Fraud can come in many different packages – as a billion-dollar investment scam or as a bait-and-switch at your local retailer. It can also show up with a mop, a bucket and a work ethic that just doesn’t measure up.
According to Freida Troughfinger of Mequon’s exclusive Eastwyn Bay neighborhood, a dusty floor, a smudged television screen and a cobweb on a light fixture can add up to fraud as sure as a Ponzi can.
“I’m not naming names, but there’s a certain Hungarian immigrant housekeeper that has worked for years in Mequon that is just not up to snuff anymore!” When pressed for details, Ms. Troughfinger rattled off a litany of offenses.
“Dust in the corners, hair in the sink, a stain on the bedside table where I enjoy my Kefir, and there were nicks at the bottom of Nanna’s curio where she must have banged it with the vacuum cleaner!”
When asked why she hired the housekeeper in the first place, Ms. Troughfinger recalled glowing recommendations from friends and neighbors. “And honestly, the first ten or twelve years, she did a wonderful job. But she’s sort of wily, like that Bernie Madoff. She roped us in, then when we started to count on her, the service went to hell.” Ms. Troughfinger shook her head in disgust. “Now she just grabs her cash and goes through the motions.”
Ms. Troughfinger plans to let her aging, underachieving housekeeper go as soon as she can find another one who works as cheaply and takes cash under the table.
