You are at home, watching TV when you hear a knock at your door. You pause your show, get up, and open the door to see who it is. Standing outside is a knife salesman. He is nicely dressed with a big smile and wants to know if you need some knives. You politely decline, close the door, and continue watching TV. An hour later, another knock sounds from the door. You open it to see a new salesman, selling magazines. He looks a little haggard, and he definitely could use a breath mint, but he leaves when you tell him to. Fast forward another hour, and a new salesman is at your door. Again you decline their offer. At this point, you cannot help but wonder, “What’s happening here? Why am I getting all this attention?” However, you shrug your shoulders and figure it is a coincidence.
For the rest of the day, a new salesman shows up at your door every hour to offer you a product and to try to talk to you. This happens the next day too. You get angry. You do not know why so many salesmen are coming to your door, and, when the next one knocks on your door, you lose it. You open the door, and after he speaks a few words, you yell in his face and slam the door. Through the door, you hear the salesmen say, “I don’t know why they were so rude. I was just trying to give them something that would complement their home.” Every hour they bother you, for days it goes on, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You call the police, informing them you are being hassled and it is freaking you out, but they say it is not a big deal. You tell your friends what has been happening, but they say you are overreacting. You post on social media, complaining that you are tired of all these salesmen, but people comment saying that they probably didn’t mean much harm, and they are “just being salesmen.”
In the end, the salesmen keep showing up at your door, day after day, hour after hour. There is nothing you can do. You want to get your mind off of it, so you go for a drive, where you spot a woman walking on the sidewalk. You do not know her personally, but you think she is very attractive. You drive up to her, getting close enough that she can hear you and say, “Hey cutie! You’re looking great today!” She ignores you and keeps walking forward. So, you try harder, “I bet if you just smiled, you’d look a lot better!” She quickly turns and enters into a random store. You drive off thinking to yourself, “I don’t know why she was so rude. I was just trying to give her a compliment.” You have already forgotten about that random woman on the sidewalk, but she does not forget you. She calls the police, fearing for her safety and worried you might return, but is told it is not a big deal. She tells her guy friends, and they tell her she is overreacting. She posts on social media, but people comment saying you were “just being a man.” There is nothing she can do.
