Scam

I think I’ve unearthed a scam in our area. This afternoon I got a call from the sentry that the Clean Environment Air Duct man was here. Well, I was the only one home and no one had organized an estimate. I called both of my parents and neither was available. I sent the estimator packing as no one authorized or would authorize this service.

He left a card with a big green recycling symbol, no address and no name. He wrote his cell phone number and an illegible name on the card. (Is it Tom or John? Clearly it could be either.)

Just now this guy called back saying that he was here and the homeowners had set up an appointment. Wrong. Neither of my parents set up the appointment and he got a bit aggressive before my mother ended the call. I’m wondering if this is just a scam.

A friend told me that her parents got duped by a traveling fix it guy who noticed their roof had hale damage. Really? How do you notice that from street level? Unfortunately, her parents believed him and paid him a tidy sum and it’s not clear that this guy did any more than bang his hammer on their roof a bit.

Just a couple minutes ago the scam artist, John/Tom at 847-630-5560 of “Clean Environment” Air Duct Specialists called back saying he should have apologized. I agreed, told him we were in the midst of dinner and no interest in any estimates. I wonder who gave them my parents’ information. Could it have been the air conditioning repair people from last month? Could it have been an online source?

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Word of the Week

Canadian Olympian Medallists honoured

Canadian Olympian Medallists honoured (Photo credit: VancityAllie)

You won’t believe it’s a real word, but it’s in the Oxford English Dictionary.

This week’s word is Olympianly. It doesn’t roll off the tongue and I suppose represents a wide range of conduct.

Olympianly, adv.

Pronunciation: Brit. /əˈlɪmpɪənli/, U.S. /əˈlɪmpiənli/, /oʊˈlɪmpiənli/
Forms: also with lower-case initial.
Etymology: < Olympian adj.1 + -ly suffix2.
In an Olympian manner; loftily, condescendingly.

  • 1871 Echo 21 June 1/1 The Times..a little too Olympianly,..intimates that Mr. Gladstone’s argument for the Bill ‘perishes on analysis’.
  • 1949 Listener 17 Nov. 860/2 Augustus John..has always been olympianly remote, a psychological factor which I think the critic should remember.
  • 1975 F. Exley Pages from Cold Island ix. 151 It was..a trumpeting command issued from Wilson’s Olympianly pedantic heights.
  • 1999 D. F. Wallace Brief Interviews with Hideous Men 148 Note..that its not like it’s any kind of Olympianly high aesthetic standards that have caused you to toss out 63% of the original octet.

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