Stranger Danger! How do you feel about people in your house?

[Lizbeli]

Interesting topic!

As a woman and a police dispatcher, I am a bit weary. I live in a small town but there are plenty of crazies out there that even the locals don’t know about.

That said, I meet in public. But with a reefer from my local club I would probably let them meet at my house if I have met them previously. Hubby would have to be home, and of course my doberman would be by my side. Dogs can sense people with bad intent, imo. If he doesn’t let someone inside then so be it. He isn’t aggressive by any means, but his breed tells him to be on guard. Nice to have a big dog at home to protect the house.

Still, I would like to believe most of the reefing community is made up of good hard working people. If the person is a well known member of a major forum like this, I would feel better about meeting at my house.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I'm a young woman without a man in the house, so I NEVER let strangers in. I have seen enough crime shows to know that letting strangers into your home can go bad really fast.

 

[Bob Weigant]

Nobody comes in the house ( thats my rule ) so tank ( and or tanks ) are in the garage so yes for me it depends. Club members come and go over the years and quite a few of them have been in my garage

 

[fish farmer]

I had Kirby salesmen barge into my house...they really liked the reef tank, but didn't get a sale.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

We should start a daily poll about the real problem... people that flake!!

 

[samnaz]

Absolutely not!

 

[Paulandreti]

I guess pandemic it's a game changer, however, I gotta say that I've got some of my best friends, from our local reef club, back in day they invite me over to their house, I was a little hesitant at the beginning, but once I got to know them, the rest is history.

I know security is always a good thing to be looking out for, but wanted to share my story.

Paulandreti

 

[laverda]

I no longer do due to Covid-19. I use to love sharing my tank with others and to see others tanks.
Most experiences have been great. One was bad as while I was getting someone some reef supplies his friend stole a couple hundred dollars worth of tools from me.

 

[vetteguy53081]

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

Im very comfortable. I have security cameras as well as coming down to Who, what and why?
-who this person is (do I know them or of them?)
- What is reason they are coming over (buy something, or in the area?)
- Why as to the purpose of their visit

I have three local clubs in which mainly two whereas the members will come to my home and we socialize for a couple of hours.


2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

Not really. We talk reef and tanks, of course they always ask if they can take a few pics and maybe get an occasional email from them down the road.


3. Do you have any horror stories?

Fortunately, I do not.

 

[Greentree]

Don’t do it. About 8 years ago I ended up being stalked to a terrifying degree by a guy in a local club. He’s still out there.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've visited quite a few members from R2R at their homes. @4FordFamily @HotRocks @Reef-Tank @vetteguy53081
All of them were crazy enough to actually let me in
But all were great.
I've had @Reef-Tank to my house twice.

I almost visited @revhtree at his home, but even I was not crazy enough to go in lol.

 

[cedric von puffington]

I voted no, because I’m not a very social person to begin, I got 5 kids so half the time my house is a wreck of scattered toys and loud kids. And because you never know who you are letting into your house or who they are related to. The person you let in could take offense to the once in a lifetime opportunity acquisition you have on display that the state has determined to be an “invasive species” and next thing you know parks and wildlife is at your house hauling out your tank and leaving a $5,000 fine sitting on the stand that once housed your prized specimen

 

[Jamesrup0411]

I guess the big gun makes up for the small..... Tank.
Lol

Honestly laughed out loud!!!!

 

[Bpb]

Interesting topic. I did allow anyone to come over for years. I figured, reef tank hobby really how many creepy people could be around in such a specific niche. It’s not like I’m selling televisions or firearms. But...alas. The stress got to me too much. I decided to just start doing public neutral location for buying and selling tank related things. And if it’s someone I know or speak to often, I’ll do porch pickup. Obviously if it’s a good friend on a personal level that is different.

This was of course before the pandemic hit. Now I don’t really even have friends over anymore. Which is more A request of my wife but I don’t entirely disagree with her. Hosting a reef club party or something? Heck no. I’m too much of a hermit for that.

 

[lester lloyd]

I live in or near Chicago I think that says a lot kinda of hard to be inviting here

 

[Caseyoidae]

The reefing hobby is one of those things that MOST of us like to share with others. The problem is that many of our "regular" friends don't understand the hobby and really can't appreciate it like another hobbyist can. Reefing also involves being able to grow corals and with that comes the opportunity to sell frags to people....strangers. Many of these strangers will become local hobby friends but at first they are still strangers coming to your home to see your tank or buy something! Let's talk about that today!

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

3. Do you have any horror stories?


image via @hbrochs

I got my favorite coral from him back in February! Nice guy and amazing tank!
Before the pandemic I’d have people over to swap frags occasionally. Unfortunately parking lots of open businesses are the norm now.

 

[LRT]

Only person I'm afraid of in this world is my wife lol. True statement though.
Grew up in the world of mma. I often say I pitty the fool that makes it past me. They have to deal with my dog. By then the wife will have used the many weapons stashed around the house. Security cameras.
I have chosen to meet up with fellow reefers from private reef club. All members info are accounted for so if anything ever happened im sure we could get it all sorted out.

 

[BackToTheReef]

It depends on what you mean by stranger. Some random person from FB marketplace or craigslist or even a random person from a forum then probably not.

If it is someone I have interacted a bit in a forum or other social media space but never met and they are coming over to help with a build or tank move or something like that then I'd probably not have too much of an issue.

 

[nezw0001]

1. How comfortable are you with allowing a stranger in your home to look at your aquarium or to buy things?

Folks from the local reef club, no problem. Well actually no problem with CL people either. I'm female and have never felt threatened. We do have several big dogs and a shooting range paralleling our driveway.


2. Have you ever made a life long friend meeting a stranger this way?

Yes, I've made some great friends this way


3. Do you have any horror stories?

Nope, never. Maybe its due to our rural location? Recently picked up some reefing equipment off CL in Chicago, as the buyer, and had a totally wonderful experience with the sellers.

 

[ddrueckh]

Watch the show “The Kindness Diaries.” Season one is on Amazon Prime and Season two is on Netflix. Season two is better than season one. One of the biggest problems is we lock ourselves in our homes and don’t even know our neighbors. If another reefer wants to check out my tank, they are more than welcome to!