Intrigued by long-running advert in Guardian: Home help needed for female writer...

Elvisia

*Makes cup of tea, puts legs up and waits for further gossip*

Errata

GumbyS wrote: »

I joined the forum today after telling a mate about my horrible experience with this woman. I showed my mate her disturbing emails to me and he googled her email address and found this forum. And here I am trying to make sense of it all. I do have the lady's address or at least the address she gave me and I will pay a visit if I have to.

If she has dementia she clearly needs help, and if she doesn't, she really needs help.

I'm intrigued. Do tell us how her email address led to this forum.

louizalouiza

Errata wrote: »

I'm intrigued. Do tell us how her email address led to this forum.

It would be the email address in the advert, which people have copied and pasted onto this thread? Assuming that is the email address she uses for ongoing correspondence with applicants

Elvisia

I am surprised that no one at the Work Programme has forced some poor unsuspecting JSA claimant to apply for it!!

maryroberts

Well this thread has kept me amused for half an hour or so! Will check in for the next installment tomorrow!

duckandcover

maryroberts wrote: »

Well this thread has kept me amused for half an hour or so! Will check in for the next installment tomorrow!

Haha I was thinking exactly the same!

miss.p_2

Hi All,

jokes a side, i feel this is a very serious matter. i am really glad that GumbyS has got on this forum and tried to make contact with me (as long as its not that mean notting hill writer in disguise!)

firstly i want to say that i work in social care and have done so for many years, i work with young people, challenging behaviours etc. the organisation i work also supports elderly people, (different department but i have friends who work there) if i thought that in any shape of form that this woman had dimentia or was really ill, i would seek help from a professional i work and get further advice with or report her and get her help. (can someone who is mentally ill or suffering from dimentia as well as having some disabilities, can they contact and pay the guardian to run their advert for years, check email responses from all the jobs sites they have advertised, respond to job applicants, make long shopping lists and then send rude emails?)

however i think there is more to it than that... it sounds abit more calculated then that?

im the sort of person that is pretty resilient and can shrug most things off, however, this saga has left me pretty dumb founded! i cant stop thinking about it and it has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

the woman contacted me last friday evening and i still have her voicemails and emails although she told me to delete her details in a mean email.

i have thought of all sorts since this incident - shopping scam, trying to get peoples cv's to use their personal details, mad old lady, rich eccentric and more, i was even tempted to go over there and shout through her letter box, it was only cos my boyfriend told me that she was an old lady and i should just let it pass that i didnt go round there.

anyway, i have googled this female writer but not much comes up about her and i dont even think she gave me her real name - but i will liaise with GumbyS and find out what he or she says. the only way i found out more about this saga was by typing in the title of job advert. judging by the threads and responses i have got, she has been putting the advert up in the guardian newspaper for atleast 10-15 years and in local newspapers and nearly very website for at least five years. (every single week)

she doesnt seem to respond to many people and those who have been in contact with her have had bad experiences. ( im surprised that in this day and age, more people have not scooped up this kind of job? a few hours a week, abit of home help and some extra cash?) im surprised she is not got lots of people willing to do her shopping and take her bins out?

it also seems as if when you challenge her about the job or money for groceries, she gets nasty... maybe she has ripped people off or is involved in some scam.

i know its a bit more miss.marple then it is miss.p but i am willing to investigate further is GumbyS is willing to make contact and exchange experiences.

please all keep in touch via here as i will be checking regularly.

thanks...

PasturesNew

GumbyS wrote: »

She said that the grocery shopping was very involving - that she needed to call me while I was at the shops and ask about what's in stock and what's fresh that day and that I would need to go to a variety of shops.

Meanwhile she's actually back at your house burgling you

miss.p_2

interesting thought about the burglary thing too...

when she called me it was off private number (she said she was calling off her landline) and then she was calling me on the Saturday morning (the day she wanted me to bring the groceries over) from a mobile number and said she wanted to speak to me from the supermarket too...

she was very strict on calling from the store too so she could 'discuss the shopping' and put it in the email several times with the shopping list.

also she called me because she said she was glad i lived locally, i did put in my email that i was looking for a second job, and was only looking for a few part time hours a week locally.

mmmmhhhh you are starting to get me worried now....


i want to get to the bottom of this whole saga and if this turns out to be some bogus job advert or scam, i will make a complaint to the guardian for actually running the advert for so long (years, decades and not investigated why the employer has not hired anyone) surely there must be some way the guardian can sift out bogus adverts,

im really annoyed with myself for even applying gggggrrrr

GumbyS

It freaks me out that she has my personal details. I doubt she gave me her real name and I'm planning to check out the address she gave me. Like Miss P, I also shrug things off - but this has also left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I even had a nightmare about it last night. Something needs to be done about this - whether this is getting help for a very sick person or having someone arrested for fraud and anti-social behaviour, I don't know...but it's not a joke.