Heloise

Dear Heloise: I read your column in the Los Angeles Daily News. Here’s the latest phone scam I’ve received. You might want to share this one with your readers.

I received a phone call from a man who said he worked for my cable company. He was going to give me new software for my TV and cable box as a free upgrade, but needed my account number to do that. He said that since I pay by check, the checking account number is the same as my cable account number, so he said I should get my checkbook and give him the account number. I told him that I wasn’t going to do that.

He told me if he didn’t get the account number, he’d immediately cancel all of my cable services, send a large technician to take my cable boxes and disconnect the cable from the pole, along with sending the police here to arrest me. Then he said, “Give me your account number, or you will be banned from having cable or satellite TV and the internet forever.” I told him, “No,” and he hung up. — John Schlank, Granada Hills, California

A FUNNY MEMORY

Dear Heloise: I read your column in the Temple Daily Telegram every day, and today’s column brought back the time I marked the difference between my pairs of black and navy shoes. This was after I had accidentally worn one of each. When I got home from work, I decided I wouldn’t make this mistake again. I got out both pairs and my white-out pen. Not thinking, I marked my black shoes with a “B,” and then marked my navy shoes with a “B” for blue!

Before it dawned on me that I had made a stupid mistake, once again, I wore a mixed pair to work. It then dawned on me what I had done while marking the shoes. I enjoy your column so much and have been a Heloise fan since back when your mother was writing the column. Many good hints to help a young married woman in the early 1960s. — Judy Lindemann, via email

REUSING NEWSPAPER SLEEVES

Dear Heloise: I cringe every time someone brags about how they reuse the plastic newspaper delivery sleeves.They are assuming that the newspaper delivery person practices good hygiene, when you actually have no idea where their hands have been or when was the last time they washed/sanitized their hands before handling that plastic sleeve. Yuck! — Mark Bleeker in Southern California, via email

TAKING MEDS AT NIGHT

Dear Heloise: Like many others, I often have to take a pill in the nighttime. I found a way to do it without turning on the light and without spilling the pills, which my cat might end up eating. A small, sliding matchbox holds about a dozen pills. To be sure I open it right side up in the dark, I stick an address label over a paper clip on the top side. I can remove one pill, then slide the box shut. Also on the nightstand is a cup with a wide, weighted bottom and a short, bent straw for a quick mouthful of water without spilling. I read your column in the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. — Heather Banks, Rockingham County, Virginia

GRADUATION GIFTS

Dear Heloise: Several years ago, we started giving high school graduates a set of tools for graduation. It includes an adjustable wrench, slip-joint and needle-nose pliers, a hammer, flat-head screwdrivers, a tape measure, a utility knife and a roll of duct tape. These come in handy in dorms or apartments and can be easily stored in a small drawstring sack.

It appears most kids leave home without any tools. — Leon Okes, via email

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