gul-li-ble: adj. easily persuaded to believe something
If you look closely in the Webster’s dictionary, you might see a small picture of me beside that word. Ha! I was certainly gullible when I was a kid. I was about ten- years-old when my older sister woke me up and told me it was time to get ready for school. I was half way out the door with my sack lunch before I realized it was pitch black out, my parents were still in bed, and my sister was laughing in the stairway.
I was even duped a few times when I was a young teacher.
“Eeeew, Mrs. Stoneburner, Jeff’s sick. He just threw up.” As I rushed back to help him, a kid picked up the rubber vomit; and the class laughed hysterically.
And then there was the time I was writing a word on the board, and a red circle flashed exactly where I dotted the i. I turned around incredulously, “OMG, kids, did you see that? I must have hit the board so hard it created friction.” I thought some of them were going to fall out of their desks – laughing -- pointing at the guy with the laser pen.
I think I finally started to wise up after a young man who ran through our backyard in his bikini underwear was captured by the sheriff in the river a couple miles away from our house.
I had been working in my garden when he dashed by me and said hello -- and like a simpleton I just shouted “Hi!” and waved back, not realizing he had left his orange jumpsuit hanging over a neighbor’s clothesline.
As I said in last week’s blog, I have lost some of that innocence, naivety, and gullibility over the years.
But — I think there may be a chink in my armor. Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m falling for products that are too good to be true. I ordered a bra online for Senior women that I can’t figure out how to put on and some invisible neck & facelift tape that’s too small even for a midget’s sagging jawline. I think JLo’s liquid botox and Cindy Crawford’s age spot remover are actually laughing at me every time I look in the mirror.
Oh, and the face for our tree, the automatic hard-boiled egg maker and the authentic grounding mat are just taking up space in the guest room closet now.
It seems as if there’s someone trying to scam me every day through phone calls, text or Facebook. I’m getting kinda worried I’ll end up being duped again. I did read an interesting article on NBC News recently about why the elderly are more vulnerable to fraud than anyone else. New research indicates it may be about how older brains process visual clues. What?
Well, I guess — I better keep my eyes open for better protection then. Can you help?
It’ll Be OK.
~~~
“ A fool and his money are soon elected.” ~ Will Rogers
COMMENT: Please, write about a time you were fooled and send it to me at stoneburnerjan@gmail.com or share it below by next Wednesday, July 19. I’d love to compile your stories into a fun blog — so we can help each other “keep our eyes open.” Thanks! ~J. xoxo
Hi Jan. These on-line scams have been going on for quite some time; they just seem to evolve to different forms over time. Back when I was still working, I used to get them nearly every day in my business email. So one day I decided to have my own fun. I answered one like this: "First I want to thank you for the kind offer to send me three million U.S. dollars as my reward for helping you get your twenty million dollars safely out of Nigeria. My reputation as a honest person must be wide spread, because in this past month alone, I have received opportunities to help get 4.5 million dollars out of Rwanda, another 1.5 million from Namibia, and a whopping 25 million from Uganda. While I have not yet received any of this money yet, it is obvious that I will have more money than I could possibly ever use. So, I kindly ask that you pass on this opportunity to someone else who could really use the money. Thank you and good luck in your efforts.
Oh, Jan I’ve been there. I certainly have bought some products through Instagram advertisements, and Facebook. My kids always are like, “Mom, how could you have fallen for that!?” I do have to say the rubber vomit made me laugh! 😀