[Rich Miranda]

We live in an apartment which has three doors that lead outside. We never use the front door because our cars are directly behind our place. All of our friends and neighbors (that we know) know this and knock on the kitchen door (the third door also is rarely used and is never knocked on).

If we get a knock on the front door, right away we know it's someone we don't know (or the apartment manager ). We use the peep hole first. If the person looks shady, we say through the door something like, "I'm sorry, we can't open the door right now." They just walk away.

If they look OK, we tell them to hold on a minute (while I get my Ruger P90). If they are still there in the 30 seconds it take me to get the gun (sometimes they leave!) I peep again to check for anything suspicious. Only then will I open the door.

Of course, a knock on the kitchen door is also answered with caution. But that's easier because the door has a window in it and only people who we have told to knock there, knock there.

To stay on topic, we try to treat the caller the same regardless of gender.