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susandennisFor some reason that I've never been able to really figure out, old people always think people are stealing from them. And, yet, these are the same people who fall for scams right and left - essentially inviting people to steal from them. My neighbor who is 82, is not a dumbo. She was a college professor before she retired. In the past 10 years she's gotten a real good paranoid on. She won't let anyone into her unit unless she is standing there to guard. (Routinely the resident manager is in our units with workers to check things like fire sprinklers and deck drainage and stuff.)
Last night she told me that she got screwed by a telemarketer. I said "why in the world don't you just hang up on them?" "Well, they might have something I want, plus it's rude to hang up." But not rude, apparently, to be obvious about not trusting the resident manager of your condominium. Interesting.
A couple of weeks ago, Mom sent me a note that the oxygen man had stolen money out of her room. She really does not like the oxygen man. He comes once a week to refill her tank and he complains that he has to move a chair to get to the tank. This pisses her off. Plus it still kind of pisses her off that she is chained to the oxygen anyway. So she doesn't like him.
She had $180 cash in a little zippered purse and it went missing. She swore it was gone the day the oxygen man came. She and Polly turned the closet and room inside out and it was gone. So he did it.
A couple of years ago she told me the maid stole her necklace. It too me nearly 10 minutes to find the pocket of the skirt where she had left it.
It really really bothers me that she thinks people steal from her. I told her that if the oxygen man had wanted to take her money, he probably would have taken the money and left the zipper bag.
Of course, you know where this is going. This morning she found the bag and the money. It was in the pocket of her bed lounger pillow. So the obnoxious oxygen man is off the hook. He's still a jerk and she'll never like him but I think we can call off the grand jury.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-25 10:47 pm (UTC)She trusts NO ONE not related to her, and I know she doesn't trust some of us. Maybe, just a teeny tiny bit of maybe, she might trust someone obviously over 50. But they'd have to be white, obviously conservative, and probably male.
The paranoia thing doesn't bother me nearly as much as the age-ism and bigotry. Knowing that other old people age into things like this should make me less upset, but for some reason it doesn't.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-25 11:17 pm (UTC)paranoid seniors
Date: 2005-03-26 01:41 am (UTC)Re: paranoid seniors
Date: 2005-04-02 12:46 am (UTC)