Real Life Story

I was volunteering today, just helping Baillie out at school with her latest "Raise the Roof" project

(today's work was pretty boring to be honest - making boxes / invitations / envelopes etc.)

I came back into the classroom from walking Annie out, cause she had to go, and there were three other teachers + Ms. Baillie already there just talking. Mr. G, Ms. Verrett, and Ms. Sunny Yun (new history teacher).

So I'm just sitting there listening to their conversations and waiting to get another job assigned, when Ms. Baillie tells a story. Real one! I thought it was pretty cool, so this is how it goes...

Kay's in the office, filing away admissions stuff and calling people back from the waiting list to tell them that they got into Whitney after all! She remembered a polite family who was really sad that their 9th grade child got in but the 7th grade one didn't, and it just so happened that the 7th grade one was the next on the waiting list. So being Kay, even though it's 8:00 at night, she calls up the family to tell them the good news. The mom picks up, says HOORAY! , is really happy and hangs up.

Next day, the dad comes in and tells Kay - "You're a hero." She's like, uh.. okay. It really wasn't me who decided that your kid got in. But the dad says again, "you're a hero." And it's the way he said it that really made Kay puzzled. So he tells her this following story

Last night, when you called, after the mom hung up she looked at the clock and thought, hey the grandma is still awake in Taiwan (YEAH TAIWAN). I'll call her and tell her the good news. Calls. Ring....ring....ring. Doesn't pick up. Calls again - ring...ring...ring. Still doesn't pick up. So now the mom is slightly worried, and she calls her brother to see if he can get in touch with their mom. He's able to reach her on her cell, but all she says is, "Don't bother me. I'm busy at the bank withdrawing all my money." Click! Hangs up. Wtf, right? Why would you withdraw all your money... He calls the bank and explains the situation, then asks them to stall her until he can get there. She's quite old, and doesn't always think clearly anymore. Once he got there, they asked her why she was withdrawing her money. Turns out she was hooked by an investment scam, and they were actually able to bust an entire scamming ring that day! Plus the grandma kept her money (:

So you see, if Kay hadn't called at that time, the mom wouldn't have called the grandma, and the grandma would have still gotten scammed and those criminals would've kept scamming people.

Pretty amazing story, ain't it? She really is a hero.