"Hi, how are you these days?" (or the equivalent in Swedish) was the question that met me first thing this morning, when opening Messenger on my phone, to check who had sent me a message. The sender was someone with whom I've had no contact for nearly 50 years, and even then (back in our teens) we were never close. We hung out with the same gang of mutual friends for a while, but I can't recall a single occasion when the two of us - just she and I - spent any quality time together.
I thought about it for five minutes or so - then deleted the message (which consisted only of that single question), as I found the mere thought of trying to come up with an appropriate (short) answer exhausting... (Obviously, the question has not yet been erased from the back of my mind, though - or I wouldn't be writing this.)
Something similar, although at the same time completely different, also happened to me yesterday, on my usual meditative walk around the old cemetery nearby. Out of nowhere, two women (my age or possibly a bit younger) popped up, one of them shouting "Excuse me!" and waving a piece of paper at me. I stopped, thinking she wanted to ask the way to somewhere, or something of that kind. That was not the case. She wanted me to have the brochure she was holding, with a headline saying something about "an end to all suffering". (Typical Jehova's Witnesses kind of pamphlet.) I shook my head and politely said no thanks. She then tried to start up a conversation anyway, asking if I had never thought about it, though? (referring to all the misery in the world, I suppose) Me: (deep breath) "Oh yes... I'm just not in the mood to discuss it just now." And I left (without taking the pamphlet); now pondering about whether it's the pandemic that made them abandon knocking on doors, and come up with the idea of haunting people in cemeteries instead...
Now I'm curious how others react to similar kinds of situations as those described above. Only answer if you feel like it, though! ;-)
11 comments:
You are TOO funny, about hunting people in cemetaries now! Our family used to be J.W.'s. I have been Mennonite for many years now though. Here is what we have heard. When they knock at your door, let them in and listen politely. Then say "Alright, now I want to come to your house and talk to you about MY religion". You will likely never see them again.
I am thinking that it is likely that message was spam and that your acquaintance's phone was hacked and that it was not actually from her. The message is too generic and like you, I would delete it and not answer it.
Like Terra said, I also think the message was spam and you did well in deleting it.
Like Ginny, I have firsthand experience of Jehovah's Witnesses, and yes, they had to abandon going from house to house (as they see it commanded to all Christians in the Bible) because of Covid regulations. Here in Germany, it would not have been legal, and they had to come up with other ways of reaching out.
But approaching people in public places such as the cemetery where you met them has always been part of their service; you simply were "lucky" in not bumping into them before.
Yes, I think Terra is right about the message being spam. These days it seems a common way to try to engage with someone - usually to sell something or try to borrow money.
I'm living too far out of town to have many cold callers and realise I haven't seen Jehovah's Witnesses for a very long time.
Having recently had a run-in with my private pension people, who decided to freeze my monthly pension payments, citing lack of response from me when they asked for updated information. Only later to admit that the information had been received immediately (as I'd told them) and it had "inadvertently" not been used to update my details. I used "as per my email" and "as I'm sure you are aware" in a couple of emails to them - and yes - I was furious!
I agree with the others that that message was probably spam and not your friend because I got a very similar one several times and it's in my business email not my Gmail account and it sounded weird and I knew that the person that it came from would not have said it like that so I'm thinking you did exactly the right thing. I always delete anything that looks like that. About the JW's knocking on the door we just had one last week I don't go to the door for anybody that knocks if I don't know who they are and if they're holding a clipboard or anything in their hand I don't go. On the few occasions that I might open it thinking that it might be a neighbor when they start I just say I'm not interested thank you and close the door in their face. And it doesn't matter if they're JW's or somebody else selling Windows. We get lots of sales and then trying to sell us new windows. And if they stopped me in the cemetery I would say no thank you I am not interested and walk away
Ginny, back in my youth I did try to discuss with them sometimes (never let them in, though), but as it never led anywhere, I gave that up. Nowadays I don't even open my door to unannounced strangers. (I have a peephole.) I can't recall ever having been approached by JWs outdoors before, so that took me by surprise! Mormon evangelists occasionally, but they're so easy to spot even from a distance...
There seems to be consensus in the comments above about that pm being spam. That did occur to me as well - but in that case it seems to me that the scam must be more advanced than just someone copying her profile picture and contacts - as I would not be among them. We're not friends on FB and I don't do public posts there that anyone can follow. So how would a random scammer know we were ever acquainted? Ah well. Not really worth investigating further, in this case...
Meike, if they'd been walking there often, I probably *would* have run into them before! ;-)
Sandra, I'm not inclined to open my door to strangers either - and especially not if they come in pairs, and/or carrying a clipboard etc ;-)
Strange how things happen. This morning when I drove out of my gate, I noticed two women peering over my pedestrian gate, into my garden. They each appeared to be carrying an armful of literature and both had large bags over their shoulders. They walked slowly up to the car as I was waiting for the gate to shut behind me, and I suspect they were JW's. They were very formally dressed (unheard of round here) and looked "right", so I drove away before they could engage me in conversation!
Strange coincidence indeed, CG - unless part of some global campaign! ;-) For a while back in my childhood I had a penfriend whose family were JWs. I remember learning from her that they don't celebrate Christmas (nor even their own birthdays) - which seemed strange (and rather sad) to me. Googling for confirmation on that just now, I landed on their own official website, explaining why. Can't be easy for children, though, with those traditions being so strong in the rest of society... But as for the grownups, I suppose it leaves them with a lot free time in December to go knocking on doors!
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