Learn From My Story
Just a few days ago, I was mentioning about rampant misinformation during covid-19. And today, I hate to say that my mom is a victim of that.
My mom took this picture and I edited it today. That's the sunflower that I planted about three months ago. My chili is also growing.
It all started about four days ago when my mom called me in the morning. She was very excited and asked me to check on the government bank website. So, as some of you might know, my mom and I have our own bakery and pastry business. It’s a micro business that we run as our side hustle.This year, under my mom’s name, we registered the business to receive government funding aid for micro business during the covid-19. We got accepted and we are eligible to receive 82.81$ or equivalent of 1.200.000 IDR. We received the funding in early May. I know, to some of you that may not be a huge sum but to me and my mom’s business, it was helping us afloat especially during this time.
So, that day my mom received a text message from my uncle about a next round for micro business funding. Her brother(my uncle) got the information from his friend. My mom is someone who often trusts her family. So, knowing that it came from her brother, she believed it. During that call, she was ecstatic because my mom's wage has decreased and so has her working hours. Now that we have the business, we were hoping that it could help her make more cookies,cakes, and snacks.
Without much of a thought, I went to the government bank website as my mom instructed me via a video call. So, I did. I entered all the details needed and then I got the message on the screen saying that she received the help and was able to make a reservation to receive it. So, I made a reservation because we are still in a movement restriction. After that, my mom kept telling me all her further plans with the money and now that she has more time, she could finally focus on it more.
After that day, we were only waiting for the reservation date which was going to be Friday this week. But I suddenly got a call from my mom today when I just ended a video call session with her.
“ Hey, your uncle said that we couldn’t receive the help because they changed the rule”
“ What? Where did you see it?” I asked.
“ His friend came to the bank today and they told him that”
I was even more skeptical and my mom was telling me to check on the news about it. So apparently so many media outlets are reporting that people can check if they are able to receive the micro business fund. However, there are terms and conditions that these online medias are forgetting to mention. Basically, the micro business fund is only once a year. It’s not twice or thrice. There are many people on twitter who are also talking about it. I saw some replies that the government bank said that it’s only one time thing instead of twice or even thrice. I forwarded the screenshot of the bank’s response to my mom and even uploaded it to my indonesian number. So, that way others may know the actual situation instead of having false hope they could get another funding during this time.
What was my mistake?
I failed to do due diligence and even researched the information thoroughly. This would not have happened if I asked the bank directly instead of just relying on second even third hand sources. It is important these days to know and ask “ where?”, “who?” and “what?” even “why?”. This will help us identify the truth. So, though this was not a mistake I normally do, that time I got carried away. Now, that also reminds me of many teachings from Kevin Mitnick that emphasize human errors rather than machine errors. In the end, it’s always best not to get carried away because sometimes, things are just too good to be true.
 | Mac covers technology, philosophy, nootropics, books, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than those, she is passionate about cooking and travel. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. Hive is the only social media and blog that she has. |
I would have been pissed if I were in the same spot. I'd usually browse the net for some news about similar stuff before getting my ass out of the house to do the errands. Ain't no one going to mess with my introverted laziness that quick. Sorry to hear about the disappointment, I know how difficult it is to have a struggling business and some stuff aren't in your control to some degree. My first food business was a side hustle and a bust. I just learned to try a better tact next time, hope it goes well for you.
It is not helping when the media outlets is overrun with hoax. It's like even when I was checking on twitter, I had to dig deeper before I found my similar question and the bank reply to it. What happened to your first food business? what did you learn from it? I could use some advice.
That's super rough that you guys were told misinformation... its hard to have your hopes up and then get them dashed. Wishing you both the best, it's been hard for businesses throughout the pandemic.
Yeah, it's tougher for business these days since we are currently in another strict movement and businesses are only operating half of the time. People aren't really buying other than the essentials. So, since ours isn't really essential product, getting a customer is quite a challenge. And thanks for the wishes 😊
That’s a tough spot to be in. I’ve been there myself and hearing all kinds of information from different sources that heard it from Tom when they were at the market who heard it from Mike when he was buying groceries that heard it from Dave who was actually at the bank. It happens so much that the information gets all out of whack and the best, like you learned in the end, is to just go to the source and ask the question lol. Hopefully your mom learns that too but I know the type, thinking that because they are family they are going to be correct. Not always the case!
That's what I told her at the end of our conversation. These days it's hard to believe in anything and sometimes fact-checkers don't help too.
Fact checkers are such a load of shit! That stuff really drives me nuts. Very little is a “fact” and far too much is a biased opinion. People who do the checking are too often incredibly biased and it ends up just being censorship.
i had received mine also, early this year, and one of my friend on facebook are spreading the news all day long for a day. Before changing his writing tone the very next day when someone who follow his account came to the bank and got rejected because he already received it once.
what more shocking is my friend is a Kaling, and can't even get the fact right before spreading the news.
hah see! so it was on a massive scale. I found out it was a hoax when I searched on twitter and some people were asking about it to the bank. They were replying that it's only one time thing for a year. It's really difficult tackling misinformation especially when it comes about government welfare these days.
seems like the internet are advancing so much faster than our people can chew, so they think what they see on the internet are true. and thus making the misinformation spread far and wide. not just for government aids, and any misleading info about the pandemic itself.