Good Grief!

A good friend of mine recently unexpectedly lost her mother. As her father has never been in the picture, she had to deal with all the aftermath on her own. I must say, for being in her 20's, she behaved admirably. What I found truly horrifying was how several people thought it was a great time to try and take advantage of the situation. While visiting her mother's home to pay their condolences, several of her mother's friend's laid claim to some of her various knick knacks and other possessions telling my friend that they were gifts they had given her mother in past years. Awash with grief and flustered with making funeral arrangements, she could do little but nod and let them carry off her mother's things. Whether they were telling the truth or not, she had no way of knowing until someone tried to claim a lamp she knew she had given to her mother for Mother's Day. How dare they? Later on when she was attempting to sell her mother's home, something she didn't wish to do but had to due to financial constraints, the buyer pulled all sorts of crap and even down right lied on several occasions to try and get a better deal. He figured she was young and too wrapped in grief to notice. Why do people behave this way? How can they look themselves in the mirror? Luckily my friend is sharp and was able avoid most of the pitfalls, but it's really sad that she had to spend the months following her mother's death just trying not to get screwed.