MW had me take a day off work so I could accompany her to a job fair for moral support. It was a three hour event in a hotel's large conference room. I walked her to the where the meeting was scheduled to take place then she quickly turned me around and shuffled me back to a chair in the corner of the lobby. She didn't want anybody to see she was there with a white guy. They'd never hire her.
You know how this ends.
In fifteen minutes, MW was done. She complained that nobody really wanted to talk with her and she only handed out one resume.
"They must have seen me with you," she complained and shot me a nasty look.
***
She didn't get the part time bank job either. Again, it was a racial thing. Nobody likes Indians. Or white guys. We're lucky we haven't been shot dead on the street yet. Yet.
***
After the failed interview and the job fair disaster, MW decided she needed to brush up on her interviewing skills and effect a more professional appearance. Jackets, now. She'll wear jackets. And earrings. Immediately after the hotel, we drove to a jewelry store and spent $1500 on a pair of "professional" earrings for next time.
Then she rushed home, hopped on the computer, and started watching youtube clips of interviewing strategies.
In the end, however, she concluded that the best path will be to disguise herself as a black woman - easy to do with her hair and skin color. All she needs is to practice the talk.
And that was interesting - listening to MW try to sound "black".
Gently, gently I nudged her away from this strategy. Or maybe I give myself too much credit, as I think she soon realized she couldn't pull it off. Anyway, we're back at square one. MW is confused and angry at her inability to pass an interview. She demands I tell her why and gets furious when I offer up lame excuses like; "you're just over-qualified" or, my favorite, "they probably already knew who they want to hire, but they have to post the job for legal reasons." That actually worked very well in the beginning, but now she's suspicious. It can't be true for every job!
***
An issue brought up by my lawyer friend was the possibility of MW being taken advantage of - financially - because of her dementia. I brushed it off - MW goes the other way; absolute and total mistrust of everybody. Even me. I can't take a dollar's worth of quarters from the lose change drawer without giving an account. However, I've noticed she's been buying a lot of crap from HSN. So far not a problem; its just more junk cluttering up my office.
I haven't had the bandwidth to worry about money. We're dying; I'm not going to nickle and dime it. This process is completely draining anyway. A million dollars; one dollar, what difference would it make? The end is going to be the same.
No, I've decided I'm not going to worry about the bank account.
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