Excuse me, sir? Do you have a minute? I sure hope you can help me. I really hope you can. Are you familiar with this area at all? I live just, just down the street there. Are you familiar with Hope Street? I work north of Boston. In Andover. And my car. I'm actually walking home now. And. I really can't believe this. I'm parked over there. On the other side of the mall there. Across around on the other side. Really, it's my car that I'm worried about most. Do you think you can spare me a couple bucks for gas?
And the second, this morning, outside South Station, was remarkably similar in its structure:
Sir? Could you help me out? Man, I'm in a bind. I'm from Fort Lauderdale. I have a great job down there. I make amazing money. My friend who I was riding with just got arrested. And I'm stuck. Bus tickets are like $70. I make great money. If you give me your name and address and phone number I'll give you my name and address and phone number. I'll pay you back double. I'll send it to you. Could you help me with a few bucks?
There's always a giant lead-in before they come to the actual question. The first guy's lead-in took so long and was so rambling that I actually said "And..." halfway through to make him get to the point. And there's almost always a friend involved -- a friend unable to help (usually the friend is injured or arrested or has lost his or her wallet). The standardization makes you wonder if there's some kind of user's guide to conning. The stories must work, but I don't see how.
2 comments:
They work amazingly well. I read an article on Digg that panhandlers outside of some Walmarts make more each week (lots more) than the greeters inside. The number was around $300 per week -- just by asking for money by the automatic doors. Incredible! Of course, one can argue that many politicians are just pan handlers in a suit; they are always asking for money from strangers. At least pan handlers sometimes open the door for you if it's not automatic.
A distinction must be made between the cup-jingling panhandlers and the roving con artists, though. I see people giving change to panhandlers all the time, but I've never seen someone pull out their wallet to buy a drifter a train ticket.
Probably because a panhandler isn't trying to fool anyone. "I'm here and I'm jingling," they say. But the phony sob stories say, "You look like a sucker."
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