OT - Strange experience at Costco

WeberWho

I got a phone message a few months ago from the "IRS" about back taxes. I had a good laugh. I have to admit the message did sound legit but did realize that the IRS doesn't ever call for any purpose. Unfortunately others haven't and gave them personal information.

Nigerian Craigslist responses are always fun. I even had one scammer go into their bank for my "transaction". If they can attempt to scam you I think you have every right to mess with them. You can look online and find websites to help with outlines and stories on how to mess with them. It can be quite entertaining  

Jeremiah

We get those calls all day the shop. I have a sex toy shop on my speed dial, so that when they call I just forward them to my "boss". 

RRP

The scam locally for several years running was the same guy at the stop sign  by our Menard's. You know the sign...Homeless. Any $$$ appreciated. GOD Bless you. White guy who looked to be in his 60's and always clean shaven and clean clothes which was weird for a homeless guy. Normally there 6 days a week. One late afternoon I was leaving Menard's and I watched as he walked to and drove off in his late model pickup truck! 

Furthermore one summer his 30 something daughter worked the opposite corner near Wally World. She wasn't all that bad looking so I'm sure she got more than one "offer" to help her financially! Her begging always struck me funny as she could have made it as a "working girl" shall we say and not stood out in the weather.

I'd always shake my head when people - mostly women - would roll down their window and give these leeches $5 or $10 - never even ones!

fishlessman

we had a guy begging for money all last winter standing next to a sign that said snow shovelers wanted 25 dollars an hour

Hi54putty

RRP said:

The scam locally for several years running was the same guy at the stop sign  by our Menard's. You know the sign...Homeless. Any $$$ appreciated. GOD Bless you. White guy who looked to be in his 60's and always clean shaven and clean clothes which was weird for a homeless guy. Normally there 6 days a week. One late afternoon I was leaving Menard's and I watched as he walked to and drove off in his late model pickup truck! 

Furthermore one summer his 30 something daughter worked the opposite corner near Wally World. She wasn't all that bad looking so I'm sure she got more than one "offer" to help her financially! Her begging always struck me funny as she could have made it as a "working girl" shall we say and not stood out in the weather.

I'd always shake my head when people - mostly women - would roll down their window and give these leeches $5 or $10 - never even ones!

I hear what you are saying but, all jokes aside, there is a big difference in being a pan handler and a prostitute. I wouldn't exactly lump them in the same category.

Having said that, I won't be giving my money to either group. 

JohnInCarolina

RRP said:

Furthermore one summer his 30 something daughter worked the opposite corner near Wally World. She wasn't all that bad looking so I'm sure she got more than one "offer" to help her financially! Her begging always struck me funny as she could have made it as a "working girl" shall we say and not stood out in the weather.

I hear you Ron!  Whenever I see a hot homeless girl, I always say "Why don't you get an honest job and sell your body for money?"  All I ever get are blank stares in return.

nolaegghead

Moral of story: begging cures homelessness and prostitution.

RRP

Hi54putty said:

I hear what you are saying but, all jokes aside, there is a big difference in being a pan handler and a prostitute. I wouldn't exactly lump them in the same category.

Having said that, I won't be giving my money to either group. 

I know - to this gal's credit though I remember she could not make eye contact  but for a mere second so I did take that to mean shame and I still think her father put her up to it. BTW in case you are wondering why I connected them - they both had the same shaped nose and jutting jaw. Also there is a nearby Arby's and noontime they would "dine" there together.

nolaegghead

Arby's.  My, they have sunk low.

So tell me more how getting into the prostitution occupation gets one out of the weather?  Is there a new indoor solicitation methodology, or maybe we can give craigslist all the credit?

JohnInCarolina

nolaegghead said:

Arby's.  My, they have sunk low.

So tell me more how getting into the prostitution occupation gets one out of the weather?  Is there a new indoor solicitation methodology, or maybe we can give craigslist all the credit?

You've obviously not paid attention to those pop-up ads that show up whenever you visit a porn site.  Half of these people are just horny moms, to tell the truth.

nolaegghead

John, I plead naivete due to my pop-up blocker, which also blocks pop-ups.

RRP

nolaegghead said:

Arby's.  My, they have sunk low.

So tell me more how getting into the prostitution occupation gets one out of the weather?  Is there a new indoor solicitation methodology, or maybe we can give craigslist all the credit?

LOL - well, up here the working gals stand in doorways whereas this gal stood in the open air by a stop sign! 

Ozzie_Isaac

RRP said:

Hi54putty said:

I hear what you are saying but, all jokes aside, there is a big difference in being a pan handler and a prostitute. I wouldn't exactly lump them in the same category.

Having said that, I won't be giving my money to either group. 

I know - to this gal's credit though I remember she could not make eye contact  but for a mere second so I did take that to mean shame and I still think her father put her up to it. BTW in case you are wondering why I connected them - they both had the same shaped nose and jutting jaw. Also there is a nearby Arby's and noontime they would "dine" there together.

Are you sure it was her father?  Lack of eye contact could be from fear, not just shame.

nolaegghead

RRP said:

nolaegghead said:

Arby's.  My, they have sunk low.

So tell me more how getting into the prostitution occupation gets one out of the weather?  Is there a new indoor solicitation methodology, or maybe we can give craigslist all the credit?

LOL - well, up here the working gals stand in doorways whereas this gal stood in the open air by a stop sign! 

I would imagine there's no such thing as completely avoiding the "precipitation" with that kind of job.

RRP

Ozzie_Isaac said:

RRP said:

 BTW in case you are wondering why I connected them - they both had the same shaped nose and jutting jaw. Also there is a nearby Arby's and noontime they would "dine" there together.

Are you sure it was her father?  Lack of eye contact could be from fear, not just shame.

Sure it could have been fear - I agree. OTOH I know you weren't raised in Peoria, but the working gals were all too common of a sight downtown even during the day time. Making eye contact was more like lock-on-laser when you would drive by them. 

Ozzie_Isaac

RRP said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

RRP said:

 BTW in case you are wondering why I connected them - they both had the same shaped nose and jutting jaw. Also there is a nearby Arby's and noontime they would "dine" there together.

Are you sure it was her father?  Lack of eye contact could be from fear, not just shame.

Sure it could have been fear - I agree. OTOH I know you weren't raised in Peoria, but the working gals were all too common of a sight downtown even during the day time. Making eye contact was more like lock-on-laser when you would drive by them. 

Man, times have changed!  Now they are only in Pekin or the Rub'n Tugs popping up all around town.

henapple

That working girl is someone's daughter.... Not that it matters. I mean... We all aspire for our daughters to be on a corner or pole... Smfh

nolaegghead

henapple said:

That working girl is someone's daughter.... Not that it matters. I mean... We all aspire for our daughters to be on a corner or pole... Smfh

Every gal is someone's daughter.  Every guy is someone's son.   This has illuminated an avalanche of empathy in how I think about human people.  Such an epiphany, and I have @henapple to thank for it!!!!  Oh joy!!!

henapple

So.... You'd want your daughter to be a stripper? Derp

nolaegghead

henapple said:

So.... You'd want your daughter to be a stripper? Derp

Just to help improve your reading comprehension a tad, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.  So no.

henapple

I guess as a liberal, anything goes. Strip if you want to. Shoot heroine. I don't care as long as it makes you happy kids. 

nolaegghead

henapple said:

I guess as a liberal, anything goes. Strip if you want to. Shoot heroine. I don't care as long as it makes you happy kids. 

Not sure where that came from. 

RRP

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Man, times have changed!  Now they are only in Pekin or the Rub'n Tugs popping up all around town.

I remember a 1 on 1 conversation I had with highly respected Allen Andrews who was chief of police for Peoria for years. I asked him about the hookers around town who were so obvious and unless "on the job" at the time could always be found in the same areas day after day. His common sense reply was "We know where they are and we can keep an eye on them for their own safety and the "Johns" know we are watching them. If we cracked down they would scatter and the "Johns" would feel safer and prostitution would ramp up! This is a proven fact so we let them be, keep them protected and the "Johns"are more descreet."

BTW one of the banks I worked at was "the" bank back in Peoria's sordid wild open past that was the bank of choice for several of the local madams! In fact if you ever heard the name of the infamous China B she was one of our better customers as she would set up passbook savings accounts for all her "girls" and deposit some of their earnings for them so they would have some serious money when they would move on, leave her brothel or get married!  

Jeremiah

@RRP I'd be willing to bet an egg that your chief of police was finding a little extra cash in his drawers as well. 

GATraveller

I wonder if that miracle salve could cure mange too? 

NPHuskerFL

As of late we've (mainly my wife) have been getting calls from folks that are of obvious Middle Eastern descent and always with Americanized names like Fred claiming to be tech support for Microsoft. This is followed by my wife's response of "Really?! Seriously?"  Laughing in hysterics and "mmmmm yeah bye bye now (sarcastic) Fred" aaaaaand Block Number. She's blocked 5 different robodialer #s from them. We answer most calls  because she works from home and thankfully our new system will block up to 1,500 #s + the few hundred the phone does on its own. 
Works great for pesky political and robodialer telemarketers. And yes we've updated the "do not call list". What a bunch of bologna. 




My other favorite is the guy that I've seen on at least 15 occasions at Publix, Winn Dixie and WallyWorld claiming his car needs a hose, battery, flux capacitor and I just need $10 more and flashes about $50-$100 to show (I guess that he's close to his goal?)... last time I said be careful I could be a serial killer and take your money. He scurried off like a roach with the lights turning on in Golden Corral. 

RRP

Jeremiah said:

@RRP I'd be willing to bet an egg that your chief of police was finding a little extra cash in his drawers as well. 

I hear you, but unlike other chiefs he either was clean, or extremely smart as nothing dirty was ever charged much less even whispered about. To this day he is highly respected. His successors...well...not so much. If you ever met the man he was NOT a macho cop, but a suit wearing thin, eye glass wearer who carried no weapon. You would mistake him for a college professor! I personally knew and respected the officer who became his personal driver as Allen never drove a squad car.

tarheelmatt

Darby_Crenshaw

NPHuskerFL said:

As of late we've (mainly my wife) have been getting calls from folks that are of obvious Middle Eastern descent and always with Americanized names like Fred claiming to be tech support for Microsoft. 

i work from home, and get these frigging calls all day on the old land line and usually ignore.

but when i have time, i like to screw with them

I googled the scam and there was a Cnet article with screenshots. So i just followed along. 

The idea is they steer you into opening a connection so they can control your machine, which they then lock down and hold hostage until you pay a few hundred

i "did" all the steps by simply reciting the stuff i saw on the screen caps.  "Ok now please tell me sir what does the search result say?"

and me all "oh my god. I see all sorts of warnings and things?!?!"  

"Yes sir, that is all the viruses. Now type XYZ..."  

I would act stupid and pretend to mosunderstand and mispell. The whole time i was working and wasting next to zero of my time but about twenty minutes of his. 

These guys make money by embroiling as many as possible a day, and get serious grief for lost chumps

well, after a half hour of him gwtting upaet that i was taking so long to type the right sh!t, and RIGHT at the moment of his payoff, he says "now, hold down thw control key and...."

and i say "the what?"

"control key"

"what's a control key?" I say

and he says "the one down on the left that has a funny symbol on it"

and i say "oh. I think I know what the problem is. I have a Mac"

sound of silence

he sighs and i said "goan fahk yusef" and hang up

nolaegghead

Actually, a mac does have a control key, not alt, but I get it. 

We get the calls too, on our land line only (because they can tell), and we have fckd with them, mostly SWMBO. 

Engrish - international language of business.  It's also a curse.