Nearly got robbed - Worcester, MA - PSA [Archive]

2planka

03-07-2005, 03:54 PM

On the way to grandgnu's homegame Saturday, I stopped for gas. After filling up I popped the hood to fill the washer reservoir, leaving the driver's side door open.

A disheveled vagrant comes over and asks if he can bum $5 off me. As he's going through his pitch (some sob story about losing his wallet in a bar and needing bus fare to get back to Boston), he wanders around so my back is to my truck. I cut him off and say, "Sorry bud, I'm in a rush. Can't help you."

I turn around and there's another creep on the other side of my truck, near the open driver's door. This is in broad freakin' daylight. I asked him what the [censored] he was doing and he just walked away. The other guy took off, too.

They didn't get anything (other my EZ pass and a couple bucks in the ashtray there's nothing of value in my ride anyway), but they seemed to be working as a team.

For those Worcester area posters, this was on Highland St. at the Exxon station. Be aware of this scam.

SpicyF

03-07-2005, 04:29 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/wormtowne/screwball.jpg

2planka

03-07-2005, 04:31 PM

/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Touche

Toro

03-07-2005, 04:38 PM

Yeah, lot of scammers out there lately. I got stopped coming out of the CVS on Grafton Street by this guy holding a gas can and giving me a sob story about needing 5 bucks for gas, left his wallet at home etc.

I actually bought his story but I was in a big hurry and blew him off. Heard later from someone that this is the scam du jour.

And what about the guy who stands at the end of the I-290 off ramp to Belmont Street for hours on end with a sign homeless veteran/begging for money. This guy is amazing. He stands there in the worst weather you could imagine for hours on end. Why would anyone do that? Some menial job inside where it's warm that pays minimum wage got to be better than standing out in the cold begging for hours.

Sorry about hijacking your thread, but it's kind of related and I didn't want to start a new one just for that little rant.

bosoxfan

03-07-2005, 04:45 PM

I had a similar thing happen at Walgreens on Park Ave. I was with my wife and as we came out a girl probably about 18 said she ran out of gas and needed money.

My wife wanted to give her money but I told her if she wanted to help her we would go get gas and bring it back. The girl said she had enough to get to the gas station across the street and would follow us over. Then got in her car and drove away.

Can't trust anyone.

Sponger15SB

03-07-2005, 04:48 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Why would anyone do that? Some menial job inside where it's warm that pays minimum wage got to be better than standing out in the cold begging for hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in a pretty rich area in San Diego, and at my exit I've seen the same guy get handed $20 bills, nice clothes like a leather jacker, and lots of food, etc.

I've also seen him charging his cell phone inside of the jackinthebox a few hundred feet away.

I bet he makes a pretty decent living for a beggar.

2planka

03-07-2005, 04:48 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Walgreens on Park Ave

[/ QUOTE ]

That place is uber-sketch.

asofel

03-07-2005, 04:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why would anyone do that? Some menial job inside where it's warm that pays minimum wage got to be better than standing out in the cold begging for hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in a pretty rich area in San Diego, and at my exit I've seen the same guy get handed $20 bills, nice clothes like a leather jacker, and lots of food, etc.

I've also seen him charging his cell phone inside of the jackinthebox a few hundred feet away.

I bet he makes a pretty decent living for a beggar.

[/ QUOTE ]

a guy i talked to for a while on a metro said he avgs $800 a week...

Bluffoon

03-07-2005, 05:01 PM

These guys are all amateurs. You have to come to NYC. That's where the real pro bums hang out.

I was on the subway once and this sweet looking old man stumbles into someone getting on the train and then hits the hand rail. He is obviously blind. So the train takes off and he leans up agains the hand rail and takes out a violin and starts playing. Hes playing good and even sceptical me has his hand in his pocket when I notice that his eyes are open a little and his eyebalss are going back and forth. He is watching himself play! So I silently mouth to him "You can see" and he jumps like I tasered him and turns around and plays to the rest of the car. He made a bundle.

Then I was on the subway one time and this young guy is aksing for money as he walks trough the car. I notice he has a walkman hanging from his belt. So when he gets to me I offer him 5 bucks for his walkman. He must not have been so desperate for a sandwich because he declined.

A good way to piss off the bums when they shake their cup of change at you is to tell them "No thanks man Ive got a pocket full"

jar

03-07-2005, 05:38 PM

Damn. I just gassed up there on my way to Foxwoods on Saturday. I used to live 2 blocks away. (My friends still live here, and I'm up for a long weekend.) There's a lady that often comes in to the chinese food place across the street with a similar out of gas story.

B Dids

03-07-2005, 05:44 PM

By the UW in Seattle there's kids who basically just come to hang out on the street and beg for bus money back home. It's pretty funny being asked for change by somebody wearing a $300 leather jacket.

Boris

03-07-2005, 06:02 PM

Next time this happens you need to shoot him first and then say
[ QUOTE ]
"Sorry bud, I'm in a rush. Can't help you."

[/ QUOTE ]

Jurollo

03-07-2005, 06:07 PM

The bum on the Kelley Square exit puts in more hours than anyone in Worcester. 2nd place is definately either the one near Price Chopper on Park Ave or the one across from Walgreens on Park Ave and next to Hess. The guy at Kelley Square offered my friend a skunked beer a dollar, haha.
~Justin

sin808

03-07-2005, 06:43 PM

gutterpunks on the ave suck.

especially when they're outside thai toms, since you can't ever seem to get inside to get away from them.

ttleistdci

03-07-2005, 06:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Walgreens on Park Ave

[/ QUOTE ]

That place is uber-sketch.

[/ QUOTE ]

A buddy of mine used to live on chandler street about a quarter mile from walgreens. Not a terrible area, but not someplace I'd wanna hang around a lot.

Very interesting how many Worcester County people post on here. I see 'em on most of the boards I check out.

ttleistdci

03-07-2005, 06:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The bum on the Kelley Square exit puts in more hours than anyone in Worcester. 2nd place is definately either the one near Price Chopper on Park Ave or the one across from Walgreens on Park Ave and next to Hess. The guy at Kelley Square offered my friend a skunked beer a dollar, haha.
~Justin

[/ QUOTE ]

Might be the same guy, but there's a bum and a buddy of his, both "vets" on the corner of Park Ave. and Salisbury almost every day.
With the amount of time they spend out there, they could be working full time.

IsaacW

03-07-2005, 07:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Very interesting how many Worcester County people post on here. I see 'em on most of the boards I check out.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's because it's not safe to be outside, so we have to spend our time on the Internet!

-IsaacW
WPI Student

Toro

03-07-2005, 07:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Very interesting how many Worcester County people post on here. I see 'em on most of the boards I check out.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's because it's not safe to be outside, so we have to spend our time on the Internet!

-IsaacW
WPI Student

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey IsaacW, how are things up at the "tute" these days? I'm a 1971 grad, PKT when it was the top fraternity. WTF happened to them, I heard they closed the place down for some discipline problems.

wonderwes

03-07-2005, 08:47 PM

at University of Texas at Austin there is a main street area next towards the campus on a street named Guadelupe called The Drag. Students will walk up and down The Drag going to/from class. Well UT is in the middle of downtown Austin, and all these runaway/skater punk/smelly/scrappy hair/ kids sit around and ask for change all day. Not like, 5 or 10, more like 50-100. They randomly walk around downtown Austin, resting in front of churches, or benches and constantly ask for change. These kids are usually 17-21, mostly home runaways, some have drug problems, and they never leave. Its almost like they multiply. Everyone around here called them "Drag Rats". I can say, they probably get little to no change from the UT students.

2planka

03-07-2005, 10:32 PM

I definately think there should be a Poker Capital 2+2 Tourney at the Longworth Fairgrounds this summer. Thoughts?

jstnrgrs

03-07-2005, 10:59 PM

I managed to get scammed of af $60 about 8 months ago by some guy in Worcester (Honey Farms on the cornner of rt 9. and Plantation St.) I sure am a moron.

bwana devil

03-07-2005, 11:05 PM

[ QUOTE ]
"Drag Rats"

[/ QUOTE ]

I got my undergrad her in Austin. Moved away for a few years and when I came back was doing the job interview thing and going on some interviews I really wasn't thrilled about.

I went to one where I would've been working with the drag rats running counseling groups right off MLK. I was kinda cool w/ those things. But because I've done those in the past but the interviewer told me I'd have to give "how to" lessons on how to properly do heroin. "Excuse me?" That was definitely a deal breaker.

bosoxfan

03-07-2005, 11:49 PM

[ QUOTE ]

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walgreens on Park Ave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That place is uber-sketch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Should i be offended i don't live far from there.

daryn

03-07-2005, 11:55 PM

<blockquote>In risposta di:<hr />
<blockquote>In risposta di:<hr />

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walgreens on Park Ave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That place is uber-sketch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Should i be offended i don't live far from there.

[/ QUOTE ]

oh shoot, i went there once. left my jeep in the parking lot with the top down. probably bad idea now that i think about it. is that the one with raheb's tailoring right next to it?

smiely

03-07-2005, 11:59 PM

I've definitely been in the Honey Farms there when some sketchy guy has come in asking for a gas can to put gas in. Although after living on Fruit St. on 2 different occasions in 4 years (#45 for a month the summer after freshman year, and #53 for all of junior year) and on Highland St. (above Bonardi's Tuxedo) for a year, I gotta say nothing surprises me anymore about Worcester. The front door to our Highland St. apartment didn't actually close all the way, so they'd find homeless bums sleeping in our stairwell fairly frequently in the winter.

(I'm a WPI alum also. /images/graemlins/smile.gif )

astroglide

03-08-2005, 01:59 AM

i was just on a shuttle subway between times square and grand central station. a dude and his wife had a bucket and said they were homeless, daughter just died and they needed a funeral. they had some kind of id and funeral paperwork. asked for a penny, just a penny, or to say god bless you instead. he also offered to give the number of the funeral home if people didn't believe it to confirm and asked that they donate whatever they want to them. pretty interesting setup. i considered getting the info just to investigate if there's some kind of fake funeral home dude that rakes off of beggars in exchange for his setup but i didn't feel like interfacing with them.

bholdr

03-08-2005, 02:18 AM

I hear they're big trouble.

ilya

03-08-2005, 03:01 AM

Well, I nearly got laid.

So there, I win.

grandgnu

03-08-2005, 08:35 AM

Gardner, MA had the greatest two bums of all friggin time. First, we had (and still have to my knowledge) "Jesus", a dude who looks like the heavenly father himself (he must know I went agnostic, that's why he haunts my streets!)

Then there's some Black Dude that died. He was cool too though. He had this funky multi-colored jester hat he'd wear, and he's always be playing the harmonica.

I had always considered buying up some Mad Dog 20/20, getting them both tanked as cheaply as possible, than having them fight a cage match while I sold tickets to it. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Lazymeatball

03-08-2005, 08:50 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walgreens on Park Ave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That place is uber-sketch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Should i be offended i don't live far from there.

[/ QUOTE ]

oh shoot, i went there once. left my jeep in the parking lot with the top down. probably bad idea now that i think about it. is that the one with raheb's tailoring right next to it?

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe that was the CVS on the corner of Park and Pleasant (across from Leetrims<sp> and Blue Jeans Pizza), about a block north of the Walgreens. Seemed like a nice place to park, during the day.