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So sorry, Dry. You did what you could do and should have done - well, above and beyond, actually. You aren't responsible for their lives, and for all we know, they are happy driving 40 minutes for chicken nuggets. It's hard to believe living in squalor wouldn't bother them, but who knows.dryrunguy wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 2:34 am This was a horrible night.
It started around 7 p.m. when the next door neighbors, both 79 years old, showed up. They wanted to know if we had electricity. We had music playing in the garage, lights on, etc.
I remembered what happened the last time when we lost electricity, when our neighbors did not. Something had gone wrong with one of the telephone poles in my pasture field. I asked if they had called the electric company. They had not. I asked if their cell phones were working. They said they no longer had cell phones.
I agreed to call the electric company on their behalf to see if we could get something done. The neighbors went back home.
I called the electric company (same provider as mine). Since I was calling on behalf of someone else's account, the electric company could not tell me much. But they were able to tell me that the electricity to my neighbors' home had been cut off.
Now I've got it.
I go over to the neighbors' house with an 800 number to inform them why they had no electricity. I find the electricity disconnection notice hanging on the front door. I walk in, go upstairs, and what I see is a mix of squalor and a mild episode of Hoarders. I delicately explain the situation.
From there, the discussion devolved into someone has hacked our bank account/we should have money in the bank/we can't find our checkbook/we're afraid of losing our house/we're planning to spend $5000 to have the swimming pool cleaned and fixed. Needless to say, I was a bit lost.
But we spent more than an hour on my phone with the electric company, managed to find their checking account number and routing number (which may or MAY NOT have money in it), and got their electricity restored about 90 minutes later--around 9:30 p.m.. My guess is that they hadn't paid their electric bill in about 5 or 6 months.
I invited them over for dinner, since it was so late, but they said they'd go to Burger King to get chicken nuggets, which is about 40 miles away. I haven't seen them leave.
It was one of the most depressing experiences I've had in quite a while. I cannot stop thinking about it.
Aging sucks. And there's only so much I can do to help from here on out, which should actually be the responsibility of their good-for-nothing, useless children and grandchildren--who are nowhere to be found except during the summer when they want to use that all-important swimming pool.
Thanks for listening, so to speak. Sigh...
Aging can really suck and people don't talk about it enough. By the same token, society sends the wrong signals to people as they age that hastens their deterioration.
It wouldn't hurt to check in on them now and then and ask if they need any certain services... But you aren't their safety net.
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