"Can I have some of your food?"

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Earlier this week at work a total polly DGI woman asked me, "Can I have some of your food?"

I was totally surprised and paused to make sure what I thought I'd heard. I told her that I had been eating it for months, which is true. However, I hadn't told her or anyone the total amount of edibles I've stored for my family and neighbors.

The next day I asked her directly why she wanted the food. Both she and her husband are middle class workers. She's a late 50ish Christian woman who has absolutely no doomer mentality. She replied that Y2K was over. In her mind, the rollover was the whole event. Nothing serious happened, so obviously I had no use for the extra food.

She doesn't believe there can be a stock market crash or that God will severely judge America causing hard times. She truly is a polly. She was the first person who said to me, "I'll just come to your house." She said this repeatedly early last year until I stopped trying to get her to prepare.

She never prepared and sometimes even bragged that she was making absolutely no preparations. She mocked me over the months. There's an invisible wall between our perceptions.

What is your reaction to her mindset?

Why does she think she's entitled to free food?

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), January 07, 2000

Answers

Well, since it's a co-worker, and if you want to keep working there, your reaction should probably be milder than if this was someone else. I think I would simply look incredulous and say nothing, or pretend that I simply did NOT understand what she was asking.

What an idiot she must be.

-- lynn (lynellef@netscape.net), January 07, 2000.


If she wasn't just perhaps *pulling your leg*, then she was very rude for sure. I can't imagine anyone asking for someones food unless they were destitute, and then it would be a humiliating experience. If you filled your car for gas would she automatically assume you had an overabundance and ask you to siphon some for her.....I think not. If you buy three tubes of toothpaste at Costco, does she get one? I do have a Costco box of 1200 paper plates that I might let her share.....she have to have her own food, though.

-- Kenin Marble (kenin17@yahoo.com), January 07, 2000.

Dinosaur, Good luck! you'll likely need it.

Sympathetically,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.com), January 07, 2000.


Dinosaur-- That's stunning isn't it? Last night I had a friend ask if I wanted to sell my flour because she knew someone who would buy it. I really do not want to do this. I'm having a good time making bread. But I was shocked that this person would even ask. In my mind I just bought ahead--we will use it all eventually. I think you had a very good first response when you told her you had been eating it for months. I think I will use that myself next time. It's no one's business how much food we have. Pam

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), January 07, 2000.

Dinosaur,

I am so fortunate to have neighbors that, although they did increase their levels of general preparedness after my mentioning y2k, they still live preparedness as a way of life against all possible personal and social calamities (keeping at least one month of food/supplies in house at any given time). I am very grateful that y2k gave us reason to open dialog about preparedness topics. If my neighbor was your co-worker, I would probably be pulling my hair out about now!

I hope an opportunity presents its self soon for you to be able to make your point soon, by example, or you might create one. One possibility is your family doing something "special", going to the circus, movies or what have you, saying you could afford this extra trip by using grocery money swved by serving meals from your stored goods. Also, in the work world, often opportunites for assisting someone having hard times is often brought up, and you could present a nice donation to someone in need.

Either example presents an opportunity for you to make the point with this person that "you" are in charge of who does/does not recieve the benefits of your preparations. Words with an example might leave a better impression than words alone. (Short of telling her to hush up, which I am sure has crossed your mind). :-)

She may think she is entitled, or you may have struck a nerve in her that has caused her to examine her own vulneriblities and dependance on a regular paycheck, and how the lack of one would effect her daily life.

Either way, good luck to you, and thanks for all of your good posts this year, dinosaur, I certainly have enjoyed your input and will look forward to more.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), January 07, 2000.



Dinosaur,

No, I wouldn't give the food to her. If you did give it to her, what lessons would she learn? Personally, I'd suggest donating the food to some local foodbanks or homeless shelters, where it would be put to good use. This woman obviously isn't in desperate straits and doesn't NEED it - the food should go to those who DO NEED it, especially the children.

BTW, I am NOT advocating giving away ALL preps. Indeed, I will keep at least 1/2 of mine in storage. I don't want to live hand-to-mouth anymore and am grateful for the opportunity to learn this lesson relatively painlessly.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), January 07, 2000.


Just tell her that you didn't save all your grocery reciepts and that it would be a nightmare trying to figure out what to charge her. That should stop her cold! Or you could tell her that you have already committed to the Salvation Army where you get a tax break!! You must work in a gov't office. Sounds so typical of DeeCee where they think its owed to them!

Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 07, 2000.


Dinosaur,

My all-time favorite reply (learned off another forum) to the "come to your house" routine is:

"Great, come right on, but you need to bring at least six months of food with you, because I haven't got anything set aside for you *or* your family."

I've never needed to use it...but I will if need be! Polite, but deadly-accurate and to the point.

-- KK (micahfourfour@jahoopa.com), January 07, 2000.


I appreciate your responses. You should know that in the Winter of '98 I said I would help her by giving her food if Y2K was serious. She thought that was nice. OK. All was well back then. But bad events did not transpire over the rollover, so I was quite perplexed at her initial question until I realized her mindset is VERY NARROW.

I want all of you to know that I did not awaken to the potential danger of Y2K until OCT98. However, around the Spring of '99 I was enlightened by the Holy Spirit that I was not preparing for Y2K -- I was preparing for the coming hard times in America, which would be initiated by a great and fatal stock market collapse on Wall Street.

I am totally convinced that Y2K was a test. Americans have mostly failed, and so has the rest of the world. Although some prepared, most did not, and they scoffed and mocked and did absolutely nothing. However, I have not stopped preparing. There will come a time when suddenly America will experience a fatal economic collapse. And THEN the WORST things happen-- civil unrest, increases in murders, burglaries, rapes, et cetera. The judgment upon America is unavoidable and inevitable. Most people do know want to read or hear about the coming spiritual storm. However, God will judge America severely, and all will be in shock when the judgments occur.

That is why I am continually preparing. I must do so because my family and friends are still asleep. :(

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), January 07, 2000.


There are all sorts of wonderful and witty remarks you could give this women, but from your desciption, they would be above her thinking level (to put it kindly).

May I suggest you drop off a 33# bucket of wheat on her, or a fifty pound bag of wheat, with the cheerful rejoiner of "Here you go, let me know when you use this up!" If you have a person in your family that is allergiac to wheat, dropping off a similar amount of amaranth or spelt might make her mind boggle on even a higher level. Or perhaps some whole oat groats?

P.S. I'm not kidding. You know here better than I of course, but perhaps it would shut her up?

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), January 08, 2000.



P.S. If you live near me I'ld be more than happy to donate the wheat if you would report back to me here reaction.

As to why she thinks she has a right to the food you purchased. Does she vote straight ticket Democrat by any chance? I'm afraid her mental processes might be terribly convoluted if she is capable of, Y2K wasn't bad, therefore give me your food. I have NO idea...

If Koskinen said that half a tank of gas is all you need and people shouldn't top up, perhaps the next time she fills up, she would give you the surplus? Just kidding of course. Many people can live quite comfortably while holding mutually exclusive points of view.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), January 08, 2000.


First off, I'm sorry for the typos and truncated words in my previous post. Last night was the very first time I typed a message on the Internet with a laptop computer, and I confess I am not used to the smaller keyboard and different key setup. That posted message contained the most BACKSPACE and DELETE keystrokes I've ever executed! And still I goofed. Oh well, I admit I make many mistakes.

BTW, I apologize to BigDog and Old Git and everyone else (except Y2K Pro and Chicken Little) regarding my many stupid posts. There were lots of posts I typed but never submitted. I used Chuck's Night Driver Backspace Option. ;) Of those which I did submit, 99% were regretted. If only I could have deleted them, then I would have felt better.

Of course, when the hard times come to America (this year?), I will help Helen out with food. Helen is solid in her faith, so that gives me hope. You should know that Helen's older sister, Lois, recently retired from the factory; Lois understood the preparedness argument I presented last year. It was quite amusing to hear them bicker about who had more common sense. Lois said she would get some canned goods. Helen argued she had more common sense (although she had done nothing to prepare). Lois and I reached a consensus that although Helen possessed common sense, she had not utilized it. ;)

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), January 08, 2000.


Hey, Dinosaur...I agree with where you are coming from...oh, and to answer your remark you made on a topic I posted a few days ago...[Didn't figure you would bother going back, but this is soooo opurtune..]

You made a comment to me about "Lazy and pregnant?" Fact is..I'm DIABETIC and BLIND. Maybe you should ask the spirit to guide you in your posts.

-- Satanta (EventHoriz@n.com), January 09, 2000.


Satanta:

My post was your direct quotation about pregnant females. I hadn't seen that description before and thought it was your own unique style of writing.

I didn't say you were such because I was at your web page, and I read about your condition. Apparently you interpreted my posting of your own words as an attack upon you. It wasn't. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), January 09, 2000.


Dinosaur...Ahhhh-my apologies. I did mis-understand. I guess I was too busy fighting off the jackals, the ones coming in and posting, not knowing what they were talking about, [sort of like I did here?] Well, like I said...I agree with what you said here as far as people sudden;y wanting what you've had to work for....take good care. Yata-Hey!

-- Satanta (EventHoriz@n.com), January 09, 2000.


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