CAREGIVER DIARIES

I'm a cell phone girl in a home phone world, so I'm always on alert for scams these days. (I detest those who try to snooker senior citizens, and the home phone is a scammer's dream tool.)The caller said he was with AMVETS . I didn't schedule a pickup. No one scheduled a pickup. Had to say it three times. No, Mister. I am not going to confirm the address no matter how you pretend you didn't hear me say I DID NOT SCHEDULE A PICKUP...The Caller ID read, "CB" not AMVETS. The Internet (Whose number is this? Who called me?) revealed the call was coming from a catering company in Bowie...or someone named Nina's landline. So, I called AMVETS DMV 1-800 number. It seems that the organization employs home-based telemarketers to schedule pickups of a community's gently used items. AMVETS might want to fix that. Perhaps give the telemarketers some inexpensive cell phones that will register AMVETS on the caller IDs of potential customers. Maybe more customers will say, "Yes! I've got bags full of stuff all ready for you! Come on over!", instead of assuming the call is a scam and abruptly ending it.