Sunday, April 28, 2013

Weirdness

We had a very unusual experience this week. Let me preface this by saying that we live out in the boonies, on a private road, and the only two houses on our road belong to us and my folks. We have a no trespassing sign clearly posted at the entrance of the road, because we're cranky old farts.

Anyway, while we were gone one afternoon, my dad reports to us that some lady in an SUV pulled up to our home, banged on the door, and when she got no response she went all around our house, I assume to see if we were on the property somewhere. *You just DO NOT do that here. It's NOT done. Period* Dad can't chase people out like he used to, but he yelled at her as she came back up road. She told him she couldn't reveal why she was looking for us. That ticked Dad off something fierce.

A couple of days later, we hear a knock at the door. It's the same lady, an older broad, maybe mid-sixties with silver hair. Heavy southern accent. She says she's contracted with the gov't for this survey. The minute she says gov't, I block the door, with Noah right behind me. I'm not letting her one foot inside our home. Noah is on full alert, and not happy.

Well, she proceeds to tell us her pedigree, where she lives, and who she descended from. She yakking a mile a minute, trying to find some common ground with us. We're just nodding and trying not to be super-rude. She says she hates ObamaCare. She hates the gov't. She's proud of all her ancestors who fought for the South during The War of Northern Aggression. Says she has the Stars and Bars hanging on her wall at home. Starts babbling about guns, and how the Yankee bastards will have take hers barrel-first.

I feel like I'm either in a time-warp, or that this lady is fishing for our sentiments on these matters. We don't know her. She doesn't know us. She has to know she's flirting with danger by approaching rural homes in this area. Noah and I are a bit more welcoming than some of our fellow Ozarkers, who would have escorted her off their property with a firearm and a snarling dog.

We were not chosen for the survey. Surprise surprise. We didn't get that cool thirty bucks in cash for sharing our drug, tobacco, alcohol, and mental health information. If this lady is for real, she's a kook. I freely admit that it occurred to us that she was an information-gatherer (apart from the "survey") and that we popped up on some agency's radar. Noah is an evil veteran, and I'm a conservative blogger.  We've attended a Tea Party rally or two. I write to my congressman and my senators, and I'm not shy.

Then again, maybe we're just paranoid. Either way, the whole thing was freakin' creepy.

10 comments:

  1. Welcome to Obamacare. See, this is how it's "creating jobs". They would have to open a gate posted with a large "no soliciting, no trespassing sign" to get to our door. I hope they don't try.

    I wonder what all the liberals think about this, you know...the ones who were so concerned about the the possibility of the gov't checking our library cards...

    Why couldn't she tell your dad what she wanted? Why is doing this survey secretive?

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  2. Just because you're paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you.

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  3. Lady red, what did you end up doing about the "survey"? How did things turn out?

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    1. Florrie, she punched a button on her little computer-gizmo and informed us that we were not selected for the full interview. We would have refused anyway.

      She was apologetic that we would not be receiving the 30 bucks. Does she carry a wad of cash in her pocket?

      If this is a legitimate gov't practice, it reeks.

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  4. Yeah, it is creepy. It is information the government does not have any right to, to be used for. . .

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    1. DWT, the only info we gave them was confirming our names and ages. She could get that off the internet in two seconds. It definitely felt like a fishing expedition.

      At one point in her non-stop spiel, she mentioned that she has a Masters degree. Why would someone with that much education be risking their skin going door-to-door in rural Arkansas, asking stupid questions and giving away wads of cash?

      SRSLY creepy!

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  5. lady red - whoever that woman was she should have had a clipboard identifying her. If she wouldn't identify herself you should have called the police. (And detained her ass with a rope if need be.)

    I used to canvas door to door for Greenpeace. (Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for cute seals. And the cute girls who worked for Greenpeace. And the all day beer drinking. And... it was a long time ago...)

    Point being I know what the laws are with respect to canvassers and I check everyone who comes to the door (back when I owned a house I did, anyway.) If they won't identify, they're criminals.

    As to why... too many possibilities. Need to gather more data.

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    1. Lewy, she didn't have a clipboard; she carried a handheld computer device. She told us her name, and told us that her superior would be calling us to verify that she had stopped by our home.

      The phone call never came.

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    2. All you need to know is in the cited document...

      The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) uses NSDUH data to track progress toward goals in the National Drug Control Strategy.

      Now, up front they are flipping liars, asking questions, because all of this information on legal drugs is, or will be soon, available on the mandated digital medical records...my own have been on-line for over a year. So, yes they were looking for other information that they could shape to fit a conclusion they already have made.

      Lady Red and Noah were far FAR nicer than I would have been, and I live in a city. Within the past month I have physically shoved a pair of solicitors, with more credentials than a promoter at a rock concert, off our porch and promised the big dog would follow if they were not gone post haste. If you are at my door with questions you better have a badge, an official ID, and preferably a uniform, otherwise adios fool...and I'll help you leave if necessary. Then I will call the cops if you pissed me off enough or are hassling my neighbors.

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  6. Lady Red ... you and Noah are recently graduated nurses. You have freshly joined a couple or more new lists. Start with that as a basis for the surprise visit from an info gatherer. Medical personnel living in the boon-docks must be up to no good you know.

    Get the drift?

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