You know what forget the MCA and forget the food above. Here's what just happened. I'm kind of awake because the boyfriend and my bed is friggin killing my back but I'm mostly asleep when, about half an hour ago, our buzzer buzzes. The boyfriend gets up and answers the door and it's a woman. I'm not out of bed but I can hear her. She's all out of breathy. She tells the boyfriend that she lives in the next building over in our courtyard and that her thirteen month daughter had a seizure last night and that, a number of people including one 'white lady' have helped her out but she's still twelve dollars short. Now, the boyfriend is a good person and gave her five dollars and then our house guest, who was sleeping on the couch at the time this all started, gave another ten. She thanked them both profusely and said that she'd pay them back by 1:30 at the latest.This whole time I was thinking something to the effect of, 'that's so good that the boyfriend and houseguest aren't skeptical, I mean this is about a thirteen month old (with Down Syndrome, no less) and yet if it was just me I'd probably give her a dollar at most.' This made me feel pretty bad about myself, you know, that I don't trust a woman in need. Almost immediately after the woman left and I felt guilty, the boyfriend suddenly had a memory of a friend who lives more north than us having fallen for a similar 'baby had a seizure, I need money for the medicine' scam'.
So the boyfriend followed the lady, Theresa Franklin was her 'name' and caught up with her. He politely asked her for his money back and she told him that she gave it to 'the random guy over there' and he was going to go get the medicine for her.
Okay okay. Basically the boyfriend and the houseguest-and in a sense myself-were scammed, fleeced and hoodwinked and in the worst way possible--right after they woke up and in a place one assumes is safe from the mad, crazy, mixed up world.
It's not even nine in the morning.
4 comments:
Why don't you ask the management of your apt. complex about re-installing the security gate out front, and whoa, how did she get through the bottom door, or did I read your entry too fast, and she buzzed from below?
I'm not liking this story, except for it's demonstation of E's kind nature. mcmc
A few clarifications:
She buzzed, we buzzed her up, the boyfriend opened the door and she had her target. She asked for money to get medicine for her daughter and her husband was at work and that's why she didn't have the money.
The boyfriend, when he tracked her down also asked her for identification or a photograph of her daughter or any other thing to show that her story was true...which it totally wasn't.
It's because, usually, when our buzzer buzzes we're either expecting someone or it's the mailman/fedex guy. So, yes, we should be a little more wary of just buzzing people in.
addendum, we did not in fact buzz her in. another person in the building buzzed her in, it was just that we opened our door.
so. yeah.
CC,
This EXACT, EXACT woman did this in my building on my second day here. She said she was in apt 409, baby, seizure, and I gave her four bucks, which she said she would pay back that afternoon.
Small little universe, huh?
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