Wednesday, June 15, 2011

NEW NEIGHBORS

Yesterday was a fairly typical day...
  I saw the man off to work. 
Then I read blogs with my coffee on the patio, composed my own and did the usual housework and job searching that I do.  
Once in awhile I'd check the hole to see who fell down and left a comment.  
I cleaned and washed the clown car.  
Then made a nice broccoli,cauliflower, cheddar and rigatoni casserole for diner.

When the man came home from work, we ran to the DMV and 
got my plate tags...$82 smackers!
The first time I got them four years ago they were only $52.
Sheesh!

Back home again, we watched the news and did our usual grumbling, then played along with Cash Cab.
=:D

That's when the young gal knocked on our door to sell us magazines.
I knew immediately that it was a scam.
She looked very official with her glossy pamphlet
and sale lists on laminated cards.
She tells us that she's in a contest and earning money for college.
The more she sells, the more points she gets and if she gets the most, she gets a total scholarship...
which she really needs because she has to work to support her poor old granny.
Perhaps we have seen them walking up and down our street.
Granny is very elderly and in bad health.
They have no other family... only each other.

Within a few minutes she asked a quick series of questions...
Where does the man work?
Where do I work?
What kind of dog is that?
Is dog friendly?

Those were the questions that screamed scam to me...
or worse.
In about 3 minutes she knew the dog loves people and weather or not someone was likely to be home during the day time.
=:-(

But it was more than just the questions.
Long, long ago when Boo was only about 6 months old...
I had this same situation.
I bought some magazines from a very chatty young man.
I wrote him a check and said good-bye.
A few minutes later... we're talking maybe 5,
my neighbor knocked on my door and asked if I had purchased any of the mags.
When I said yes, he told me to call my bank immediately and put a stop on the check... because the mags would never come and the nice young man was likely on his way to my bank to cash the check.
I thanked my neighbor and called my bank.
Too late!
The nice young man had just cashed my check.
No magazine ever showed up.
Lesson learned.

Back in the present... it was hard to get a word in edgewise
with this gal.
She droned on with her spiel and the man began to pick out some magazines.
This gal added a twist... you can purchase mags that you donate to 
disabled vets in rehab... and you can buy them as gifts for kids.
The man is a total sucker for both kids and disabled vets!

She writes down these items... one for the vets and one for little N
and totals up the points she will get.
She's pushing hard for him to get me a mag too...
because it doubles her points that she really needs to support granny.
I take her order pad and say to the man...
"Can we really afford to spend $120 on mags?"
I knew that would get him.
The man does not like to spend money unwisely.
I also point out that I used to buy Turtle mag for about a third of the cost that they wanted.

She gave me a look as the man said... 
"Sorry, but we can't afford it right now with the wife not working."
She beat a hasty retreat and vanished down the street.
Odds are good that we will not be seeing her taking poor ill granny
for any walks.

Phew!

Then just when I thought the evening could not get weirder...
I met another new neighbor...

He's coool and cheezy!
I never thought I'd live next door to a celebrity!
And certainly not across the street from Chester Cheeto!


I wonder what strange new things await me today?
Big grins everybody!


=:D



8 comments:

  1. Well, scammers have to eat too, right? Naw. Screw 'em. They can still eat though... something brown and lumpy. Good call. We get the mag-scam here too.

    Chester, huh? Not bad. Someday I may tell you about the time my neighborhood was invaded by marching bands.

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  2. Cricket- Ha! A supper best suited to that ilk!

    Invading marching bands! Now that's a post you absolutely have to write. I love life in the theater of the absurd.

    Funny thought. Its about this time of year that the wandering homeless man who used to tell me about the angels he could see surrounding me, would breeze into the town where I used to live.
    I kind of miss him. Odd events and things make life so interesting!

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  3. When magazine sellers, proselytizers, and the like arrive at my door, I just decline to open it.

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  4. secret agent woman- Smart woman!
    The man loves to support the school fund raisers, etc. around here... candy bars, pepperoni sticks, lower bulbs. We even save plastic bags for a lady who collects them for kidney disease. But especially for kids selling stuff. I think that's what he thought this was at first.

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  5. I'm not one to open the door for a stranger. Unless they're with the post office, UPS, or FedEx, chances are they will talk to the window (a corollary to talking to the hand).

    The idea of living next door to the Cheeto Cheetah is way cool. Then again, I'm being swayed by the idea of free Cheetos... yeah, they're evil, but they're yummy.

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  6. Sorry I haven't commented the last couple of days. For some reason, as I mentioned, this blog and my work computer just haven't hit it off! My profile just will not be accepted.

    Anyway, good call with the magazine sales scammer. I have gotten to where I just say NO to everything that people present at my door. Probably wouldn't mind if Chester Cheetah showed up though!

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  7. Cube- Hahaha! Cheetos are addictive! And Chester is really nice too.
    I have a heavy security screen on my door and a fierce pig bull that is pretend mean until I open the lock on it. Until then, she tends to frighten most folk enough to stay wary. But I am a chicken and happy to be one. The man on the other hand is a sap for people trying to earn money. Sigh.

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  8. laura b.- No problem about missing posts! We all seem to be having blogger acceptance issues these days. I think that Cube may have hit on something when she said a new program update has messed up her blogging on her newest computer. Perhaps its something like that with your work computer.
    You can't beat a cheeta with cheese that goes crunch!

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