As a senior, I am likely to be vulnerable to senior abuse. Senior abuse is a term given to the act of committing harm or distress towards seniors. An abuser can be a spouse, partner, relative, friend, neighbor, or any other individual. Investigations have shown that preying on seniors has doubled in the past five years. Seniors need to be watchful and take steps to protect themselves from unsavory characters. Seniors should be cautious when communicating with strangers or unfamiliar people that they do not physically see. For example, I remember a time that my mother, who was a senior, was talking to someone on her phone. Abruptly, she hung it up. I asked her what happened and she said that the person on the other line wanted her social security number. She felt that she was being scammed. This was not the first …show more content…
For this reason, it is a good idea to have a repairperson put their services and costs of supplies in written contracts. For example, when I needed to have my house painted, I asked a friend for a recommendation. I requested that the handyman she suggested write me out a contract for the work. He performed the job satisfactorily. Then, I asked him to install a handrail. We talked about his service and the cost of supplies, but I did not ask for a written contract because he had done work for me before and the new job was a small one. However, when he performed the work, the rail was not steady. I repeatedly asked him to correct the problem. Finally, he fixed it and he asked me for more money because he said that he lost money on the deal, but I refused to pay him anything else. He kept trying to get more money and I told him that he was trying to take advantage of me. I had to abruptly end the conversation and move on. Now, I cannot hire him for future work. Perhaps if I had asked him to write out a contract for the handrail, the outcome would have been