It Was All Just a Scam

Kind of sad when your own daughter/step-daughter tries to scam you and put you into debt by not quite telling you the whole story, isn't it?

Here's what happened last night.

Kelly calls and Keith talks to her, the whole time thinking that her boyfriend has broken up with her and she is stranded in a foreign country and short of trying to get herself deported has no option other than to ask us to buy her a plane ticket home. As Keith is trying to get the particulars of airports and travel plans, she says that he needs to buy the round trip ticket because it is cheaper than one way. What? Round trip ticket? Buy a round trip just because it's cheaper than one way? What? Hold on just a minute, here.
Did you and your boyfriend break up or what's going on? Oh, we actually did get married but we are sleeping on couches and I need to come home for a while until the economy gets better here and I can come back and get a job. What? Either that or Sean (the unknown husband) will be coming to the US next summer to work here. What? You want us to buy you a round trip ticket to the tune of about $1200.00 and put it on our credit card so that we are further into debt when we haven't had a real vacation since we've been married and no way could we afford to even buy a round trip BUS TICKET right now?!?!? Oh, but you say you'll get a job while you are here and pay us back? Like you paid us back for the $500.00 cell phone bill that you ran up the last time you stayed here?

After he hangs up the phone I look at Keith and say 'No, we are not buying her a round trip ticket so that she can come here and live on our couch and eat our food and run up our bills for 6 months and then use her round trip plane ticket THAT WE ARE PAYING FOR to go back to her husband. Her husband, who should be the one taking care of her, not us. No, she is not getting a round trip ticket from us and we are not going into debt to buy it for her. Absolutely not.

Well, we found a solution, since the whole problem seems to be a matter of her needing money rather than needing to come home. Keith had been talking to his mother the night before (when she said that she absolutely would not let Kelly stay there ever again) and she had mentioned that she had put aside some money for each grandchild as an inheritance, and Kelly had asked for that money before she left for England, but Grandma told her no she had to wait until she died to get that money. Looking back at how that conversation must have gone I'm kind of surprised that Kelly didn't put a little arsenic Grandma's coffee or push her down some stairs or something to hasten the inevitable along.

Anyway, a little light goes on in Keith's head about this money that is set aside for Kelly, so he calls his mom again and asks her if she wouldn't reconsider just giving Kelly the money now so that she could stay far far away from all of us and nobody has to have her come live with them.
Grandma says, you mean that if I give her the inheritance now (about $5000.00) then she can stay in Europe and I'll never have to see her again? You've got it! I'll call tomorrow about getting the money for her, it will take a few days and there will be some fees or penalties, but it will be well worth it if SHE CAN STAY THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY FROM ME!

How sad is that? Kelly was so mean to her grandmother that she is going to be paid to stay away.

Anyway, as I told Keith, we are not now and not ever buying her any plane tickets or sending her any money ever again. If she ever needs to come back to the US (and she can stay with her mom in the crack motel, not here) she will need to set aside some of Grandma's money for a plane ticket BECAUSE WE ARE NOT GOING INTO DEBT FOR HER!!!

I feel so much better, now, yesterday I felt kind of sick and stressed out all day worrying about the whole thing and having to have this extremely unpleasant, lying, manipulating, conniving creature in my house.

We did send off an email to Kelly and told her what is going on and that since she is old enough to get married she and her husband need to step up and be responsible adults. We are not now and not ever going to buy her a plane ticket, especially not a round trip so that she can travel around while we are paying her bills. No!