true stories.

[Garland]

Wow! you can afford duct tape?!? I usually hold the phone book up with one hand and hit it with the other....

the duct tape got wet and now the whole thing fell apart.

it's official, jesus doesn't love me anymore.

[Tom Yum]

I usually hold the phone book up with one hand and hit it with the other....

You can afford a phone book?

Ooo la dee da, mister fancy pants...the rest of us have to pick fights with hobos.

[treelizard]

True story. I'm on the South side getting gas because my car is running on empty. I have about $15 in my bank account 'til tomorrow (when my contract kicks in) because I quit my last job way before I probably should have and I needed some gas. The woman next to me tells me she accidentally hit pump 7 instead of 8--she is on pump 8 and I am on pump 7. She put in $10 already. Because I am an idiot, I say, no problem, I'll just put $10 on yours. I forgot that you can't pick the amount of money from an outside machine, and the outside machine wouldn't take my cash (too wrinkly) or credit card (only ATM). So she starts pumping and pumping and puts like $46 in her big ass vehicle. I am livid. I tell her to stop pumping and she stares at me blankly. I write down her license plate number and start to drive away. Then I start thinking about bounced check fees and the amount of books I had to sell to get enough money in my account to cover the checks I wrote. I decide to go back into the store.

This really really humongous dude with gang colors and prison tattoos looks at me and says, "What the hell are you doing?" I walk inside and tell him I'm getting some Gatorade and my receipt. He mentions he saw me writing his license plate number down, says that his wife doesn't understand English, it was all a big mistake. I wasn't sure whether it was a scam or a big mistake (it really could have gone either way--she could either not understand what I was saying or just be playing stupid), but he's all posturing and shit so I tell him I'll just pay for his gas and call it even. He gets all huffy and wants to talk to the store attendant and explain the situation. He says his wife doesn't know how credit cards work and he doesn't want this to come back to him for him using someone else's account, etc. I told the woman in the store I would pay for his gas and call it even because, uh, because he's giving me the death stare and I don't know how many buddies he has with him, and I get paid tomorrow so... She says that is very nice of me but doesn't seem right and gives me a $36 refund. Then she asks him for his ID. He doesn't have it or have the money. I tried my damnedest to pay for his gas, because I don't want him to get arrested over something so trivial (I know, I guess I really am a bleeding heart on some level) and besides, the cash won't help me because it takes a day for it to even show up in my account. I mean I really think it could've been a mistake, but I don't know... I know for a fact she could barely understand English. He said she didn't understand how credit cards work, I don't know. In retrospect it totally seems like a scam. At the time it seemed like a big mistake... But yeah, uh, I'd rather get a bounced check than have to deal with the crazy guy...

Anyways, gas station woman tells the guy she's going to call the cops if he doesn't come up with the money, and he tells her to call the cops. In retrospect and judging by his behavior, I really think the guy is on probation and trying to get out of trouble. But he kept trying to follow me out as I was leaving the station. I asked the woman to walk me to my car.

The cops call me about an hour later and ask me if I want to press charges. I say no. Who presses charges over $35? Plus I already got my refund, deposited the money in my account and gave my bank the full story and they believed me and everything--said the check would clear and they would overturn any charges. The cop gives me a huge lecture on how difficult I am making his job by calling him and then not pressing charges when he came down there. I told him I did not call him, the gas station did, and perhaps they would like to press charges. I told him they already refunded me. He is still pissed.

Anyway, the moral of the story is don't go to gas stations in the bad parts of town, don't let strangers use your credit card, don't copy down license place numbers in an obvious way, and don't stay in a potentially dangerous location. In other words, don't be a treelizard.

[treelizard]

Follow-up story: After a good night's sleep, I woke up this morning and decided I really did want to press charges. I called the gas station and asked for the case number. It turns out that the gas station said they'd press charges for theft if he didn't pay the money. The cops came down and then the guy asked for a supervisor, etc. When the sergeant came down they told the guy they'd arrest him if he didn't pay for theft (and they bluffed on other charges related to him using my card) he magically came up with the money he supposedly didn't have. So I guess that's the end of the story.

Moral: As much as I want to believe people are good-hearted and mean well and everything is just a mistake, a lot of people are assholes and liars.

[Tant01]

Follow-up story: After a good night's sleep, I woke up this morning and decided I really did want to press charges. I called the gas station and asked for the case number. It turns out that the gas station said they'd press charges for theft if he didn't pay the money. The cops came down and then the guy asked for a supervisor, etc. When the sergeant came down they told the guy they'd arrest him if he didn't pay for theft (and they bluffed on other charges related to him using my card) he magically came up with the money he supposedly didn't have. So I guess that's the end of the story.

Moral: As much as I want to believe people are good-hearted and mean well and everything is just a mistake, a lot of people are assholes and liars.

Girl just watch your back! Did that A-hole take YOUR license number down too? Does he know what your car looks like? Could he find you again even by chance?

Can't put anything past some folks... you know?

Stay safe.

[treelizard]

He didn't get my license #--the way I was parked and the fact that he followed me in the store and stayed there until the cops came. He does kind of know what my car looks like, but the only place I plan on being near that neighborhood is at work... and we have a very extensive security network in place, with multiple people working on different fronts to assure that the environment is safe and orderly. I mean we have extra police surveillance in our area, in addition to an SRO, an on-site probation officer and on and on and on. I am very impressed with our security.

I do think that me working too much, not sleeping enough, not eating enough carbs and just some of the work stress I'm dealing with is probably a contributing factor to my poor decision making as of late. I need to get off the coffee/insomnia ride, first and foremost.

I think the biggest thing I'm going to do is not get gas unless I'm near my house. I just signed a lease to move out of my 'hood, and none too soon-- just this month we've had three break-ins (two last week, one the week before that), two were in broad daylight on Monday between 8 and 2. A laptop was taken from the third one. Also an '89 Plymouth was stolen last week from in front of someone's house. And someone started a fire in the community garden, which burned the compost bins, part of the fence and the wood around the oven. There was also another fire nearby in a city trash bin. And two tanks of gas from someone's truck were siphoned off earlier in July. So it'll be good to move out!! My new place is in the nice part of town and I double-checked the crime stat maps this time.