Depression-era lines, desperate people

The way the current economy is, with so many people unemployed, losing their homes, and the overall negative aura circulating, I’m becoming increasingly aware that there are some very desperate people out there. For instance, I’ve recently become more careful about where I park my car in a large parking lot. I’ve always liked to park far away, I really don’t like door dings, but lately I’ve felt like I’m leaving myself open and vulnerable to a personal assault. I know that murders are down in my city overall, Los Angeles, but personal theft has slightly increased. This crime statistic makes sense given that the unemployment rate is nearly at 11%!

Another quirk, that is a result of our recessed economy, is the increase in telemarketing phone calls. In the past, we were part of the do-not-call list. We rarely received automated or sales calls. Lately, however, we’ve been inundated with call after call of people trying to sell us their services, list us in their directory, or send us their resume. But, today my husband received a very odd phone call that he quickly realized may have been a scam.

Normally, my husband and I ignore any call that shows up as “Out of Area” on our caller ID, these are usually telemarketers. However, my husband answered a call today that had a phone number listed with it and an “Out of Area” text listing. The person on the other end began to question him on whether our office building had a security system. My husband replied that we work from home. Bone-headed answer! Then, the stranger on the other end of the line asked him if we were happy with our security system in our home. He said yes, we have a great security system that we check twice a year. Thank goodness my husband caught on. We don’t currently have one, but he wasn’t going to tell this stranger this information. Then the “sales person” asked if we wanted to upgrade, probing my husband for an address. Oh, yes mister stranger, come right on over. We leave one window open all the time, making it so easy for you to get in! My husband promptly hung-up.

When he told me this story, my initial thought was, of course this is fishy! I would have hung-up after the first sentence. However, my husband is not nearly as suspicious of strangers as I am. Now, I don’t have a fear of strangers, I frequently say hello to people in my neighbor when I ride past them on my bike or see them repeatedly at Starbucks. Yet, when I see or hear something that just doesn’t sound right, I pick up on it quickly.

This weekend my husband has decided to go through our house (a rental house) and make sure all the windows that have latches are latched. Those that don’t, we will be purchasing dowels to secure the windows from being opened. Luckily, we are home 90% of the time, so the likely hood of someone breaking in when we’re not home is slim. Of course, the possibility of someone breaking in when we’re home is great! Hopefully, our presence alone will deter a possibly burglar.