Just after reading that last post (below) to the wife, she reported that she'd been hustled by a man about a month ago during a snowstorm. He came by her store and told her a story about how his wife's car had broken down and that she was somehow stranded on the highway. He showed his own car (his 8-year-old son in the back) and explained that he needed $10 for gas so that he could get to her, yadda yadda yadda. Shirra's NYC antennae were down, and she didn't immediately suspect that this was a con. She handed him the money, fully expecting to be repaid when a few days later when the man had a chance to send her a check. She's still waiting for that envelope.
Now, Shirra's no dope, and she never fell for stuff like this back in the Big City, so he must have been a pretty good con artist. Still, she felt ridiculous when she realized that she'd been had. Her only description of the miscreant is that he's an Aftrican-American man in his 40s.
I'm sorry to hear that anyone gets fooled like this anymore, especially my family, but it does help to restore my faith in inhumanity.
PS: My brother had the same con pulled on him (in Manhattan) over a decade ago. He fell for it, too. Then about 6 months later, the same man approached him (on the same street, no less). John heard the same story (about the man's wife being stranded in their car, yadda yadda yadda). My brother has a sneaky streak. He let the man tell the entire woeful tale and kept plugging away with questions and comments until he felt that he'd wasted a good portion of the man's time, at least 15 minutes. Finally, my brother said that he recognized the man (and the story) from before and that he'd be willing to part with another $5 if the man would simply admit that it was a con both times. Interestingly, this schnorrer had too much dignity to fess up to his lie and walked away from the money. There's a moral in there somewhere if you're willing to look for it closely.
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2 comments:
Hello again, and congratulations on your new knitting store! We haven't visited yet but look forward to stopping by soon. I'm embarrassed to admit that my husband and I fell for a similar line about a month ago. We were leaving The Otter when a man (who meets the description of the man your wife encountered) stopped us to tell his story about how his wife was in a car accident and he needed gas money so that he and his child (who was with him but in his car) could get to the hospital. We gave him $5 and similar to your wife, haven't heard from him since. We really want to believe that the money went towards gas but aren't holding our breath.
Ouch. Sorry to hear that he got someone else, but it stands to reason that he's struck before and will strike again. Thanks for your post, and STAY VIGILANT!
By the way, I love your blog. It must be so exciting to hear the good news, especially after that crazy year of filling out all of that paperwork and getting all of those forms and letters and fingerprints, etc.... May the time pass quickly. It seems like yesterday that I joined the fire department, but I'm getting my badge tom'w after a year of service. I hope you stay busy enough that you don't notice the wait.
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