Who hasn't been the victim of a rumor?
I think the time in my life when I was the most talked
about was the years after the death of my husband,
when I lived in Colorado and owned the radio stations
in that small town. The unknown, made worse only
by those that knew a little, plus the firing of employees,
set the stage for many rumors in the small western
town.
I can't tell you how many times I sold the stations,
how many times they were foreclosed upon, how
many times I was declaring bankruptcy, or how
many times I was leaving town. In the end the
stations were not foreclosed upon (they were sold
for what was owed on them and nothing scarred
or blemised my credit).
Families are good at rumors as well, to make up
for what you're not telling them. A family member
from my family was quoted telling someone that
I was 'losing it' before (and that's probably not
far off - ha), and goodness knows what all I haven't
heard about. My family in laws had this rumor
they actually believed; that my husband had had
a vasectomy in the navy and couldn't have children
(this was actually started by his ex who wanted kids
but couldn't get pregnant so God forbid she should
blame herself for something). I can only imagine
their shock when I became pregnant.
And rumors come from either jealous people, or nosy
people you're not telling enough to. And don't forget
the people that have absolutely no life, but it's
been my experience they fall into one of the other
catagories as well (jealous, nosy, family, pissed off
ex employee, etc.).
In my radio station days, the rumors were so far
off base all I had to do was wait a few months
to prove them wrong. I did date this one guy
for a short while (remember the guy I dated who
stood to inherit a fortune but I wasn't sure what
he did for a living?) and I suspected him of
fueling some of the rumors, so here's what I
did to him - one day I gave him a slanted version
of the truth to something. Then a few other people
I gave a different slanted version of the story
to. Then I waited to see which story came back
to me as a rumor. That confirmed the guy
I was dating was indeed spreading the untruths.
Confronting him of course he denied it, but
I had all the proof I needed. I tend to do
that sometimes, be a little sneaky :)
Rumors can be both funny as crap and annoying
as all get out.
There is one story I have about how a rumor
got totally out of control, thankfully I wasn't
involved. Well, I sorta was but not really.
Back to the radio stations...A rumor got out
that a uhm, less than reputable 'lady' in the
town had called the radio station talk line
to say she had AIDS and named names of
all the guys she had slept with. Remember,
this was only a rumor, it never happened.
I never in a million years thought what
happened after that would happen....
Apparently she had slept with an awful lot
of guys, mostly married men from what I
gathered. This rumor spread like wildfire.
The station was besieged with phone calls
from worried men asking if this was true.
We denied that it happened, which was the
truth. I have no clue whether she really
had AIDS or not. Doctors started calling
asking if this was true. One doctor
demanded we go on the air with a
retraction...that's when I finally got involved.
I asked her how could we go on the air
with a retraction to something that never
happened?? I was asked about this issue
and tricked into giving an interview for
a local newspaper... it made the front page.
We were totally stymied that a rumor had
gotten this far out of control. I'm not sure
how many months it took for that one to
die down. I do know (from fielding phone
calls) that there were some worried married
men.
I take everything I hear with a grain of salt,
and I totally forget most of it within an hour.
That's why I'm not good on the gossiping front.
I've had people call me on the phone going on and
on about other people and I keep interrupting
asking, "WHO?" "Who is that?" "Am I supposed
to know them?" I don't do it on purpose, I really
have no clue, and it takes the fun out of it for them.
I think I'm this way because of the radio years,
and because I was the victim of such malicious
gossip for years. Mind you most of it came from
people I didn't know, but I was in the public eye
so I was game. As I told the newspaper in a letter
to the Editor before - thank you for thinking enough
about us to start a rumor!
It is annoying at times, it is funny as crap at times
(especially later), but it is also a compliment. If
they didn't envy you or were not mesmerized in
some sort of way by you, they wouldn't think
enough about you to start a rumor. As long as
there is a market for anything there will be
a product, rumors included! I must admit I
don't always ignore. Usually I quietly and
discreetly investigate to get proof. Then I go
after the source with a blaze of fury. Other times
I do ignore, it just depends on the rumor and
the source.
