Setback or Springboard

It’s a killer—living among the sin-ensconced villains. It hurts, it discourages, and it humiliates  to be almost swindled (let alone BE swindled). I ask myself, “Can I learn from this?” and “Can I be a better person having experienced this?” My problem is that I can’t jump to that conclusion—oh, maybe in my mind—yet until I’ve considered the discouragement that has set me back: the horrible feeling inside that births despair, the belief in people that goes down the tubes, and the throwing up of hands while uttering “What’s the use?!”
Last Friday I had a “job”; today I don’t. It promised me—finally—something I could do for myself and my family. It promised security. And it was right up my alley! After an interview, a signed contract, and equipment—MacBook, HP LaserJet printer, and software--being promised to be installed in my home, I was ready to take on this new opportunity. It was just a matter of depositing their check in my bank account so I could pay the vendor when the equipment arrived.
My bank said otherwise. They said it was a con. They looked at the contract from a “bona fide” company and the invoice for the materials I would receive to be their “Proofreading Assistant.” They said that this happens a lot, and people lose thousands of dollars. I told them I had an interview, signed a contract, and was assigned a supervisor. I had communicated with two people on Skype, and the company is legitimate. But--I came to realize that it’s the co-opting of that legitimate company that is false. Villains derive and replicate false fronts (logos and company information) and create false documents and a false scenario to lead you along. This one went so far as to “interview” me. Thanks, bank ladies, for explaining how “good” they can be about conning people.
​So, after declaring to myself a few stupid-me-isms, can this be used for good? Can I come out “smelling” (getting a whiff of the money-grubbers, perhaps) even better than I was when I went in? I hope so! I mean, I would hate to waste this trial--it’s painful, it’s debilitating, it’s a killer. But the hoodwinking is beyond the pale of nonchalance. I will learn from this. It will be a springboard for a better me!