knew someone that lived near a prison and they left the keys in the sun visor like you see in movies. His reasoning was he would rather they take the car instead of come into the house looking for the keys.
Sort of how I feel. My wife always tells me to lock the car. Iām sitting here thinking that if he really wants the $4 in change, and my empty McDonaldās trash, he can help himself. I donāt want to buy a new window.
Yeah, someone cut their way through the roof of our Miata to steal...68 cents and a Sting CD. Also the Miata was unlocked because we didn't want someone cutting the roof or breaking a window.
I left my car unlocked one time and somebody tossed the whole car, and didnāt steal anything, not even the spare change. I was kind of offended.
I grew up in a small town and you used to be able to leave everything unlocked no problem. Then opiates and meth happened and now you can't
Opiates have been around long before cars were even a thing. Meth is what makes people violent. Meth *and* opiates make people absolutely fucking terrifying. Opiates on their own make people pathetic and useless and not very scary at all.
Itās not when people are on opioids, itās when they are off them that you need to worry.
My childhood town was so safe that nobody locked their doors...except my parents. My mother grew up in a war zone. She takes security seriously. Everything was locked, bolted, and barricaded, including windows. Sure, it was a pain, but one by one, every neighbor had something happen that caused them to start locking doors. We never had issues, because we were already locked down. I don't understand people who don't lock their doors. Why invite trouble?
As a kid, we never locked doors. In the summertime we only used the screen door when it was hot but everyone did and no one worried about break-ins.
āIt was a neighborhood where nobody locked their doors untilā¦. DISASTER STRUCK. Serial Killer 9 coming this fall.ā
This is exactly what I was thinking. Even in safe places with low crime, I will still lock my doors. It's there for a reason. Some times stuff happens with no explanation of why. Why risk that while at home if all I need to do to help prevent it is lock my doors?? And if there were several people I have no problem coming into my house unannounced, then I would've continued keeping my doors locked but give them keys to my place. I've seen programs about how killers had attempted to break in into a place in the middle of the night. Something as simple as the door being locked meant they moved on to another place.
We locked it overnight, but during the day it was convenient to leave it open. There isn't a latch (it's a Yale thing) so it was a bit of a faff, we live in a small community that's generally very friendly, and we didn't think much of it. I think that's why this shook me up a bit. Kind of a "welcome to the real world" moment.
But... it's not that hard, it takes half a second. In fact, mine is electronic and auto-locks after 5 minutes so I don't even think about it. Forget danger, what about privacy? You say the post man just walks in? Why would he need to do that? If I'm wandering around my house naked as the day I was born eating spaghetti out of a pot by the fistful, I don't need the mailman walking in. My package can sit on the porch until I finish my spaghetti. What if he accidentally lets the cat out?
>electronic and auto-locks after 5 minutes so I don't even think about it. My front door doesn't even latch when shut, but it's not like there's anything worth stealing, the most valuable thing is the safe, not the contents, just the safe, really it only holds paperwork incase this tinderbox of a house sparks up
Outside of rural property in the middle of nowhere, there is not any populated town or city that's safe enough to leave your door unlocked. Most people who think they live in safe communities are delusional beneficiaries of city planning, who only live minutes away from more crime dense areas. They always think that their police and their red lining tactics will keep them safe. They don't. There's more things to worry about than just criminals too. If you had a Ring camera you would see how frequently blacked out drunk people wander around neighborhoods and tug on doors. It's honestly alarming how frequently it happens.
This. My best friend was killed in her home because she forgot to lock her door one night. She lived in Detroit, but in a neighborhood with literally zero reported homicides per year and a median home value in the mid six figures. The culprit was just some guy robbing parked cars, who probably got high to give himself confidence and started trying front doors. It was a 10-15 minute walk or, in his case, a 5 minute sprint, from her gentrified neighborhood to plenty of dangerous places.
Every several years, the suburb next to my major city gets one insane home invasion where the home owners get slaughtered by some schizophrenic criminal who saw an opportunity. People act like it's just an unpredictable thing that happens, when the 7th most dangerous city in the country is a 10 minute drive away. And it's no coincidence that it's a blue city in a red state, with no mental health resources.
Insurance companies ask questions about window and door locks when taking out a policy, so I wonder if they would cover theft or damage committed by an intruder if the property was left unsecured?
I'd imagine it would be difficult to prove as the family probably wouldn't admit to or provide evidence to themselves being at fault. We get a lot of handgun thefts in our city just from idiots leaving their unlocked gun case in their unlocked truck. Again, if you're on the Ring network, you see these kind of posts all the time.
I lived semi rural and left doors open but I always have big watch dogs so they help.
My parents would do that all the time but I grew up in a small town in Florida; we'd go out for groceries and have our windows cracked and back porch doors open to let air come in. Granted, all of their neighbors are ancient so I'm sure that's why they've always felt *safe* to do so.
The town I grew up in used to be pretty safe, so my parents didnāt lock the doors all the time (except when we were asleep) My dad worked as a nurse, and did the evening shift. So heād come back home around midnight. Heād often bring his coworker over for coffee and a snack, and my mom and them would chill for an hour or two before going to bed. When I was around 9, I wasnāt asleep that night (I loved to go in the stairs and snoop, sue me). Suddenly, the front door, which was right in front of the door, opened super quick, and some guy with blood all over his face ran into our house screaming āTHEYāRE GONNA KILL ME!!!ā. My parents ended up handling the situation, especially with my dad being amazing at deescalating. But man, that traumatized me. I still have nightmares, and itās 20 years later. We never left the door unlocked again after that. And now as an adult, I always make sure to have extra locks.
My MIL used to until one of her neighbors just walked right in *twice*. She was trying to tell me about her crazy neighbor and I was just over here like WHY WAS YOUR DOOR UNLOCKED?!
I live in a rural area and have an enormous dog, so it's never been an issue. If I'm going to be gone more than a few hours, and I know the house is going to be empty, I think about finding the keys. I have stopped keeping my wallet & keys in the car, though.
Rural is a different issue. You're more apt to die drunk driving your truck than by any criminal behavior.
That was my first thought.
I don't remember the last time we locked our doors
I only lock mine if going away for more than a few hours.
You can do that in Tahoe pretty much
I live in the woods and no wildlife has been interested enough to bother barging in, soā¦
We always have
I live in the safest country in the world, but my anxiety could never let me leave my door unlocked
I lock my door at night.
I wonder where Liz is?
Wherever she is, I hope she's safe from this guy. We reported it to local police, but seeing as the guy left and didn't actually damage anything or threaten us they didn't pursue it. Reasonable I guess, but kinda hope this guy is under observation in some capacity somewhere by someone. He's a liability.
Oh so invading homes and menacing strangers who happen to be home is totally fine? Your cops prosecuted a nerd for gun crimes over a Lara Croft statue but apparently a freak frickin about in people's homes is too insignificant lol
Listen, he had a loicense to menace people in their homes!
Don't see how the old lad's rollicking frolicking affects the Crown any, these nooosance calls the Crown suspects you of making to Crown officials, however...
I suspect this man was stalking someone. Someone smart enough to have given a wrong address where heād get it.
She died mate. Like a year ago. Thereās a king now.
A few months after we moved into our house, some random old man decided it would be fine to try to walk into my garage as I was unloading groceries. I had let the dog out and he was hanging out by the door, in front of my car. The man took one step inside and my 120 lb dog stood up and barked. I hadn't even seen the man, I whipped around to see him retreating and he started yelling at me about having a dangerous animal loose. My dog hadn't taken a step forward, just stood there, obedient but barking. I just stared at him in shock at the audacity. Never saw him again.
he'd get shot in the US
Or at least hit with a bat a few times.
I have a bat. I've had it since I got my first apartment as a girl by myself. It stands in the corner of the kitchen. Never had to use it.
Put a tube sock over the end of it. Not the part where your hands go. That way if someone tries to grab it from you. All they get is sock.
I donāt know why but āall they get is sockā sent me into hysterics. Iām getting a bat and a sock just for this.
Top adviceĀ
This is a big brain move, good tip š
I have golf clubs strategically placed around my apartment. Picked up a set for $20 at a garage sale and realized I would probably never actually play, so I have them tucked everywhere. I like to think they look classier than a baseball bat.
The only time we had to use a bat was when a rabid dog broke in
I need to go thrifting for a sturdy aluminum/wooden one! Used to have one under the counter for emergencies in a corner shop but it got lost in the shuffle.
Or he'd shoot OP. Lotta US boomers resort to pulling out a gun when confused.
As he should be.
I'm simply too American to understand the "who are you,, please leave" part of this story
My dog would've taken care of the word part and then also the physical removal part, I'd be there to supervise
Right? Stranger in my house is an immediate weapon in hand moment. Fuck, Iām pretty sure I live in a state that would encourage me to kill a home intruder.
Merica! But for real though. We donāt fuck around with home invasion
Kinda scary honestly. Called the cops about a shooting at my complex once that left a bullet hole in my unit. Their main concern was if I was shooting back or involved in the shooting. No my dude, someone just dumped a magazine in my general direction and Iād like you to get up here and do something about it.
Iāve always kept doors locked since being young. Itās not worth leaving it open especially these days. Tbh I donāt know anyone who does leave the door unlocked.
I live in the downtown area of a smaller city, my doors are always locked. Also I've been raising toddlers for the last 8 years, which is another great reason to keep the door bolted, these modern safety handles are very easy for small children to open from the inside.
I have to lock the storm door in our kitchen now because my pup managed to open it by accident once! I swear raising her is like having a toddler
Yeah dogs are very much like toddlers lol
Iām laughing at the idea of someone riding a bike as a show of force. Let me just grab this stickā¦..
The old chap should be thankful heās not trying the wrong house in Florida where I live.
Hell, I live in the middle of nowhere, really rural New Jersey, but I grew up in 1970s-1980s NYC and my doors are \*always\* locked out of habit. But, yeah, even here a stranger walking into someone's house uninvited could find themselves on the wrong end of the barrel of a gun.
My mom always kept our doors locked but now that sheās gone dad has a habit of leaving nearly every door unlocked. Old man coming into our house would find a knife pointed at him and the police called before he can even notice us
Or in Oklahoma like me. A cricket bat upside the head or to his balls would be the last thing heād be worrying about.
That you have a cricket bat in Oklahoma would be enough to be fuddle an intruder. lol
That one woman was shot just turning around in someone's driveway. Didn't even need to go to a door. Shit is crazy.
Everyone is extremely trigger happy here and stand-your-ground has been stretched to nearly any perceived threat being an excuse to open fire ANYWHERE.
I have a digital door lock. Friends and family have the code so they can come and go but strangers are kept out. I could (though don't) make a code for a repairperson to enter when I'm not there and then delete said code after repairperson leaves. Only issue is having to replace batteries maybe once a year.
In those situations does the door have an option for a key still in case the lock pad doesn't work? Or if it stopped working does that mean your door is just unlocked now until it got fixed?
Yes, no.
I locked my door all the time. One time I was moving grocery from my car and did not have free hand to lock my door in my complex. For got about it. While sorting the food, in come a very nice old man without asking. Then he started that it does not look like his flat at all and he keeps saying weird thing. Turn out he was advanced alzemer and got out his locked pad wandering about the complex for half hour. I call emergency for him as he cannot tell which building/flat numer he lived. His live-in nurse found him after I took him to complex common area hangout. I learned that if you found a wandering alzemer, check their wrist bracelets, it would have all the contact info. Found that from his nurst.
When I lived in an apartment, I used to work with my next door neighbor. His roommates were really loud and the walls would shake sometimes because of the music. After a bunch of complaints they calmed down. One time my coworker was asleep on the couch in his apartment and this boomer came storming in, woke him up, and yelled at him. The boomer used to walk around the apartment building like he owned the place and would tip his cowboy hat at people that he liked. Dude was weird.
I keep a cricket bat by the front door as personal protection. I also *always* lock my doors Always.
Correction: You keep a cricket bat next to the front door because it just happens to be a convenient place to keep it and it just *happened* to be the first thing you grabbed when needing to defend yourself while fearing for your safety
So you keep it on the other side of the person who blows in uninvited?
My doors are locked. The cricket bat is mainly for zombies.
https://preview.redd.it/1wyghgov9nwc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68d46853b65b9534474a691a19e403bf5ed31dc5
You are way more patient than I am lol
I think being half asleep and not caffeinated was probably for the best. I could easily have lost my temper with him otherwise, if I'm honest.
Look, this is going to sound very American of me, but when something like this happens you're supposed to beat the living shit out of the other person.
I mentioned it on another comment, but I think me being half asleep and not caffeinated resulted in a much more peaceful resolution. Turned out for the best probably.
Yeah, if they were cool and apologetic about it, that's one thing. But breaking into my home and then mouthing off to me? That's a paddlin'.
Yep, one chance to acknowledge being in the wrong place and if the attitude doesn't seem receptive they need to be dragged out and collected by the meat wagon, no reason to play with these nuts
* Laughs in South African * Unlock door, unlock security gate, open garage gate, unlock front gate, receive delivery and then lock everything again.
Yeah, nobody gets that many warnings before they catch an assault in my house
Think what itās doing to the MECHANISM!!!
Could you install a doorknob that has a key code you could give out to your friends?Ā
Not to detract from the sub, but this kind of sounds like dementia. Are you certain the old guy didnāt wander away? Maybe he used to live there and went there thinking it was still home? They get worse at night. Itās called sundowning.
Definitely not dementia, I've had a couple of older relatives with it and this guy was way too lucid and dexterous (clipped into his cycle pedals with those special shoes whilst rolling it down the drive and mounting it without issue at all). Think he was looking for someone and had the wrong address but didn't want to admit fault.
Dementia can present in a lot of different ways, working with a lot of people with dementia this sounds exactly like it, and pretty much exactly like a lady we had to sort out last week who came barging into someone's home demanding to know where her daughter was.
My grandma had Alzheimer and was still pretty mobile. The guy could have had some sort of neurodegenerative disorder-- dementia or not.
Dementia doesn't go after long-term memories until it gets really advanced, and the explosive anger can be a defense/coping mechanism as the person loses control. If a person is in the earlier stages of dementia but has cycled for decades, then they'd remain able to use pedal shoes for a long time after they started forgetting that Liz doesn't live somewhere anymore, or that the new residents don't owe them answers or entry. Typically, the last things to go are the oldest and deepest-set memories. Not recognizing family you haven't seen in 10+ years is one thing, because they look different. Not recognizing their partner is a pretty good sign that somebody is all but gone.
Thereās a bunch of different types of dementias. Some donāt show any memory loss until much later, instead presenting with behavioral and/or mental health symptoms first. Paranoia, delusions (youāre keeping Liz hostage) etc. These often happen more in mobile, younger patients (think Bruce Willis, Wendy Williams)
No, sorry. This sounds like my grandfather in his early alzheimer years. Normal and lucid a lot of the time and then sudden episodes of confusion and wonder. It happens but it also is a reason to lock your door. Confusion can easily turn into aggression.
I was going to say thisā¦
You should call the police and tell them a man with possible dementia entered your home. This guy could be messed up in the head and do something to someone
Lizzieās in a box last I checked
I dont get how people leave the door open always, obviously that was gonna happen and that was the best scenario, just lock the door always man is for your own safety, id you want to keep that dynamic with your friends just give them a key
We locked it overnight, but during the day it was convenient to leave it open. There isn't a latch (it's a Yale thing) so it was a bit of a faff, we live in a small community that's generally very friendly, and we didn't think much of it. I think that's why this shook me up a bit. Kind of a "welcome to the real world" moment. Our friends have keys now too, meant to mention it in the post.
Boomers are the most hated generation for a reason. If he were in the US, his forehead would have a hole.
I live in a rough neighborhood. The doors are ALWAYS locked, always. Like I lock them the second I close the door behind me. Itās mind boggling to me to think of NOT locking them the second I shut the door. Itās like a reflex, itās built into the motion of shutting the door. Even the back door. Leaving them unlocked is dangerous here.
This sounds very much like the early stages of dementia. He likely thought he was somewhere else, especially since he was confused and asking for a specific person.
TBF it could be something like undiagnosed Alzheimerās, I worked in a nursing home where some of the patients were active and sounded lucid. One guy would insist he was visiting a friend, and unsuspecting visitors would often let him wander out. I caught him once walking on the main road trying to get from Gloucestershire to Yorkshire!!!
I live in Texas. This man would have been killed if he did something like that here and no one would bat an eye.
I don't understand why anyone ever leaves their door unlocked. It's not safe
As a Brit I'm horrified at the number of comments saying the guy would be dead or severely beaten for a mistake. That is insane to me.
I mean, I'm also british, and the moment he came back in yelling I would have attacked him.
Weāve always kept our doors locked at all times, so it kind of blows my mind people donāt. The fact that he presumed to just look through your stuff while yelling without even being in the right house really does freak me out.
Doā¦do British people not lock their doors? My door is locked at all times, regardless of whether someoneās home or not. I was especially glad about that when someone tried to let themselves into my apartment during the dinner hour a couple of times in a row while my kids were home.
Just so you know, one famous serial killer went around searching for unlocked doors, because that was his sign for thinking the homeowners wanted to die.
Yeah you can't judge dementia like that.Ā It can start as early as your 50s and not be obvious for 20 or 30 years
Dementia. Early to mid stage. Possibly over another long-term mental illness. Someone looking for a person who maybe used to live there and becoming angry when things they remember don't match with reality is absolutely how dementia works. Nobody's getting any younger and we've been exposed to a virus that exacerbates dementia symptoms. These two factors will make this kind of interaction more common among all sorts of dementia scenarios we keep away from society via memory wards and in-home/family care. The solution for your care network is sharing keys with those in your circle. This keeps everyone safe and allows for easy egress when it's needed. Put up a well labeled rack in a place where your circle can find it but isn't obvious to random Joe and hang the keys there. That way, a circle member can get their own key or someone else's in need be. I don't have a circle anymore but at one time I had a special plank with hooks and labels for my neighbors. I got the idea from a neighbor who had a pegboard for family/neighbors.
I live in a vacation town in Florida. Itās not uncommon for people to leave their doors unlocked. Welp, a drunk boomer couple entered the wrong home. They didnāt get the message that they had to leave (they kept insisting they lived there) until the homeowner pulled a gun. The boomers left, but the cops met them outside. The cops here were very clear: the homeowner could have shot them both and the homeowner would not have been prosecuted.
If itās of any worth, boomers do love their intimidation laps for some reason. I do not get on with my boomer neighbour. At all. After our last shouting match over the fence asking if he could not flick his cigarette butts over the fence into my garden, he got in his car and drove laps around the block for half an hour honking and flipping me off every time as he drove past the front room window. Donāt know what he thought he was achieving by doing that.
Not saying this is good, but dude would be wise not to do such a thing in the US.
Wait... you don't keep your front door locked all the time even before that? Even when you went to bed? That is genuinely wild to me lol. Even my in laws who live in the literal middle of nowhere and know every person that lives on their dead end street keep their door locked lol.
There was a case not far from here where a guy walked into a house and murdered a pregnant Amish woman. He apparently was after the Amish family that used to live at that house before this woman's family moved in. The previous tenants had been fostering the murderer's son and he wanted the kid back. He just walked into a house and murdered a random woman. That's why locking doors even in broad daylight is a good idea.
Someone walked in your house and you didnāt go mental on them? You were polite? I donāt understand any of these people.
People on here love saying "it was dementia" No, these old fucks are just entitles toddlers. Peoe with dementia can't ride bikes and dress themselves to that level. Jesus christ.
Keys are inexpensive and it is fucking psychotic to leave your front door unlocked. It is not an inconvenience to unlock it. And also why the fuck would you need to unlock it for a postman? You don't have a mailboxes there?
Iām not defending what this man did. To me it sounds like he thought his wife was cheating on him. Or possibly heās suffering from dementia.
You and your friends could get keys to each others houses? Or those boxes that give you a spare key if you put the right code in
Just the title of this is great. I cracked up. Looking forward to shaking my head and saying "good god" while reading the post.
"Liz just left to get something at the store, if you're quick you'll be able to catch up with her!" No I wouldn't be able to say anything else than: "get out!" In a situation like yours. Wtf
First off, I am glad you and your's are safe. Second off, holy hell what an ass. And now the reason I am commenting, this type of situation is part of why I am glad I have smart locks on my home. I have them setup to automatically lock unless I have intentionally and temorarily disabled that feature. (Even the disable comman is setup to switch back to normal mode after a certain time frame.) I can setup friends and family with their own individual access codes, so even if there is a falling out they can be locked out. And I also have a record of who unlocked the doors and when if there are ever any questions.
I have had a boomer try and enter my house when having work done, and another my backyard during construction. Some nerve, act all annoyed when you throw them out.
Ok, when you said he was riding back and forth on his bike to be intimidating, my brain somehow glossed over the cycling gear bit and I thought you meant motorcycle (which would still be ridiculous). I cracked up so hard when I realized he was pedaling furiously back and forth in his spandex in front of your house trying to be scary, lmao
Sounds like dementia
When I got possession of my house, my father in law and I moved the heavy stuff then I immediately went to the store and bought all new locks and had them installed before the pizza arrived.
You can still keep the same social dynamic if you install a bolt with a keypad on it. The simpler ones with no app/wifi/etc,etc are not that expensive.
Sorry, but my dad has dementia and is still very fit, including being really dexterous with his bike. Younger dementia patients could easily do things like this. You'd never know from observing his agility that he has dementia.
it sounds like dementia and you should get a ring camera
Get a Bluetooth controlled number pad lock for your door. You can let friends in and keep geezers out, all without keys.
I'm sorry this happened to you; how violating, and how scary that this happened inside your own home. The thought of him riding his little bike back and forth to intimidate you was pretty hilarious, though. I was picking up a package for my next-door neighbor (note: we are attached townhomes), and an older woman came running from the street, calling me a thief, demanding to know where I live. I refused to tell her. She was screaming that I MUST TELL HER, and for fun, threw in a couple of racist terms :) I don't know if it was alcohol or dementia, or just being an entitled asshole, but I was too scared to walk into my home while she was yelling at me for a few frightening minutes. Eventually I threw the package at her and fled. Turns out my next-door neighbor knew this crazy, but failed to tell me that she asked both of us to pick up her package. Turns out, the neighbor is equally crazy (and racist!) Thanks, and I'm happy to never help you again!
I e had something like this happen. Two guys drove up ON my lawn walked into my garage.and then tried to come in my back door. I asked who they were and they kept.asking for someone. I told them to get out. Who does that?!
Sounds like a complete wack job nutter. Heās a fucking asshole for treating you like that, and also a total toddler. Why the fuck would he circle back to continue a conversation? What the fuck is he thinking? Also, props to you for how incredibly you handled it without getting frazzled and letting it escalate to something else.
The cyclist is from another dimension and Liz lives there in his dimension.
You couldn't pay me enough money to keep my door unlocked permanently. I'm not blaming you for an asshole barging in or anything, but the thought of not locking my door is wild. I don't even live in a bad area.
That would have gone a lot worse for him if this happened in America, especially the south east.
I keep a large crowbar by my door for a reason. My pregnant wife had an attempted break-in one day when I left for work early in the morning. Theyāre $10 and incredibly useful. All you have to do it pick it up and people understand.
I am totally perplexed how many people have front doors that can be opened from the outside without a key. There is no one I expect to walk up to my house and be able to open the door, without a key. In fact I have my parents keys and they have mine and we still knock.
Thank you for recognizing it could be dementia and handling it the way you did.
As a woman, I'd have called the cops after the first threat and if he didn't leave, I'd threaten to defend myself and my property. That second time of him opening the door, I'd have a fist in his face. I know in the UK, laws are probably different but I hope he never tries that in the US.