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

GumbyS

miss.p wrote: »

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

Yup - same thing - said she needed to call me while I was out shopping for her groceries, called from a blocked number, aaaah I am so worried right now.

Errata

Phone The Guardian, and report back to us. erm......... don't suggest burglary, try white slave trafficking. That might get their attention.

poet123

Perhaps you could report her for harassing you with emails etc and the police may give her a visit?

miss.p_2

well i sure have a bloody temper right now, and to be honest im not going to go round there like a mad woman, but im going to try and suss out whats going on, if its dodgy then i will report her to the police and to the guardian and also make a complaint to the guardian for not looking into this sooner.

it just so happens that me and GumbyS had a bad feeling about this and we tried to investigate by googling and it resulted in this, however she has been advertising for 10-15 years, every week in the guardian and lots of other websites, she must of met or corresponded with hundreds of applicants and maybe some have not looked into it and just passed it off as a bad experience.

i originally joined this thread because coolcat2012 put a post up but so far not got in touch again...

what do people think of me and GumbyS meeting up and trying to investigate further?

obviously not to scare or intimidate an old woman but just to find out what the hell is going on?

duchy

Quite honestly she sounds eccentric rather than mentally ill.

She probably enjoys "interviewing" people if she's housebound.
I came across a couple of people like this when I worked in the "nicest" areas of London in travel agencies. Widows left with lots of money but very isolated (sometimes by choice) and some funny ideas -time consuming but harmless. Provided they don't become a target for predators (and most of these women seemed to be a bit more savvy than their initial appearence implied) I don't see a role for social services .

Pity really I liked the MI5 scenario better !

I think you should leave her alone TBH. If a wealthy local homeowner contacts the police to say shes been stalked by a couple of random strangers who made contact on the internet-whose side do you think the police would take ? If you genuinely work in social care you'd know this is NOT the way to approach things -contacting local elderly SS to report your concerns is far more appropriate -if not so entertaining for the forum ! YOU initiated the contact and have posted making it clear you know about her advertising history on a public forum. If you do go around there (or make local enquiries about her) regardless of your intentions you could scare her into calling the police and you could end up with a very unsympathetic judge who thinks you should have left her alone to live her life with her batty habits in peace.

lilibet1

Miss p

I have only just come upon this thread a couple of days ago and I'm very intrigued to say the least. You and gumbys could hook up together and go round there but please make sure that you're safe. I do know some pretty eccentric folk so maybe she is just one of them, the thought that it's something more sinister is very scary.

Keep us posted.

How far away are you from there? X

miss.p_2

oh and GumbyS, in regards to her address, it is a real address, i know the area and live a bus ride away, however, if she really lives there is a different story!

i tried to google female writers and authors that live in that postcode but nothing came up?

i tried to google her first name with the address etc but nothing came up?

i know the area so it doesnt freak me out to go round there, if she chases us out with a bat or has a !!!!! or some fraudulent gang living there then atleast i know where we are going if we have to leg it or hide!!!!

hahaha, i cant even believe i have let myself get like this over a stupid job advert and a cranky old woman who is picky about where and who shall buy her posh fruit an veg!!!

GumbyS

Miss P - The forum is telling me I can only send one message every 60 minutes because I am new so I will be in contact hopefully in the next hour with my details!

poet123

Neither of you actually knows who the other is......is it wise to be exchanging details? Remember Suzy Lamplugh?

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

This is a joke, right? You're going to protect yourself against going somewhere you're not sure about by exchanging personal information and meeting up with some random person off the internet?

You're either both making all this up or one of you is insanely naive. Possibly both.