Though door-to-door salesmen are rare these days, they still exist, but I’m not comfortable with a stranger coming into my home to demonstrate a product he has for sale. This week, though, my husband, who has a tender heart for anyone struggling to make a living, invited a vacuum cleaner salesman in.
I know what you’re thinking. You can probably even guess the make and model of the machine.
Like me, you may already have suffered through such a presentation and vowed never to allow that to happen again.
But my husband had not. He’d missed all those visits over the years while working.
When I objected to his invitation, my husband said, “He just wants to clean a rug for us. He’ll earn points for doing so.”
End of discussion.
The rest of the scenario I expected. The salesman had an attachment for everything imaginable. He blew up a balloon, sprayed my window with a solution that slid down the glass and dissolved, and demonstrated the floor broom. Of course he came with LOTS of white filters to prove the superiority of his machine as it picked up what I hadn’t yet had a chance to clean that day.
My mistake was allowing him to clean a rug I knew would be dirty because it is the one everyone uses as they come through the door. You should have seen those filters. He crowed.
But I wouldn’t play his game. He wanted to go to a bedroom. I said no. He wanted me to name the payment plan best for me. No, again. He wanted to clean my new sofa. No. With each rejection he grew more sarcastic. He’d mutter put-downs under his breath. He spouted insults that my husband couldn’t hear. I tried to be polite, but finally I asked him to finish. I wasn’t willing to spend another minute listening to his verbal abuse.
My husband didn’t understand and was upset that I hadn’t been nicer to our guest. When he calmed down, I told him the parts of the demonstration he didn’t hear.
In Hebrews 13:2 the Bible tells us to be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. I was mindful of that verse all through the hour the man was in my living room. I felt guilty about my attitude, but assaults on me seemed beyond the scope of the verse.
Did I send an angel on his way?
I don’t know. But I do know God has forgiven me—because I asked Him to.
But if the doorbell rings, I won’t answer.
LOL! Somehow, I doubt God sends out abusive angels. It’s hard to imagine that man makes many sales.
He didn’t sell me.