I became aware of a friend of an acquaintance of mine (“George”) who has found herself in a pickle.  I’ll call her “Salem.”  It appears that Salem has been laid off from her new job since September 2021 – medical leave, I believe – and she isn’t bringing in enough dough to make ends meet.

So, Salem has boyfriend George move in with her.  Then Salem asks the world for money (through a popular money raising program) because she just can’t make ends meet.  Refrigerator is always empty.  Fear she will lose her car.  Fear she will lose her apartment.  She supports her college educated son who is around 24 years old.  Unable to buy brakes for her car.  Unable to make car repairs from an accident that someone else caused. 

Salem applied for welfare in January, but she says the process is slow.  But — seventeen grand now will help to avert her disaster.

Then an email comes with another update.  I read it.  In a nutshell, Salem raves about how George supports her as much as he can, and please write back.

None of this really makes sense to me.  Salem still gets a paycheck, although still on medical leave.  Boyfriend George “supports” her, so to me, that would mean he pays half of the rent, half of the utilities, and his own food.  George makes good money, by the way, but George also has his responsibilities to handle from his Life-Before-Salem.

I have a suspicion that something is hinky about this scenario, I smell a scam, nothing makes logical sense.

©Colcannon Metropolis