Sunday, January 22, 2012

Taking Advantage of Seniors


Gary's uncle Victor will be eighty years old in March.  He's never been married, has no children, and lives alone in Florida.  

He's set in his ways. 

 Every evening at 6 PM he turns on the Sci-Fi channel.  At 8 PM he has ice cream.   He has emphysema and takes his medications and inhaler at the same time every day.  He goes to the OTB every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  He eats at Arby's every single Monday.   Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he eats at the Golden Coral.  Sunday he eats dinner at home.  He always carries $5,000 cash on him and gets angry if someone tells him he shouldn't.  

Gary was in Florida last week with him.  One of the reasons he went down was that Victor was sick and needed help in going to the doctor and getting some tests run.  Another reason is, Victor buys a new Buick (pays cash) every five years and he gives Gary his old one.  

Gary's father always looked after Vic, so after he (Gary's dad) died suddenly in '06 Gary stepped in.  It's a sad world, but many people will take advantage of an older, naive, person and think nothing of it. 

A few weeks ago one of the workers at the Golden Coral came to his house (Vic had given each Golden Coral employee money in a card for Christmas, and had put his return address on the envelope...  that's how this guy found him) and asked Vic to loan him $250 to pay a fine.  Vic felt sorry for him and loaned him the money.  While Gary was there, the guy came by to repay the money he owed him.  Instead of writing the check out for $250 he wrote it out for $350 and asked Vic to give him another hundred dollars.    ???   

 Can someone say SCAM ALERT ?? 

 Luckily, Gary was there and said "No way!!" 
 He explained to Vic later that this guy was taking advantage of his goodheartedness.   

As for the check to repay what the guy had already borrowed - it was first 'insufficient funds' then a 'stop payment'.  

Uncle Vic and Gary
Yesterday we went to see Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close.  What a great movie!!  It's about a young boy who lost his dad in the 911 tragedy, and how he deals with it.  
Don't forget tissues...

On the way home we passed a house with about half a dozen police cars out front, carrying guns and looking like something was coming down.  It was. 

 It seems a young man entered an elderly lady's home
 (80 years old), assaulted her (breaking her hip), and robbed her.  From what I understand, it was 
about getting money for drugs.  

People who mistreat the elderly are pathetic.

On a happier note....  

And speaking of the elderly...

Has anyone seen the new Betty White show called 'Off Their Rocker'?  

It's a hoot!  

Hope you've had a great weekend!