The term fight or flight really hit home for me on Tuesday. I was running an errand at lunch to buy some birthday cards and wrapping paper for my nieces upcoming day. As I was perusing the 75% full parking lot by the Dollar Store I found a decent spot, unbuckled, pulled out my shopping bag and mask and turned off my car’s engine. A woman was wandering around the parking lot and spied me bolting over to my car and knocking on my window. I thought when I saw her please leave me alone. I wasn’t in any mood to banter besides a sinus headache and lack of sleep I just wanted to shop in peace. Soo I buckled up and drove away actually back to my office flight indeed!
Perhaps one reason I bolted out of there was an incident on my neighborhood message board about two older women approaching a young woman at a Metro stop near where I once worked and asking to use her mobile phone. The comments section was eye opening as the majority of responses were of the sort that these two women could have unlocked the girl’s password code and gotten into her bank account, credit card account and contacts list. In 2023 many people use their phones for everything and are so reliant on their phones that stolen identity theft has become easier than ever.
Now I use my phone to check my email, text on What’s App and peruse EBay my home away from home. 😁I do not online bank and I’ve gotten rid of my debit bank card. I pay my bills the old fashioned way by writing a check. My trust in everything technical is already minuscule so I don’t want to tempt fate. But at want point do we trust modernization? If one is stuck somewhere a mobile phone is imperative. I remember in college I was driving home and my car overheated and I was stuck. This was back in 1986 and two local farmers helped me to a garage to repair the car. Today I don’t think I’d have been that lucky. I didn’t tell my parents about the car. I thought then alls well that ends well. Looking back my naïveté was stupid.
Stay safe stay well ❤️❤️❤️
The M Files 
I find everything less resilient. Technology advances are fine, but people rely on them too much.
For example, I took the bus into my local city the other week. Having not used the bus for a long while, I went to the bus companby’s web site to look at my options.
Whizz bang, latest technology, you didn’t even need to interact with the driver. Tap your card when you get on, tap it when you get off, job done. It calculates the rest and debits your accout straight away. Wonderful, eh?
Except that as you get on the bus they give you some kind of ticket. God knows why, totally unnecessary, but they do. And on this particular bus, the driver’s printer was broken. Which meant he couldn’t print out tickets. So he couldn’t issue them at all, therefore didn’t take any payments.He waved me on for free.
That bus would have ploughed that route the whole day, so every single passenger that day got their ride for free! Which, all told, must have resulted in them losing thousands. All because their chain is so fragile, when one part breaks, the whole thing falls apart. There’s technology for you!
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That’s an excellent example of my point! Although the rider gets a benefit for the breakdown in technology the technology should have had a back up in place in case of the breakdown
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You’re right to be wary of letting a stranger borrow your phone. In such circumstances I’d rather give the woman a dollar and say find a public payphone? 🥴 If you were frightened, no problem about leaving. I would have cracked my window half an inch and heard the first few sentences she said before leaving, but that’s me, and how am feeling at the moment? Take care! 😘❤️
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I think Zed after I read the neighborhood blog post about the girl at the Metro station plus there have been a few incidents near a shopping center where I live of assaults on women I just fled without giving the woman a chance. Yes it may have been harmless and she was just lost or needed help but my gut told me to flee.
I’m better sinus wise trying to catch up on sleep 🥹
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They’re stopping cheques here, so you have no choice but to use a credit card now
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I’m screwed if that ever happens in the US. I write all my bills via checks and deposit payments physically at the bank 🥹
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Our country thinks that’s obsolete…. they are so wrong
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Sometimes obsolete is safer 😁
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You can never be too careful, Michele. When in doubt, get the hell out! I’ve never been in a position where someone wanted to use my phone; I’d have to assess the situation before agreeing to let them do so. It’s a sad commentary but these days it’s very difficult to trust people we don’t know. I have enough trouble trusting those I DO know! 😂
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Me too Nancy and given the young girls position I would not have lent a stranger my phone either. We have street corner people w signs asking for money and I try not to make eye contact and I can’t read the signs anyway but I do feel guilty pangs which is the object to get money !
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We are more vulnerable now with our over reliance on modern technology. It’s fine when it works but we screwed when it doesn’t (or if we don’t have access too it, e.g. smart phones). I think you were right to trust your instincts in the car park and go.
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Totally agree with you on the vulnerability. Technology is grand but we have become so reliant on it I do feel more vulnerable then ever.
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Once a RA-fan of mine sent me. So now I am sending it back to you. Could it HELP you and perhaps create a chain …
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Very sweet of you to send this video to me. ❤️🌺
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🥰❤️
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I keep my phone totally separate from my computer. I don’t want the two mixing because I figure if one is hacked the other won’t be plus I don’t answer calls from people I don’t know. I just try to be as wise as I can when playing with tech stuff. PS: i realized a good while ago if my phone is lost I don’t remember phone numbers anymore so I bought a little phone book to carry with me just in case. oh the changes the years have brought, but, are all of them good?
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That’s a brilliant idea about keeping a phone book handy . I have my iPad and phone but honestly I use my phone for everything including writing this response 😁
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