29 Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

Lesson 7

When I was in 11th grade I participated in a program that encourages teenagers around the U.S.A. to be involved in the government and politics.

One program in particular that they run has teen’s walk-book and make calls to remind people to vote before the election. During the week we were doing this we would walk-book during the day and make calls during the night.

It was the third day and we had already hit a ton of neighborhoods. We walked non-stop from house to house (and sometimes in circles because our group leader was bad with directions). Anyway, it was nearing the end of the day when we entered a very well-to-do neighborhood. I walked down the long driveway to the front doors.

Tall pillars lined the front of the house and sharply cut hedges lined the drive. I walked meekly up to the door and stood unsurely for a moment, debating whether to use the lion head knocker or push the doorbell.

 I quickly decided and pushed the doorbell. I could hear the doorbell chiming loudly from within the house and stood there for a couple minutes before the giant doors began to creak open.

“Hello?” a small Asian woman with a strong accent opened the door.

“Hi, I was wondering if I could ask you a question.” I asked courteously and professionally like our leader had taught us.

The lady stared at me for a moment, and a little boy in pajamas ran up beside her. He stared at me with wide eyes.

“You stay here.” The lady told me in broken English, “You stay here.”

She motioned that she would be right back. The little boy sat down on the doorstop and continued to stare at me.

“Hi!” I smiled and waved at the little boy. He stared at me with wide eyes and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

“Okay then…” I deadpanned and swayed side to side in boredom and impatience as I waited for the lady to return.

I waited

And waited

And waited

And waited.

I was going to walk to leave but I wasn’t sure about leaving the little boy alone in the doorway. I glanced at him as he continued to stare at me.

Finally, I turned and started to turn to walk up the driveway.

“You! You!” I heard the Asian woman yelling again from the doorway.

I stopped walking and turned around.

She was holding a phone in her left hand and motioning for me to come back to the door.

Hesitantly, I walked back to the doorway and stood there unsure what exactly she wanted. She held out the phone to me and motioned for me to take it.

“You talk.” She told me, “You talk.”

Reluctantly, I took the phone from her hands and held it up to my ears.

“Hello?” I asked

“Hi…. Who is this?” the person on the other end of the phone asked.

“Um… well… um….” I stared wide-eyed at the lady in the doorway in complete confusion.

“Who is this?” I asked

“I’m the owner of the house. My housekeeper is supposed to call me whenever someone comes to the door. So,” she asked “Who are you?”

“Oh! Um, well I’m just walking around the neighborhood to ask people a question.”

“Ok.” She replied

Suddenly I realized that she wanted me to do my thing.

“Oh!” I said again. “Hi.  I’m from Opulence America and was wondering if I could ask you a question?” I said quoted my dialog.

“Yes?” she asked

“Are you planning on voting this year?”

“Yes,” she said

“Okay that’s great. Would you like any information on Opulence America and what we do?”

“No.”

“Would you like me to give you any literature?”

“No, thank you.”

“Okay,” I finished “Thank you for your time.”

“Okay bye.”

“Bye.”

She hung up and I handed the phone over the housekeeper who was standing there the entire time smiling at me.

She took the phone and smiled at me again.

I nodded warily and smiled back.

“Bye.” I said and slowly walked away from the door. The door closed and the wide-eyed little boy and the housekeeper disappeared.

I walked out of the driveway and saw the rest of my group waiting in the car for me.

“What took so long?” Andy asked.

I tilted my head to side, “You have no idea.”