Can you guys tell me what to do about this nice old lady?

Ask Emma for her phone number. Call meals on wheels for Emma. Tell the kind people at meals on wheels to print their phone number in L A R G E numbers for Emma to keep by her phone.

Go the the source…...Meals on Wheels and let them straighten out this nice lady.

You have to remember that some older citizens can only think in a shallow groove and she is in it with both legs.

I think you might be able to call Meals on Wheels and have them go over to Emma’s house and explain to her that she had the wrong number, and let her know that they really want to make sure she gets her dinner. Then they can give her a big sticker or something like that, to put on or near her phone. They probably have dealt with this kind of situation numerous times. : )

Good advice guys.
I have her number, @SpatzieLover. I’ve even stored it under “Emma”!
She just sounds so normal. She doesn’t even sound that old.

You must realize that old ladies often suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other such conditions. No amount of notes or writing will stop the calls. Either accept that you have a new friend, or change your number…

If you have caller ID (and I think I understand from your answer to @SpatzieLover that you do) I would tell Emma that from now on I mean, you already have been helpful and polite to her so far, whenever you will see it is her on the phone, you will let it go (won’t answer).
If that happens to Emma, she can assume that she has the wrong number again and try again (now with the correct number of Meals on Wheels).
Suggest to tattoo the Meals on Wheels telephone number on Emma’s left hand if she keeps on losing/forgetting it.

But @rebbel it’s to the point that even when it goes to voicemail she’ll leave a message, so just not answering isn’t going to help.

@HungryGuy Yes, I realize that. My mother had Alzheimer’s.

I’ll contact MoW and have them address the issue. She may even have a cell phone that has my number stuck in it. The Meals on Wheels people can figure it out from there.

@Dutchess_III Even though you are going to contact MOW’s on Emma’s behalf, you might have to temporarily change your voice mail recording to something like, “You have reached the Dutchess family. This is not Meals on Wheels. If you were trying to contact Meals on Wheels the phone number is 555–4231, again the number for Meals on wheels is 555–4231 Thank you.” Hopefully after awhile MOW can help her and if she hears the message a few times, maybe she’ll give up. You may have to screen for awhile. Poor old gal. I feel like going over there right now with her roast beef dinner : (

I agree @Kardamom.

Right about now, I’d be looking up Emma’s address on my computer. Then I’d be driving over with a meal, some groceries and a large number programmable phone.

Emma would have a foster family.

Good point, @Dutchess_III.
No chance it can be a prank caller?

@SpatzieLover Yes, a Fluther Foster Family! I’m ready, let’s go! I’ll bring the mashed potatoes : )

That could have been my mother. After some point in her decline, wrong ideas seemed to have 100x the sticking power of correct ones. They seemed safe by virtue of familiarity, you know?

Thanks for taking care of Emma. I sure hope somebody is that nice to me when I’ve lost it.

That’s a thought @Kardamom!
@SpatzieLover I know! But you know what….when I was in banking I tried to help this 96 year old woman. It turned into a freaking nightmare that, in the end, cost me my job. She just didn’t want to let me go. She would call all hours of the day and night, asking me questions, trying to get me to come by to help her and stuff and she lived by herself, in a town 20 miles away. It was a nightmare.

@rebbel Well, it definately isn’t a kid, but she doesn’t sound “old” either. I mean, it is possible that she’s aware that she has the wrong number and continues to call me anyway. IDK.

@Jeruba Little does poor Emma know that she’s about to be descended upon by a herd of fluthers bearing Roast Beef and rum and cake!!

@Dutchess_III Who do you suppose is the oldest male Fluther member? We can volunteer him to be Emma’s boyfriend for awhile.

LOL! Well…who would that be?

Now, @Kardamom, we don’t need to know that. Don’t forget that plenty of men go for older women. All we need is a volunteer.

Besides, I’ve known some gals who were almost that daffy before they hit 40.

Oh, good point @Jeruba! Let’s go talk to FiddlePlayingCreoleGuy! Will he step up you think? As a real aside…I wonder if people who are ditzy when young are more prone to being forgetful and daffy when older…?

@Dutchess_III not necessarily, I have a pretty good memory but according to MRI’s and CAT scans of my brain, I’m at risk of developing dementia by my 40’s if not sooner.

Why?

Well if you guys are volunteering Fiddle, then I’m an OLD lady!!! What was the question again?

ROFLLLL!!! Fiddle, he bring crawdads and Boones farm wine to de table, sexy guy!

Why don’t you ask Emma where she lives, and go to her house and program her phone yourself?

When she calls, ask for her address. If you don’t want to go to her house yourself, then call MOW and give it to them. At least, by asking for her address, you know if it’s pranksters or not.

The fissures where the folds are in my brain (called sulci) are widening which was what alerted the doctors when I went in for a major concussion. They noticed the sulci were noticeably larger than average and a few more check ups confirmed that they’re widening which is a good sign that my brain is “slowly” deteriorating. There’s a chance that I won’t fall into dementia until a ripe old age, but probability is against me something like 70–30 in my case. It may be genetic but there are no signs of my siblings or anyone else in my family having it, so it’s probably related to chemical consumption in my case… Oh well, if fluther is around in 20 more years, everyone then might be in for an amusing treat. :)

@jca I’ll give Meals on Wheels first dibs. If nothing else, I can act as a go-between. I would hate it if she didn’t get her roast beef dinner for two because MoW didn’t get the message!

@King_Pariah does it scare you? Why did you ever have an MRI to begin with?

Take her order and let the bitch starve to death.

Take her a nice turkey sandwich and offer to reprogram her phone.

@Dutchess_III I’m not scared of it, maybe I will be if and when it starts showing signs but now? I’m almost 21, in love, and frankly don’t give a rat’s ass. :)

I had a CAT scan which confirmed the concussion as major and the MRI’s were a combo of checking up on my sulci and some other stuff that don’t really matter.

I like the idea of going to her house and programming her phone, but do not do it alone. Take someone for a witness.

I have no idea what kind of phone she has, guys.

@King_Pariah You know, Sweetie…you walk into a room at 21 and forget what you went in there for, it’s no big deal. You do the same thing at 60 and you get scared like, “Does this mean I’m losing it?”...and it’s nothing different than what you did at 21. I would not appreciate that kind of “heads up,” because nothing will probably come of it anyway, except you’ll be expecting it and think you’re seeing it manifest….when it isn’t.

My Mom is 92 and has called this guy for a couple of years, dialing him instead of me. He got mad and called her, saying not to do it again. I was wondering if he ever had to deal with elderly family!!

My Mom does have the number written down, and knows it, but loses clarity. I dont think this has happened recently.

Personally, going to her house without invitation is not good. Dont scare the sweet ole bird. Yes, take a sandwich and offer, but not without a set time.

Maybe they would make her a larger phone info page. with their number in bigger print. She does need to get through to them, and not leave the messages with you.

This sounds so familiar. My father in law has severe dementia. It is so hard to watch and hard to believe that he is the same man who has won international and peerage awards for his work in science. It is to the point that he doesn’t recognise his own wife now. He insists on going for walks on his own every day. She makes him carry a phone and a gps tracker that her two sons can track (even though neither live anywhere near.) He gets lost, but it is only when he is late, that his wife calls one of the boys and gets them to look up the coordinates. Last week, the family managed to ring a service station next to where the coordinates were. The staff went out and looked for him and actually gave him a ride home. None of us live nearby and the best we can do is use the internet and telephone to help. It is SOOOOO frustrating.

He sounds just fine to talk to, if you don’t know him. The thing he is most obsessed about is what he talks the clearest about. Perhaps Emma is very concerned about her meals arriving and that is the one thing she can sound clear about.

Like everyone is saying, call meals on wheels and tell them, giving them Emma’s number and explaining the situation.

OK. Update. I called Meals on Wheels. It’s hard to believe, but the young woman I spoke to sounded more ditzed out than out Emma. She was also very condescending. She spoke really fast and she mumbled. The conversation went something like this:

Ring ring.
” Umeroductfooserforsomething that sounded like it _could be like Meals on Wheels only much more complicated._ Can I help you?”

I said, “Is this Meals on Wheels?”

“No it’s umeroductfooserforsomething that sounded like it _could be like Meals on Wheels only much more complicated_. Can I help you?”

“Um. Ok. Well. I was hoping to contact Meals on Wheels. Do you guys deliver food to the elderly?”

Her, rather impatiently “Yes!”

Me, “Well, OK. I’m not sure who this is, but I have a bit of a problem. My phone number is one off of yours, and an elderly lady by the name of Emma keeps calling me, thinking it’s Meals on Wheels….”

Impatiently she says, “Well, we’re not Meals on Wheels, we’re umeroductfooserforsomething that sounded like it _could be like Meals on Wheels only much more complicated_, and our number is 2556”

Me “Yes, I know. And mine is 2557, and she keeps calling me thinking it’s you.”

Her, “Are you sure she isn’t trying to call something something hospital at 2800”

Me: Pause…“Well, no. The problem is our numbers are so close and she’s a little confused. Do you know who Emma is?”

Her “Yeeees. She’s one of mine.”

“Well, OK. Emma keeps calling me by mistake when she means to call you guys.”

“Well, I talked to her today!”

“Well, I’m glad to know that she’s contacting you, but I’m not sure what to do about her calling me. I kind of thought that you guys have more actual contact with her perhaps you could help me.”

“Well. Yes. We have contact with her. I told you I talked to her today, and we deliver food to her everyday. I don’t understand the problem.”

Me…at an almost complete loss…..“OK. She obviously has both of our numbers. We need to figure out how to get my phone number away from her. I figure you guys drive to her house and stuff, so maybe someone can help me.”

Dead silence, like she didn’t have a clue what to say next.

I said, “Hello?”

Her, “I guess I don’t understand the problem. I talked to her today. She’s not having any problem contacting us. Maybe she’s trying to call something something hospital at 2800?”

“No. Look. Can someone go to her house and find out where those two numbers are, and somehow get mine off the list?”

Long pause like she’s trying to process then, “Somethingdaughterunintelligible .”

“What?”

Slowly, like she’s talking to a moron, “I’ll..have…her…daughter…stop…by,” but she said it in such a way that sounded like she had no intention of talking to the daughter. She just said it to get me off the phone.

“Thank you. Good bye.”

Those poor old folks, having to deal with a bitch like that. I just wanted to reach through the phone and choke her.

@Dutchess_III Call Umeroductfooserforsomething every day from now on, for a week or three, each day repeating the same questions that you asked her today.
Lets see if she gets it then.
Thanks for the update.

@Dutchess_III: When you have an experience like that, you ask for the supervisor, or Director, or Manager. Then you speak to them. There’s no need to deal with rudeness and incompetence at a low level.

I’ll bet Emma would rather talk to you than to Ms. Supercilious Her.

Well, she didn’t call today. But now I’m just worried about all the people who have to deal with that.