Can't People Read?

I have a "no soliciting" sign on our house. It's there for two reasons. The first is that we don't have money to spare, so door-to-door salesfolks are just wasting their time coming to our house. The second is because I really hate answering the door to people who are asking me for something.

Last night two people came to our door. The man had a clipboard, always a bad sign. As he started his spiel, I asked him flat out if he was soliciting something. "No, no!" he said, "I'm not selling anything!" That wasn't exactly what I was asking, but I let him continue on for a couple of seconds about his "free service" before I told him I wasn't interested and closed the door.

He was soliciting. I think now that maybe I should have explained to him that soliciting doesn't always involve the exchange of money. Perhaps I should have explained that I put up the sign to keep people like him away. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so polite. I don't know. But I'm still a little miffed about it, so I'm writing about it to get it out of my head.