# In which Otto receives another lesson in why Helping People Is Bad **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595 "2004-01-29T16:10:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/21 "2004-01-30T05:02:17Z")
I made the same mistake a few months ago. A woman came to my door and asked to use the bathroom, said she couldn’t make it up the hill. I am like you in that I figured things were OK until I heard her going thorugh the bathroom drawers. Son of a Bitch…I asked her loudly to leave and made sure she didn’t take anything as she left. I then followed her and she was doing it to others on the other side of the neighborhood. She was in a car, I got the plate number and called the police. There isn’t any stranger coming in this house again regardless, they can pee on the friggin street. I would have never let an unknown male in the house, I trusted the woman more. Its feels cruel but it isn’t happening again. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/22 "2004-01-30T14:38:52Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I never thought I would be advised by anyone that I should become _more_ cynical. Darling, you can never be too rich or too thin or too cynical. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/23 "2004-01-30T16:57:43Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > This seems to be the default mindset of a lot of my patients. I trust the implications of **Qadgop the Mercotan** making this statement (given the “nature” of his patients) are not lost on anyone… ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/24 "2004-01-30T17:31:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I trust the implications of Qadgop the Mercotan making this statement (given the “nature” of his patients) are not lost on anyone… Indeed, but I took the charitable view that he was not saying I have a ciminal mentality, but that criminals believe the naive should be ripped off. The world is full of two-legged predators, and it’s up to each person to look after his own safety. Being kind to people is laudable, but don’t be foolish in the process. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/25 "2004-01-31T03:23:01Z")
Helping people and trusting people are two entirely different things. It would be a shame to confuse the two at your expense and the expense of others. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/26 "2004-01-31T22:07:16Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Darling, you can never be too rich or too thin… Wasn’t that Karen Carpenter’s motto?? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/27 "2004-01-31T22:13:31Z")
> [@2nd Law](#): > > Wasn’t that Karen Carpenter’s motto?? And if only Mama Cass had shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they’d both be alive today. Oh, I am sooo going to Hell for that one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/28 "2004-01-31T22:14:07Z")
> [@2nd Law](#): > > Wasn’t that Karen Carpenter’s motto?? No, that was “You can never sing too many creepy incestuous love songs with your brother”. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/29 "2004-01-31T23:10:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > No, that was “You can never sing too many creepy incestuous love songs with your brother”. Oh, I thought that was Marie Osmond. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/30 "2004-01-31T23:30:48Z")
> [@2nd Law](#): > > Oh, I thought that was Marie Osmond. They share top honors. 😃 \<---- Osmond smile ---
**Author:** ![Zigarre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/bbce88/32.png) [@Zigarre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zigarre)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/31 "2004-02-01T05:09:05Z")
Otto I hope I’m wrong in bringing this point up, but it might be wise to consider the possibility of this scenario nonetheless. You may not have seen, or experienced, the last of this butt nugget. Is it possible she was casing the neighborhood when she found you? If so, she would know which home is yours, what time you return from work, what valuables you have, where you might store them, etc. I would make a call to the authorities regarding her anyway, just in case a pattern exists here. I find it interesting that a previously homeless person, presumably without access to a phone during that time, would recall as many phone numbers as she apparently did. The “living with strangers” comment she made seems out of place too. Good Luck ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595/32 "2004-02-01T06:11:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Helping people and trusting people are two entirely different things. It would be a shame to confuse the two at your expense and the expense of others. Well said, County. I would have said “I don’t have a phone” or something like that to her though. I mean, in cases like this, it’s just NO. _shrugs_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-otto-receives-another-lesson-in-why-helping-people-is-bad/226595.md?page=1)