Close one!

It was only by chance that I stopped at my mother-in-law's today. She's been slowly failing-generally showing poor judgement and not keeping things together very well. She's always forgetting to add some key ingredient to her recipes, and she loses track of time. My job is to make sure she gets her medicines every day and to try and stop over to make sure she gets out of bed, gets dressed, cleans the kitchen, etc., etc.
I arrived for my random house check and saw that her car was there. I walked up the porch steps, noticing the screen door was unlocked. The front door was ajar. As I walked in, I called out to her but stopped when I noticed she was sitting at the dining room table with a man I did not recognize. There were papers spread about. "Oh good! You're here," she said. "Sit down." In a flash I ascertained that she was in earnest discussion with a dreaded INSURANCE MAN! It was clear she didn't know him. He was trying to sell her a policy that would pay for interim home care "mainly to preserve your dignity". I was not actually listening to his pitch, but was more interested in figuring out how he got to her. At the same time, I was trying to fathom the disappointment he felt now that someone under 80 was present. In general this must be like shooting fish in a barrel for these guys. Frankly, I don't know whether this guy was legit or not, but it's clear how the elderly are at risk for getting scammed. Speak with an air of authority, be compassionate, and play to their fears. He knew there would be no commission today. He did share that he was having a heart catheterization tomorrow. I didn't out myself as a Cardiologist. Mercifully, he left after about 15 minutes of double talk. Finally I got to ask her: "Where did he come from?" "Oh, I sent in a card from a magazine," she confessed. I informed her that that was the last time she would be doing something like that.

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