Bena Mae’s Kitchen: I’m mad as h*ll and I’m not going to take it anymore

This line is from the classic movie “Network.” But I’m taking it as my logo because it’s time for women to take charge of rip-offs and scammers who take advantage of innocent women and from whom these schemers try to separate from their money. By hook or by crook, crook being the key word here.
I’m speaking of women in general but more specifically of elderly women who are daily scammed by criminals on the telephone who play on the woman’s age and vulnerability, women, who, in many cases want to speak to anyone who will break up the monotony of living alone and having no one to talk to.
I don’t talk to telephone scammers. I refuse to give them a chance to start their spiel. But I have been the victim of local scammers, yard men, auto repair men, plumbers. Because I was raised, dear reader, in a time when a man’s word was his bond. The word “trust” was stamped upon his brain.
However, my age and experience have taught me that “trust” is no longer a usable word in the English language. It has become as frivolous as Gomer Pyle’s “Shazam.”
I cite as proof some of the idiocy of my “taking a man’s word for it.” I guess that comes from my believing that my father, who was the soul of honesty, was the example of every man. As I grew older and wiser, I found out that this was not the norm.
Several years ago, my car was acting up. It rattled like an old wringer washer every time I stopped at a red light. So I pulled into a service station to have it checked. Two eager repairmen raised it up on a rack for a “diagnosis.”
In a few minutes they came out and showed me a handful of rusty nuts and bolts and said, “Lady, I don’t know who put these on your car but you got cheated.” I told them to replace them with new ones and then drove home.
Remembering that I had had the car serviced at the same service station the month before, I got out the old receipt. The repair work had been done by these same two men. I let my son handle it, which he did…with force, and a few choice words.
Then there was the time a plumber, local, by the way, was working on unstopping my clogged drain. About halfway through, he said he had to go to the hardware store to get a part. I never saw him again.
Another time, a man passed by my house and noticing the dandelions with their white heads filling the air in my front yard said, “I can spray those for you and kill them. “How much?” I said. “50 dollars,” he said, “but I can’t do it tonight cause I’ve got to go to prayer meeting. I can come back tomorrow.” I agreed, thinking he would surely do a good job because he was a Christian.
He came back the next night and sprayed the whole yard. The following year I had a yard overflowing with white pesky dandelions. He had sprayed my yard with WATER. “Christian” was not the word I called him.
So ladies, if you’re tired of being lied to, scammed, taken advantage of, and treated like a know-nothing nincompoop, stick your head out the window and yell for all to hear, “I’M MAD AS H*LL… AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

Spiced Toffee Squares

1/2 cup butter, melted, cooled
1 egg
1 pkg. (2-layer size) spice cake mix
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup cold milk
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
2 Tbsp. toffee bits

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
MIX first 3 ingredients just until blended; press onto bottom of 13×9-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 15 to 17 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.
BEAT pudding mix, milk and spice in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Gradually stir in COOL WHIP until well blended; spread over crust. Refrigerate 2 hours. Sprinkle with toffee bits just before serving.
Dessert can be refrigerated up to 2 days before serving.