Who do you trust?

[photo2010]

Would you let a complete stranger into your home on a Sunday, or any other day, if they said they were from the Census Bureau, even if they presented a card, and answer a lot of personal questions? Or would you ask them to leave..politely but firmly? I live in a high-rise building with a door person. The doorman called to say someone was here to see us, and my Mother told the doorman to let the woman up. Unfortunately, I didn't intercept the call first, but I did stop the interview immediately. When I told the woman we didn't have an appointment with her, she said they sent a letter and that we were selected at random. Lucky us. I told her I never saw any letter, and I didn't want my Mother answering any personal questions. So she started grilling ME! I told her this was Sunday, we had no appointment and the interview was over. She asked if she could mail us the interview. I agreed. She also said this was for the Boston office, and we don't live in Massachusetts! I don't feel that I am overly cautious..there is no way to verify this woman's identity on a Sunday, and anyone can print up a business card. When I was a kid, some man came to our house and presented an official-looking badge to my Mother. She let him in, he was selling vacuum cleaners.

I told the doorman not to let anyone else up without MY approval. We've already had a credit theft occur in the past year..and in this economy, it is said that scams are on the rise. How would you have handled this?

[photo2010]

I got a letter from the U.S. Department of Economics and Statistics that our household was one of 55,000 to be surveyed regarding work status or some such. The woman came back today and we let her interview us. From her questions, it felt like they want to get people off of social security..I still didn't like it. My Mother is 85 and worked until she was 80. I am on disability. The woman said we were selected at random. B***S***! The disability insurance company did the same thing to me, then screwed me out of my disability benefits.