Drop-by, no-call visits: Yay or Nay?

[viper37]

A discussion at work had me thinking. I grew up in a house that was always open. It wasn't unusual for us to come home from the store to find a friend or two sitting on the back patio, having a beer, chatting and waiting for my parents to come home to visit. I'm pretty much unfazed when someone drops by unannounced, and if I've actually invited folks over, no one bothers to knock.

Two of my co-workers, on the other hand, intensely dislike "drop-bys". If they're going to have visitors, plans must be made, period.

Where do you guys fall on this?

I prefer to know in advance if someone is coming.

[Viking]

In principle I am in favour of it. But anybody "just dropping by" has to accept the response, no, you can't come in and I don't have to give you a good reason (no that was the sound of my wood-chipper and that isn't the smell of a decomposing corpse) for not letting you in.

So, yes, why not. It tells me the visitor wants me to like him, which is a nice feeling. But if I'm busy, tired, stressed or depressed he has no reason to object or be offended by a "fuck off".

[DontSayBanana]

Unannounced visits have generally been okay with me, but I've been finding them harder to manage as I've been getting busier in my professional and social life.  Generally now, I try to make sure stuff is planned more as a courtesy to the friends than as a courtesy to myself.

On the other hand, I've seen households where unannounced visits just create a logistical nightmare.  The girlfriends parents have three excitable dogs that need to be held whenever anybody pulls into the driveway, so unannounced visits create dogpocalypse and just set everybody's teeth on edge for the 10-15 minutes it takes for the dogs to calm down enough to stop trying to bounce on everybody.

[Ed Anger]

I loathe the drop by at dinner time. Stop mooching, you fucking assholes.

[DontSayBanana]

I loathe the drop by at dinner time. Stop mooching, you fucking assholes.

Oh, yeah.  That's the exception with me.  I've got no problem with grabbing a bite with a friend, but if you're mooching off a meal planned and cooked for the household, you're scum.

[Ed Anger]

Or they drop by at four and hang around waiting to be asked if they want something to eat. DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE HOMES?

[Admiral Yi]

I like Puff's answer.

[KRonn]

The people who would drop by unannounced are ok with me, as it's usually family, brother, etc. But with everyone else I wouldn't want it to happen all the time, but since it's such a rare occurrence I'm mostly ok with it.

[Valmy]

Family?  Sure.  Everybody else I would at least expect a warning call.

[Grey Fox]

I see my non-family opposition to this coming from 2 factors.

1. My gf is a bad host, so I will probably going to have stop whatever I am doing & atleast aknowledge you've come by
2. I'm a busy person, I've got shitz to do and you are messing up my schedule.

[Capetan Mihali]

Drop-by, no-knock searches by the police can be an inconvenience.  See Ice-T's "Six in the Mornin'" for the best illustration.

[Caliga]

Unannounced visitors get welcomed with shotgun blasts.

[The Brain]

Unannounced visitors get welcomed with shotgun blasts.

What's your office hours?

[Caliga]

24/7, babe.

[The Brain]

Don't call me, babe.