Senior citizens easy prey!!
Making money from senior citizens is so easy, it is like …well easier than taking a candy from a child. The child may at least cry, the senior citizen does not even know what has happened!
The worst thing about aging is being in denial mode. For all of us at some stage the brain processes things much slower than we think it does. So if you walk to a senior citizen and say ‘I want a donation for looking after some senior citizens’ you are likely to get a good response.
The modus operandi is very simple.
Speak to them in a very nice way. The S. C. will appreciate your niceness, kindness, keen interest in their affairs – and the die is case.
Run errands – could be anything from paying utility bills, getting grocery, – literally anything which they find it as a chore.
Offer to take them out spending on petrol – and charging them a nominal amount (free scares them but charging them Rs. 100 where the cost is Rs. 300 does not alert them!)
Show them pictures of SOME OLD AGE home or something which is close to their heart.
Closure:
Ask for the donation.
Ask to write the cheque – write the name date, amount in figures. Say Rs. 2000
Take the signature.
Scoot.
Change the figure to 20,000 or 200,000 – depending on the balance.
Have fun.
Why does this happen?
Simply because Senior Citizens will NOT ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING:
1. Stay away from strangers: Men and women who expected their 12 year old daughters NOT TO TALK to strangers, will at the age of 75 happily interact with strangers. They think they are in full control of their faculties. They are NOT.
2. Tell a person asking for the donation:
a. I do not have money to donate
b. I do donations only to an NGO run by my niece, and this year’s quota is already done.
c. My son/daughter/ friend/CA/ – is Mr…………….. His /her number is………….. Please speak to him/her
d. Excellent idea but my son has my cheque book – please collect it from his office ….which is at…………………
3. Accept that opening doors to strangers is STUPIDITY, not bravery, not smartness, not a proof that you are largehearted.
4. So far nothing has happened: does not mean nothing will happen now.
5. If I have to be killed by somebody like this, it is fate, so it is all right. – This is another stupid argument.
6. Last 85 years I have lived like that do not expect me to change.
Well, well.
You keep wondering – is it easier to look after young kids or old parents?
I think the jury is divided….
Mohana Ganesh
Nice one. Wish a lot of SCs read this,
Raja
Looking after old parents is much harder than looking after children. Once children are about 6 to 7 years old, they become understanding and adjust themselves to a certain extent. But old parents can be very demanding. Their egos / identities remain, but all other faculties diminish. This makes them relatively disoriented and demanding in relationships. They can be extremely demanding, and simultaneously ungrateful. They can also be completely unaware of the physical and financial strain that they put on their middle aged children, especially since their children also have to bring up their own children, and run a stressful family unit in urban India, where urban infrastructure / services are not efficient, and there is no social / financial security, particularly in a bad economy. I am taking care of 3 old people, so I know the impact it can have on the well being of a family in an urban setup. It’s very tough, but I am braving it out since there is no other option of dignified care of elders in India. I hope we go back to our ancient system of Vanaprastha, where old people simplified their lives, and spent their days in spiritual endeavours.
Nazir
There are also other reasons for the SC to talk to strangers than the EGO etc… depicted here.
They simply get neglected by others as they become old fashioned, outdated not being so useful to the society as they were earlier before that. So, they just brake the same rule which they posed earlier because they have nobody to interacte with, even the loved ones be it son or daughter. Our fast pased society could be another culprit.
I am not defending myself. I am just 30 🙂