Location: Utah. A woman came to my door wearing an AT&T shirt, hat, and clipboard. I assumed she was a rep, so I answered. She started talking about “respecting the culture here” and gradually shifted into a conversation about the Mormon church. That’s when I realized she was a missionary, not affiliated with AT&T at all.
I called AT&T to report it and they told me their people always wear visible badges with their names. This woman had none. The rep suggested I report it to law enforcement.
The problem is, this is a small town and law enforcement is mostly LDS. I’m honestly scared. I don’t feel like I can safely report this without risking retaliation or being ignored.
This feels deceptive and coercive, possibly even illegal. Is impersonating a corporate employee to gain access or initiate a religious conversation actionable in any way? What options do I have for reporting this higher up or protecting myself when I can’t trust local police?
Comments
There’s no crime here.
You said you can’t trust local police, but you haven’t talked to them yet. I’ve found police in Utah, even if they are personally LDS, will push back strongly on door to door soliciting when it’s not welcome, including LDS missionaries. And most small cities have clear rules (the door to door people must have clearly visible name tags, must clearly state why they are at your door, must follow certain hour restrictions, must honor no soliciting signs, etc.
Call the police and talk to them. I think you will find them more supportive than you may expect.
I’m a lawyer but I’m going to give you some life advise:
This is not remotely a legal issue. This is a you have a problem with establishing boundaries issue.
As soon as you realized you weren’t interested in the pitch all you have to do is say “hey sorry to interrupt your pitch, but to save us both time, I’m really not interested. Thank you have a great day” and close the door.
I get that in Utah, you are probably very sheltered from hustler culture, but take it as someone who has lived in NJ/NYC my whole life where people will always run up to you trying to hustle – you just tell them politely you’re busy and to fuck off and if they don’t get it you then tell them verbatim “I’m not interested, kindly fuck off” and close the door/put your headphones back in and go on with your life.
Mormon missionaries travel in twos and also always wear badges. Whoever showed up at your door was just a rando.
I’ve worked with LDS guys in both military and law enforcement and I can tell you there is a difference between them and the missionaries. Different cultures entirely. The amount of times they have talked trash on missionaries and how sketchy they are in their tactics. Report it anyway, and see if they take it seriously or not. Who knows, even if there’s no legal action, they might just bring it up at church and tell them to stop.
Not legal advice. LDS missionaries have many strict rules for what they can and cannot do while on their missions. Two are worth mentioning here. 1. They are to always go with a companion (or more in some circumstances). 2. Clothing worn while proselytizing should be clean, professional, and not have any branding.
Unless she is very much out of line, this woman isn’t an official or sanctioned representative of the LDS church.
Protect yourself from … what exactly? Even if it’s illegal is it really worth your time and energy to continue thinking about this.