Walking home today from the hospital (MGH in boston) for my 5 year checkup / physical and had a weird experience.
So on my way back home, I notice a road in between buildings that is a more direct route back to my apt, so I start aimlessly walking down there for a good 50-100 feet before I hear behind me a few times, "excuse me, sir! Sir, excuse me!"....so, since nobody was really around, I stop and turned to see what was up and sure enough, some normal looking guy, about 5'10, in a blazer with glasses approaches me and says something along these lines:
hey man, real quick, thanks for stopping - a bit out of the ordinary, i got a flat tire back down the street and just picked up my sick kid who's in the car so I need to go get a Fix-o-flat over on Charles street...i can give you my license as collateral, but do you mind lending me $13.95 for the Fix-a-flat and i can get you back? ....real embarrassing to have to ask but would appreciate the help...
to which i responded confusingly, "oh charles street is right down there..." to which his response was "oh, i dont have my wallet on me"...and then the nail in the coffin: "I'm not a beggar" - why would he say that??
So basically, having played a lot of poker in my day, i was #1 shocked at how elaborate his story.. was #2 suspicious about how and where he approached me #3 how his eyes would dart around and #4 how hard he swallowed when i asked a simple follow up question and #5 how upon closer inspection his blazer looked worn, his teeth had an insane amount of tarter on them and ... well that's when it just got weird.
Now i'd normally have no problem helping someone out and even offering $20 to whatever if someone was in a real jam, but because of the reasons above, this was clearly a bunch of bullshit lines and I was 99.99999% sure he was just lying and did this on a regular basis to rip people off. What kept me off balance was that it was actually very well executed with only a few verbal flaws...but the body language was screaming lie.
So I said something that in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea: "sorry, i play a lot of poker, I just dont buy it"...i thought that would be that, but instead of just giving up, he went fairly ape shit calling me everything you can think of...which just further confirmed my decision. Nobody acts like you killed their mother if you don't lend them a few $ as a complete stranger - i think what really pissed him off is that I had called him out on his bullshit...
So as I was walking away he followed me and kept screaming random shit like "you f-cking sh-t - you're calling me a liar?! that is so degrading?!!!" to which i responded as i kept walking, "relax man, i don't even know you"...
After I was a safe distance away, i had a weird mix of feelings. Maybe I could / should have played it differently to actually help the guy out. Sure, he didn't have a flat tire, or a sick kid in his car, but he probably could have used the cash. That being said, was interesting to see how you react in these types of situations and how confronting someone face to face can be very uncomfortable. I've personally always hated pathological liars, whether they are "friends" or conmen on the street.
Personally, my stubborn rational side wouldn't let me give $ to someone that was clearly very street smart and knew how to hustle. How can this guy not be hired in sales somewhere? My guess...drugs. What do you think you guys would have done? Do you give to homeless / beggars regularly?
Patrick
LOL...I definitely would not have given him anything, but I wouldn't have bothered saying anything either, especially not about poker. He could have had a weapon, which isn't great in the hands of someone suddenly going from a scam performance to rage.
Things along these lines are fairly common in Noo Yawk, so as a rule I don't give anyone money that is asking for it. That doesn't mean I'm a cheap bastard though...the other day I dropped a dollar in this Chinese guy's basket cuz I was waiting for 10 mins in a hot crowded subway and he was playing this rare Chinese instrument and he was really good and he made my wait a little less miserable, haha.
I would help someone that really needed it, but people that really need tangible help and not booze money probably won't be straight up asking for cash.
Wow you gave $1 to a street performer - amazing generosity.
Agreed
I give them all money with my taxes. In these situations though, I typically only give in extreme cases - i.e. if they lost their legs in war and are in a wheelchair - or if they don't ask but they look like they're having a really rough day.
What I usually do if I have time is sit them down and buy them a meal. Sounds retarded but I would prefer to ensure he/she puts the money to use properly instead of spending in on alcohol and what-not which doesn't help in any way.
I don't like getting hustled, so no, I wouldn't have given him money. But I wouldn't have called him on BS. Just a quick sorry and keep walking. I'll keep my eyes out for this guy next time I'm in Beacon Hill.
Obviously a scam. Had something similar happen to me. Girl approaches me on the street: "Hey my baby is in the car and I can't afford to buy her any food, can you give me some money?" I said, "Let's walk over to the Kroger on the next block and I'll buy you a month's worth of baby formula and a couple loaves of bread and some peanut butter."
She wasn't happy with that response.
Her loss.
love this response...yeah, i think maybe i could have offered to go with him to buy the fix-a-flat since it was "on my way", i just couldnt get myself to play along.
lol
PS. 5 year checkup? I thought once a year was the norm. Man...I'm going to the doctor 4 more times than is necessary.
Ha, I'm on a 5 year check up plan also. Though frankly, at this point, I should probably be going every year
ha, yeah, should be every year...but I'm lazy about that stuff and most of my stats are good...we'll see if all that cod liver fish oil and bourbon got my hdl up...
I don't bother as a rule now with panhandlers. Everyone always needs bus fare, ran out of gas, or w/e. The world owes me from money I have given in the past and getting shit stolen before, so I am not about to start dropping money for a group that statistically has a substance abuse problem.
Statistically has a substance abuse problem. Solid description. I'll definitely be using this line.
I wouldn't have given him the money. But I would have played around with him a little bit before calling him out on his BS. Ask him some follow up questions. See if he trips over himself on his own. That way you can "call him out" without really saying anything to his face.
But 100% clearly a scam. No doubt about it. I would've just had some more fun with it after determining he wasn't a threat.
I've seen this a gazillion times. I used to be the naive midwesterner who'd say "Let's head over to the car and take a look! You might not need that can after all. Otherwise I'll buy it for you."
Now that I am older and wiser, I am the asshole midwesterner who says "Let's head over to the car and take a look! You might not need that can after all. Otherwise I'll buy it for you."
These idiots usually take off running after walking for a few blocks. Invariably it turns out that the car is very, very far away (why did they walk so far away from their car?) Depending on how much I feel like trolling them and how concerned I am that they have the ability and desire to hurt me, I may start jogging after them for a while saying "Hey! Slow down! I didn't know your car was that far away!"
Also, Fix-A-Flat costs ~$6.
Best response here.
This is beautiful.
Definitely sounds like he was strung out from how you explained his actions. I tend to keep my head down and walk fast when in the city and a simple "sorry, cant today" usually works when asked for change. Bought a homeless woman a few dirty dogs in NYC once for lunch and she cried she was so happy.
If its clearly bullshit I dont even acknowledge it
It literally varies from day to day with me. Plus I love a good story. Now, if someone hit me with the flat tire/sick kid routine I wouldn't give him the steam off my shit because that's just lazy storytelling. But if someone's willing to dance a little and give me my money's worth I'll throw $20 at him. Or if you just catch me in the right mood.
One caveat though - if I have my earbuds in, you better not fuck with me. I listen to my music to make every other person on Earth disappear. If I have to take an earbud out to hear you beg me for cash or ask me for directions, that's your ass.
My response is always "I'm sorry. I don't have any cash on me, but I have a credit card. Would you like something to eat? I'll buy you a sandwich (or groceries if I'm heading into the supermarket).
I'm probably a horrible person for observing this, but I can't tell you how many times when I'm walking into a grocery store, homeless people of a certain race will ask me to buy them a slice of watermelon. Please stop perpetuating a stereotype and ask for oranges pineapple or strawberries once in a while.
I'll also buy gasoline for people. One time there was genuinely someone who needed it. She was from a poor suburb of Chicago, driving a rustbucket, she was trying to get her niece away from the kid's abusive father to her sister on the south side of Chicago and was stuck and out of gas at the gas station. She just asked me to prepay the gas pump for her. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure I didn't get scammed on that one.
did you see her pump the gas? all of it? it's common to just go back in and ask for change etc. also if you buy them food you're just enabling them to beg for drug money further. there are numerous non profits out there that are living tax free when their property/time could be put to taxable use. that is who these individuals should ask for help, but they don't because they are confident there are suckers who will always help.
how many decent people do you think there are out there that have 0 friends or family over the course of their life that could lend a hand? i would venture a guess that it's a lot less than then number of homeless people.
Again, not 100% here, but this kind of a scam from a woman driving a beat up car at this level of execution is a two or three sigma event. Someone who can make money pulling this scam off can make a whole lot more money through honest work.
I know there are a lot of people on this board who are more libertarian than me but sometimes people honestly find themselves in a situation where they are in trouble. One of my coworkers lost her purse and then ran out of gas in Newark. 9 times out of ten it's a scam but we have a duty as human beings to listen and to try to help (in a way that protects us from enabling addicts and con artists).
My rule is just to make it more challenging to con me than it is to earn an honest buck. If you con me out of $10, good for you, but you could have earned $25 with the same effort if you were earning the money honestly, so you're the real sucker here.
Had the exact same thing happen to me with a couple of friends. The conman approached my friend and my friend said, 'hey asshole, you probably don't remember, but you approached me yesterday saying the same thing. I felt sorry for you and almost gave you the money. Get the fuck outta here.'. It turns out the guy really had approached my friend the day before (I thought he was just bullshitting about that). This guy did not act belligerently, although it may have helped that there were three of us and only one of him.
There's a GS Elevator tweet relevant to this discussion -- " I never give money to homeless people. I can't reward failure in good conscience".
In all seriousness, though, I never give money to panhandlers because it's obvious that a lot of them aren't going to use the money productively.
The one panhandler that I almost gave money to was a guy in Time Square with a cardboard cutout that read, "Need money for hookers and booze. Hey, at least I'm not bullshitting you." Honesty is the best policy in this case, at least for me.
Patrick, don't go down strange alleyways. I can't believe nobody has pointed this out yet. This is how people make the news, and for the wrong reasons.
I respondsimilar to AccNerd, and only once has someone actually agreed to let me pay for food when they were asking for money granted he was outside of a McDonalds.
Here in Texas they specialize in WalMart parking lots. I've heard a million "my baby" stories from women.
You sound like an idiot
Experience this a lot when in the states. Some of the stories are very creative and like you, I always second guess myself.
In London, it's normally a paltry amount like 50p which they request for an underground ticket. Although there are a few relentless types that wait near ATMs, follow you and then ask for money.
Just be glad you don't have Romanian gypsies to put up with. They normally come out as a family unit with 12 year old wielding babies in their arms. They are relentless.
You did the right thing albeit in an alleyway which could have been worse depending on how desperate this guy was.
I second the case with Romanian gypsies, so true
Yeah, you did the right thing. Besides, if this dude was really in need he would have offered some with real collateral value. I'm a hard asset lender haha.
I'll generally always offer to buy the product, but not give them cash. Usually, I never have cash anyways, but I like to say "Well I don't have any cash, but I've got a little bit of money on my card that I can try at (convenience store/fast food restaurant) to help out." Also, I won't engage anyone in an isolated area. I'd keep walking and talking to him until I got to a more populated area before I stopped.
That said, I generally don't mind buying the hungry food cause I probably would have blown it at a bar anyways.
that guy must post here, as someone threw ms at you...makes no sense but I agree with you. Any reputable store would let you use their product in that situation. also you could say ok, I have a can of it in my car so I can help you without giving you cash. then they will back down, or lead you along like costanza's house in the hamptons.
Theres about a 300% chance it was this guy
http://elliotdavisconman.blogspot.com/ http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1qmt8f/heads_up_boston_a_fairly…
bingo. that was the guy...sounds like he's been scamming since at least 2002. explains why he is so polished.
@"WalMartShopper"
"I hope this is true so if I ever come across him I can use the same thing. Brilliant"
"We all need to do it. He'll think he's going insane."
Is this him: http://imgur.com/a/zhkkr
See, even if you buy these people food, you are still subsidizing their drug addiction (assuming that is the case). You save them five to ten dollars on a meal, and that's five to ten dollars in their pocket to buy drugs.
I cannot reward failure in good conscience.
Money helps kids with no money go to college. Money helps the single mom slaving her life away working two crappy jobs to feed her children. What these panhandlers and street addicts need is a lesson in life, not money. That is how you can truly help them.
If you want to give someone money to fuel their drug addiction, sure, go right ahead if it makes you feel better. But just know, more times than not, you are not helping them.
Some might attribute this attitude to that of an asshole. However, the real assholes are those who fail to acknowledge reality and take the "do-good-ER" approach that only exacerbates the problem.
Sorry, but all I have on me is $0.02.
Clearly his reaction afterwards should be a great reason to believe that you did the right thing in not lending him the money.
Regardless of if he needed or not, someone with an attitude / personality like that simply does not deserve the help. He could have just left you alone after you said no and not harassed you.
I agree with your decision to deny him the money completely.
Looks like this gentleman has made quite a name for himself. He should apply to BB S&T...they love the scrappy street-smart types.
Just say you haven't got any cash on you. Might seem a little weird coming from the man in the expensive suit but so what.
Something that's getting more and more common is the strung out girl at the gas station going from car to car asking for $5-$10 to fill up gas. Has happened to me several times the past few months. At first, it was some latino girl that seemed fairly legit so I obliged and gave her $5 with another girl that was parked next to me. After it happened again, I caught on.
I've watched some people walk from parking lot to parking lot doing the same thing, its sad.
Best way to handle people asking for money or begging is to simply ignore them. How they are allowed to continue to hassle people is beyond me. Cops should be all over this.
I don't always give money to beggars, but when I do it is to piss off someone who hates giving to beggars.
5-year check up?
//www.youtube.com/embed/ZbKZtg2fG0w
Also, who the fuck carries an ID without a wallet?
had a similar experience happen to my uncle and me in costa rica. we were having lunch at a mall and an american guy looking pretty roughed sat down with us, told us about how he just got robbed and needed a little bit of cash. all he had on him was a paper plane ticket back to the states in a few days.
in any case, my uncle has been living there for years and didn't believe the guys story for a second. he looked him straight in the eye and said "sorry bud but i'm just not buying it", needless to say it was a bit awkward getting him to leave the table... "why can't you guys help a fellow american out?!" - my first thought after was why would this guy go to such great lengths just ~$20, drugs i guess?
Yeah, the worst is when they hang around and are persistent. That shit pisses me off beyond belief. I was going to attach a guy in Italy that got too close to my girlfriend and I. An Italian cop was johnny on the spot and intervened. Parasites like that need to be shown zero tolerance. Why cops don't harass the shit out of them is beyond me.
I'm sitting on the Pink Line (lol I know) last week when a guy comes in from another car while the train's moving. The odor of weed fills half the car. Guy must have been smoking recently. I look over as he passes me. Oh shit, he's actually holding a lit joint.
Walks past me and the guy next to me and up to these 2 average-looking white guys. I swear, this dude takes a hit of his joint and then asks them if they have a few dollars to spare.
One of the guys is like, "No, but I have this." Pulls out a badge and cuffs the guy on the train. They got off at the next stop. The look on the guy's face was priceless.
These people are out there.
^^^ Fucking epic.
Without having read this thread (someone might have already said what I'm about to say), I'd love to point out that this hustler was so good at his job that even after he lost the sale, you were SO emotionally invested in the process that you were wracked with guilt for some time after the encounter to the extent that you wrote a several-paragraph post about him! What a schemer ... props to him!
I would have done the same, albeit with more of an excuse ("sorry I don't have my wallet on me"). Living in the downtown core of a major city, I encounter a guy like this once a week. You either ignore him/her or just say "sorry i don't have any cash/my wallet".
Beggars need to get in on the electronic payment game. The only time I have cash on me is when I'm about to buy drugs.
Spare change? Like, coins? As in, carrying clanky metal shit around all day that's collectively worth less than a dollar? I can barely justify the space a paper dollar takes up in my wallet, let alone some fucking ancient hieroglyphic bullshit.
Nailed it 100%
My kid had an awful fever and I had to take him to the hospital, on my way there I get a flat tire, tough luck! When I suddenly see this guy walking in a street in between buildings, he was my golden chance take my kid to the hospital. I felt so awkward at first as I’ve never asked strangers for money before, I’m pretty sure my body language was beyond awkward and in my head all I could think of was “This guy will think I’m a beggar, he won’t buy my story”.
Self-fulfilling prophecy, not only this guy didn’t believe me, he said he played poker and that he didn't buy my story. I proceeded to thank the guy and rethink my strategy when out of nothing, a guy I know passes by and offers his help, I gladly take it.
I can understand that the poker playing guy didn't help me out, I could have been a pro beggar and nobody is entitled to others' money.
Haha yeah, I had a weird run in similar to this the other day. The girl had the most elaborate story I had ever heard though. It was along the lines of, "Yeah, so I just came out here to visit a couple community colleges with a friend of mine. I live in a town about 100 miles away, but my friend has a couple friends here and we were bunking up with them while we met with the folks from the community college admissions office. You see, I grew up in Hawaii with my dad who was in the Navy. He went AWOL while in SE Asia and I haven't heard from him since. My mother left our family when I was only 6 or 7 for another man, and didn't stay in touch. Unfortunately, the friend who I came here with left me in the middle of the night, and now I am stuck, but here is the deal (at which point I was sensing she was about to offer a sketchy BJ in the alley haha)... I have a house being deeded to me in the town about 100 miles away. It is currently owned by my dad's sister, but she is moving to Florida, feels bad for me, and is going to turn over the keys. The house was recently appraised for ~$600K, and I planning on selling it as soon as I get back. I am going to use the money for school, move to the city, and start my life. The problem is, I don't have enough money for a bus ticket back to the town. I was waiting for the offer (I thought again, we might be looking at a BJ in the alley), she continues, "if you give me $60 for a bus ticket back to the town, I will give you $10,000 when I sell the house!" I told her she was full of shit, and she completely understood haha, but I told her that I would buy her a bus ticket nevertheless. However, I was not going to simply hand her $60 in cash, but rather asked what time the bus left and arranged to meet her at the bus station an hour before the bus was scheduled to leave, at which point I would buy her a bus ticket and have her sign a contract where I am entitled to the first $10,000 in proceeds from the sale of any house deeded in her name. She agreed! So I roll back to the office, draft up something real quick for the hell of it, and head down to the bus station at around 8:00. She didn't show. I thought it was hilarious, and it was exactly as I expected. I went about my business for another week until I was on my typical lunch route to Chipotle. I turn the corner and there she is! Talking with some other dude in a suit - so I walk by really slowly with my head down as to not throw her off her pitch, and sure as shit, she's hawking the same story. I've actually wondered a handful of times since, where the $60 would have gone...Drugs? Food? Alcohol? Debts to pimps? haha who knows. Crazy experience though.
hahah what ... you wonder if she figured she'd get the money just for the effort she put into concocting such an elaborate story.
There are quite a few illicit drugs that trade in $60 blocks... just saying.
@IlliniProgrammer : Best bet is to just leave them some food while they're asleep/passed out. That way they can't throw it back in your face and yell, "I already have food, I fucking need drugs."
"Sorry brother I don't carry cash."
I was with a friend at a gas station years ago and we were pumping gas to head out of town for a concert. We saw the "panhandler" that we knew was about to approach us and ask for cash to fill up his car, fix a tire, cover something to get some food for his wife and kids, or whatever. I said something like, "Oh shit, this guy's about to ask us for some cash." My buddy says, "I'll show you guys how to deal with this, watch me." So my friend rushes up to the guy about to ask for money and turns the table on him. My friend immediately bumrushed (pun intended) into a sob story with the guy about how we were all trying to leave town to go visit his grandmother and our credit card got declined. We had just about 100 miles to go, and 5 or 10 bucks would at least get us there where grandma would give us some cash.... he didn't have to get far into the story for the guy to just give us a disgusted look, turn, and walk away. I'll never forget the look on the guy's face, still makes me laugh. They use the element of surprise to initiate a conversation that will ultimately leave anyone with a conscience doubting them, kind of feeling sorry for them, but ultimately trying to figure the best "out" to reasonably leave the incident. If you surprise them first, it throws them off, and they have no idea how to react. Just my two cents.
Forget the bums, I'm getting hit up by normal establishments for extra money all the time now. On an average Whole Foods trip, I get hit up 2 or 3 times for money. First by the clipboard guys on the way in (though I'm seeing this less and less), then at checkout I get asked to donate $5 to some sustainability fund or local schools or whatever, and finally I get asked to donate my bag credit.
Now I might expect this kind of do-goodery based panhandling at Whole Foods, but now places like Target are joining in. Hell, I was picking up some Panda Express the other day and they asked if I wanted to "round up" my total for some charity. My order was like $9.02. No thanks, I prefer to direct my charity money on my own, I don't need to do it through Panda Express.
I can't walk between lecture halls without having some dreadlocked schmuck ask me to join Green Peace or donate money to raccoon AIDS. Shit shouldn't be allowed on campus.
A similar thing happened to a female friend of mine recently. The guy said he needed to catch a bus home but lost his wallet and needed $20. He was dressed in a nice suit and looked like a normal guy. My friend ended up giving him $20 and he thanked her and walked away. I don't fault her because it was late at night and she was alone. But if I were in the same spot, I would've done the same as you, Patrick, and just walked away.
Your weird mix of feelings should center around how you talked your way out of getting stabbed in a alleyway and left for dead by a desperate man looking for cash.
Once late at night a ragged lady comes up to me with your standard beggar approach. I brace myself for the immediate rejection. But what she says surprised me "Honey, It's cold out and I need a DRINK". Believed that. Gave her 20 bucks.
Sometimes honesty is the best policy.
What can become equally annoying are the people who stand outside of the store asking for money to support their charity/cause.
I live near a Target that I frequent often. There's usually a thuggish looking guy standing outside with a freaking ammo can to collect money. I think it's a halfway house type of deal.
Anyways, I would slip in a dollar whenever I came out of the store (Remember, I live nearby so I go there often). I figured I had given enough to these guys. Then they start heckling me when I stopped giving them donations. Saying stuff like"Is a dollar so much?" in a bad attitude.
Another time coming out of Best Buy's, I only had my card on me and I get the same type of response, "Is a dollar too much for you?" blah blah.
A time when I was in high school. I came out of a restaurant with some food. Some dude was standing outside asking for money to "buy something to eat". I was a high school student who just spent all of his money on some food and offered him something to eat instead.
I was greeted with a "No, what do you think I am? Pathetic?" No, but now I do.
I guess I just had some bad experiences with panhandlers. I'm not a jerk though. I'll buy stuff from those little Boy Scouts or Girls Scouts stands even if I didn't want it just to make the kid feel happy for a moment.
Not sure about the US but I am amazed at the amount of beggars on the streets of London who are smoking & begging at the same time.. Who does that?! It's one step short of begging for food with a needle hanging out your arm, at least try and hide the real reason you want the money if it's not actually for food.
Genuinely can't understand how anyone could think that's a good idea it's absolutely baffling.
There are people out there who are just incapable of connecting the dots. I saw a billboard for some shitty lawyer or real estate broker or something yesterday in a Mexican neighborhood. The guy has his a gap between his collar and his tie. The shirt's not undone, but there's a gap. You know what I'm talking about. Go to your local McDonald's and ask for the manager if you don't.
Anyway, I bet this sounds anal of me, but it's like... dude, you're taking a photo for a billboard. A lot of people will see it. It's like, a moderately big deal in your life, I assume. Did you not think to look in the mirror and check your tie beforehand? Like, there's no way this was an on-the-fly event.
It's a small thing, but I don't understand it.
He's trying to relate to his peoples
I also think how it's silly how people hold up signs and asking for money on the right side of the street. You know, the right turn where people only briefly stop to check for traffic. I'm not going to stop, roll down my passenger window, and then lean all the way across to give you a buck.
I can't believe that they couldn't figure out to ask for money on the left side of the road where drivers are forced to stop.
Yea, it's like... this is why you're poor. Also, poor people walk so fucking slowly. They don't value their own time. Why should anyone else?
Wow, what a coincidence. I was just in Back Bay leaving from watching the marathon when a black guy in a cheap suit and glasses approached me and said "excuse me sir". I immediately thought he looked a little like Gus Fring from Breaking Bad, then I remembered reading this thread this morning and seeing the picture posted by WalmartShopper. I had already seen the pic of him from Reddit too. So, I didn't really act on this realization initially, I just said "I'm in a rush to meet my dad". So I keep walking and he yells at me "Oh yeah, your dad real selfish too?!". So I turn around and go "I know who you are" and it was like the wind got taken right out of his sail he just said ok and turned around... I added some more choice words for his troubles.
I wish I had the wherewithal to tell him about wso... guy could utilize his skill-set to make it into banking
Can we start a new project? Get this guy into banking? I'd be entertained by that.
There's hardly a thing in this world I could ever need to buy that can't be bought with a credit or debit card. So, I almost never carry cash except right before I'm about to use it, and usually no more than I'll need. Sure as hell don't carry change - what is this 1945? So my excuse (and it's always true too) is that I don't have any cash on me, sorry can't help. I think once I offered to buy someone food, they didn't like that. It's all the same shit. After a while you just learn to brush it off. Shit is rampant in Chicago. Don't stand still for too long otherwise someone will be trying to sell you a story of some kind.
I'm waiting for the smart panhandler that, when I tell them that I don't carry cash, whips out an iPad with a credit card reader to take my donation... that'll be a first.
I just ignore all these people at once. If they chase me down and harass me then I'll talk to them. Only of course, to tell them that I am their God and if they want something from me, they need to get on their knees first.
Works like a charm.
+1 SB... I was thinking the same thing!
I was flying into Newark for the super bowl and my buddy told me to watch out for scammers at the airport. Similar story happened to me getting on the AirTrain where a guy hopped on and started crying. He was asking for $18 to take a cab to some hospital because his daughter just got into a car accident on the way to pick him up. Talked to some people after we got off and he had the same story for them too haha. I didn't give him any money.
I am a kind of person who absolutely do not want to be bothered. Patrick, this situation is still bothering you and you spent so much time thinking about it. There are better things to think about and invest your time in. Obviously, being shouted at gives you a weird feeling long after the person isn't around. I remember this incident from last year where this belligerent shopkeeper started shouting at me. I wish I had not fought back. It still gives me a weird feeling when I think about it. To avoid such situations, I definitely would not mind to get deceived (in case he is lying) and be the loser. On the other hand, you feel good that you are helping someone regardless.
Peace of mind (Just throw the money--if you can--and leave) >>>>>> Over-thinking a trivial incident (Fight back and bother yourself)
Anytime panhandlers ask me for a dollar or spare change I have a standard line:
"Sorry, but I only carry hundreds......"
However, I usually hedge by bets and do not use it in situations where I think there is a legit chance of getting robbed.
On another note, has anyone seen the out-of-control number of bums near the UTexas campus in Austin? Apparently, there are a significant number of students who have gotten fed up and now go around yelling and berating them. Not a bad strategy...
I worked at a gas station the summer before college and I got a lot of interesting looking individuals giving various stories about needing gas to see their dying relative, etc. Always said they'd come back the next morning to pay us back. I always used the same response: I'd authorize $5 of gas, write down their license plate, and report it as a drive-off the next day if they didn't come back.
We rarely heard if drive-off offenders were caught, let alone these people, but one girl did come back the next morning to pay us back. About a 15% hit rate, but I did get wind one of the lying druggies was a multiple offender and had his license suspended.
I would be curious as to how this guy could give you his license as collateral when he doesn't have his wallet. I guess he must carry his license in a separate pocket all on its own....
My boss told me this exact same story - a month later I ran into the guy too. Too funny.
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