What is the worst case of small-town gossip that you've encountered?
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Certain people in small towns & rural areas can not grasp fact that someone legitimately makes plenty of money working rather they assert that "he is a drug dealer". That is a refrain I've heard over and over when I know darn well the guy has a high paying long hours out of town job.
Even if you say not true "he's a x for y company" they still persist he couldn't make that much money. It seems to give them an excuse for their own lackluster economic performance.
LOL! Just change the names and that is the story I'm living. Yes, half the town is delighted to see me and says life is boring when I'm not around, it is the simpler half of town that dreams up the crazy rumors.
"A mysterious, darkly beautiful woman named Cassandra Nightingale moves into an old, abandoned house which is reputed to be haunted by its original owner, "The Grey Lady". The small community is divided in their opinion of her: Some want her to stay (especially widowed police chief Jake Russell and his two children), while others want her to leave."
I've lived 60 miles from town, in towns of 250, and (unfortunately) in cities of a few million. People gossip.
The worst I ever dealt with was a woman (proudly diagnosed with "histrionic personality disorder") who wanted to be sure you DID know about any gossip that involved her. Oi! It took a bit to convince her that I wasn't interested. Then I had to remind her once in a while.
Did have a woman accuse me of not taking good care of a foster son. She, unfortunately, met him on Halloween when he was supposed to be a "scary scarecrow" but by the time he got to her house, he just looked neglected in crummy clothes. lol She gave him sweats, a jacket, new hat and mittens. All things she had picked up for great-grandchildren. He thought trick or treating in small town America was awesome. I only had to deal with some curious questions and looks for a couple weeks.
All of these sound good... do any of you have any stories where someone ends up committing suicide or is falsely accused of say, rape or child molestation?
Using mental care in small community is big mistake...Gave some of the local kids a really hard time when some of the adults approach green kid with 'stigma' about mental care or whatever went wrong (due to some kind of abuser locally).
Mental care is never used as way to rattle a trouble maker anyway, just screw up victims more & use the care in town and will cause more verbal abuse for the poor kid.
Don't even fill RX in small town sometimes if you don't want everyone checking it out.
Using mental care in small community is big mistake...Gave some of the local kids a really hard time when some of the adults approach green kid with 'stigma' about mental care or whatever went wrong (due to some kind of abuser locally).
Mental care is never used as way to rattle a trouble maker anyway, just screw up victims more & use the care in town and will cause more verbal abuse for the poor kid.
Don't even fill RX in small town sometimes if you don't want everyone checking it out.
I understand some of what you said... but what were you specifically referring to?
Well the latest rumor about me is that I'm a lesbian, not that I've done anything to qualify, I've just rebuffed all the guys hitting on me, so by default I must be.......... The reality is they all have drinking problems, and I'm no longer impressed by pick-up lines like "you want to _uck?"
All of these sound good... do any of you have any stories where someone ends up committing suicide or is falsely accused of say, rape or child molestation?
Being falsely accused of child molestation unfortunately in my hometown back in the 70s anyway it really didn't take very much. Two guys moving into a house together in the neighborhood and then somebody starts of rumor that the two guys are not only gay but they are also into little boys. Back in those days my uncle was on our local police force and I can remember him telling us the calls they would get like "..Two middle aged men are living next door to me and I have an 11 year old son...arrest them !!". Like that is enough to arrest them. Kinda like say a young single woman in her 20s would rent an apartment for herself in the neighborhood and whenever one's husband is late from coming from work the wives would assume right off the bat that the woman is having an affair with their husbands...arrest her !!! Yes my uncle would receive calls about this sort of thing too.
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