My wife has recently become acquainted with a woman in our neighborhood who was a regular at the store my wife works at. My wife is a very outgoing and kind person, unlike me, and she makes friends easily. Unfortunately, the more my wife finds out about this woman, the more she has boundaries set up around her.
To be frank, this woman is the perfect example of a moocher. Not someone who comes around asking for money from her, but someone who does it in a more roundabout way: she gets money from the government.
This woman has been on unemployment for a long time and has openly stated that because she is on unemployment, she will not look for a permanent job. Instead, she will look around for the occasional odd jobs for work. Right now, she is trying to find work as a dog walker. Unfortunately, when she applied to a local agency, her criminal record came up and she was denied a job.
She has a criminal history of theft. I do not know how often she has gotten entangled in this kind of thing or how long ago it was, but it is certainly a big red flag for most employers, even in an area like mine where the economy has not yet taken a huge downward spiral.
In any case, I do not believe her to be a nasty person and she has hints of work ethic. One time when my wife was working, a co-worker quit in the middle of his shift on a holiday and having no else to work for her, this woman did lend a helping hand for a few hours while the customers were taken care of.
At the same time, it is disconcerting to hear about her attitudes about taking welfare. Not only does she express any shame in it, she practically boosts about it. I believe she bragged to my wife that she was getting food stamps soon as well. Beyond just her attitudes about money and where it comes from, she demonstrates a clear destructive streak that I think you will find among many other moochers.
Her driving habits basically boil down to not paying attention to the road and doing many other things like texting. She is more than likely suffering addiction problems as she is usually drunk or has the shakes when my wife meets her. I am sure she has her good sober days and perhaps my wife just does not notice those times, but the fact that she has shakes when she is not intoxicated is a little unnerving. In any case, I am not too sure how severe the problem is because I am no expert on addiction.
What we have here is a woman who has had trouble with the law for stealing, possibly alcoholic, and constantly looking for the easiest way to live without regard for the long-term consequences. I can think of no better example of a moocher than this woman.
Am I angry with this woman? Hardly. In fact, I pity her more than anything else in the sense that she behaves like a child in many matters and does not seem to understand the personal destruction she is bringing upon herself through her behavior. Or perhaps she does understand and simply does not care. Either way, if we were to imagine a large portion of the United States citizenry to be like this woman, then I think you can see why our economy is in a downward spiral. The moocher class has gotten way too big in this country and it is high time that we stopped allowing them to have their way.