How do you deal with people who poor mouth and scam in the work place?

[Blondie]

It's that time of year again, and the same people who poor mouth and whine and cry about their financial situations will be coming out of the woodwork.

I'll give one example of a person I work with who scams our co-workers. They've been warned of this person, and how she manages to get people to hand her money, buy her things, give her things, etc. but she manages to sucker them in somehow anyway!

I'll call her "Sue."

Sue has the brass to come right out and say "you can buy this (fill in the blank) for my little Johnny this year." Huh? I didn't know I was buying your child a christmas gift this year, what makes you think I would? She is an RN, and her DH has a well paying job. WTH?

When she bought a new house (and it's a very nice house by the way) she had the guts to tell a co-worker who asked her what she needed because she was going to buy her a housewarming gift, "just give me a blank check, and I'll get what I need." What the......If I had not have heard it with my own ears I wouldn't have believed it! Most people say "oh...she must have been joking." Oh no she wasn't!

She poor mouths it so often that people will give her things they themselves were going to run a classified ad on. Then this person takes what has been given to her and yard sales it! (someone actually saw their old lawnmower at her yard sale!)

It goes on and on, and it irks me because there are some real hard luck cases out there who really need the help, financially or whatever but they would never come right out and ask for it.

Anyway.....(long post, I know) is there any way to tactfully deal with these kinds of con artists? There are so many good hearted people out there who continually get taken advantage of because of this type of person.

It's one thing to help out a person in need, but it's another to be scammed.

 

[monkeyboy]

For a woman she has an awfully BIG SET of

 

[DawnCt1]

I think I would look at her incredulously and ask; "How do you ever mismanage your finances so poorly with what you earn here?" That should shut her up.

 

[DiaDeGuadalupe]

I know someone very similar to this person. She always goes on and on about how "poor" she is, and in the same breath she'll turn around and talk about how she and her husband spent $100 on dinner, or how she bought new furniture, etc. She'll try to scam anyone. It was so bad that once while on a trip with her (I didn't realize at the time that she was such a freak), she tried to get the hotel to comp us because she claimed the shower head wasn't working. It was perfectly fine. It really opened my eyes, let me tell ya. Needless to say, she isn't a part of my life anymore.

Your situation is hard, though, since you can't just shut this person out. The mean side of me would say that she needs an anonymous "gift" of leftover things like half used bottles of shampoo, soap, etc., with a note attached that says "You need this more than we do"

All you can do is to continue with the yearly speech about her, and hope that the good hearted ones will finally wise up.

 

[jerrysboy40]

I deal with them the same way I deal with them HERE. IGNORE!!!!!!!

 

[gr8tpanther]

I would tell her that unless her childs name is hanging on a tree in the mall, you are not buying him anything.

OR, tell HER that you would rather give to a REAL charity, not a figment of someone's imagination.

Oh I HATE people like this! But I am also not one to hold back the tongue when given a chance.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Thankfully I've never worked with anybody that bad.

We often get faced with people asking for money. If I know people well and they are close friends and I know there is a true need of course I would help them. Otherwise, I try to offer sympathy in words, advice if they seem to want it and I think they'll accept it. I find that all too often though people don't want the cause of their problems solved. They just want to keep living their lives they way they do -- and for everybody else around them to keep pumping money in.

Mostly I just stick to a bland answer of "I'm we can't help out but we are donating to ________ charity this month. Or I'm sorry, but all of my donated goods get sent to the ________ shelter that supports Battered Women... "

or whatever.

 

[danacara]

I'd be tempted to ask her what she's getting for my kids.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I would tell her that unless her childs name is hanging on a tree in the mall, you are not buying him anything.

OR, tell HER that you would rather give to a REAL charity, not a figment of someone's imagination.

Oh I HATE people like this! But I am also not one to hold back the tongue when given a chance.

Gr8tpanther, you are bad girl. So bad you are good!
I love the " --- name hanging on the tree--." one. Sometimes people like that really do need a good dose of reality and that was just the zinger to do it!
(I don't think I could say it without cracking up.)

 

[NMAmy]

That's amazing--thankfully, I've never worked with someone like this. Unfortunately, I have no advise--I don't know what the heck I'd say to her!

 

[DisneyVillain]

She's just lonely. Get her a puppy.

 

[BuckNaked]

Mostly I just stick to a bland answer of "I'm we can't help out but we are donating to ________ charity this month. Or I'm sorry, but all of my donated goods get sent to the ________ shelter that supports Battered Women... "

or whatever.

I highly recommend the Human Fund.

 

[vickyBaby]

I highly recommend the Human Fund.

Bwahahahhah. Now I have visions of Festivus. Get out the aluminum pole.

 

[monkeyboy]

I highly recommend the Human Fund.