Every era and every period has its own strange stories. Stories that are either true or not and are just urban legends, become viral. In the past this was done by word of mouth and now it is done more easily, through social media. These stories are widely circulated, because they offer the world an explanation for something that is unknown or incomprehensible to them (e.g. Turkish agents set fires in Greece), offer solutions for some intractable problems (a miracle happened) or offer hope…
In the third category belongs the imaginative story of the “rich ladies of Varvakeio”. The story that started in 2011, goes like this.
“Twelve ladies, elegant, well-groomed, smiling and kind,” arrived early Thursday morning in three jeeps at the Varvakeio market.
Dressed in black, accompanied by a sufficient number of “security guards”, they entered the stores and told owners and employees: “for three hours we pay for all the purchases of your customers.”
This is how the president of the butchers of Varvakiou described the third, in a row, “philanthropic attack” in this area. And in the Lifo.gr article we read
“According to what is reported, these ladies are administrative employees of a well-known multinational who want to remain anonymous. During their visit today, it is said that they paid 2000-3000 euros in each shop and left as usual in jeeps.”
And in Kathimerini of the same period we read:
“The identity of the women who “descended” yesterday morning at Varvakeio Agora, handing out shopping to consumers, remains unknown. Also known as the “ladies with the jeeps” they had hit the market again at Christmas, when they had handed out a lot of money. This time, the amount they gave to unsuspecting citizens is estimated to exceed 40,000 euros.
In particular, at 10 yesterday morning, a group of about 10 women, who were riding in two large displacement jeeps and two other luxury cars, arrived in Varvakeio and “anchored” next to the cash registers of the shops. Whenever they saw that the consumer did not have the necessary money to pay for their purchases, they paid the bill themselves. “They mainly helped those who saw that they had taken small amounts of food,” the president of Varvakeio, Kleanthis Tsironis, tells “K”. “Where they had caught a fish, they would eventually leave with 6-7 kilos of fish.” Because of the days, of course, particularly large quantities of meat were distributed.
The “action” lasted until approximately 12 noon, that is, until the channels and journalists arrived. In view of the camera the unknown women turned to smoke. “Many people felt lucky,” says Mr. Tsironis. “It is not bad for those who have to give.”
According to unconfirmed information, the women may be administrative employees of a multinational company.”
The Greek “miracle” of Easter was very easily proven to be just a hoax. In the age of smart phones where each of us has a camera on us, it is very difficult to have something so impressive happen every year and someone has not recorded it. In addition to the fact that no one had audio-visual material of the “rich ladies” many merchants of Varvakeio asked themselves “why do these ladies go to other shops and not ours?”, indirectly but clearly saying that the story, but the most important thing was that they did not was found for an interview, on the many channels that were in the market, someone to confirm, that these ladies gave him free food.
The most likely explanation for this urban legend is that it was an advertising trick thought up by some merchants of Varvakeio, in the midst of the financial crisis, to attract both the media for free advertising, and the people who “gambled” to go there. and get free meat.
