Mistake,could have killed me last night

[genomachino]

Your right Fran, i thought about that later......

I'm angry at Kevin for not warning you and the others about this guy. It's a common scam. If that guy had come up to me or even if I overhead him talking to someone else I would have made sure the whole pool room knew about him in 10 seconds flat.

We have to look out for each other. Some people just can't be bothered.

He didn't look like a bum either. But I can assure he had never been in there before.

All that was there was kevin, myself and a guy named Robert and the bar tender and he was at the other end of the place.

Like Jay said i should have asked the questions before he got in the van but I was really assuming he knew everyone.

Little did I know that he was just there to play his little game.

And he might do this all the time. Go into a place and get a ride and get a few bucks from them with a little intimidation.

I had a guy at the Rack in Memphis pull kind of the same thing. I talked to him inside. He followed me out to my car and told me he had just got out of prison after he asked me for a few bucks because he ran out of gas a few blocks away. The prison part was supposed to intimidate me and I'd just give him some money from fear.

I knew that was a bad area. That guy was about my age. I wanted to kick his ass. I was more mad than scared.

I told him good luck. that I'm about as broke as he is.

 

[Island Drive]

I'm angry at Kevin for not warning you and the others about this guy. It's a common scam. If that guy had come up to me or even if I overhead him talking to someone else I would have made sure the whole pool room knew about him in 10 seconds flat.

We have to look out for each other. Some people just can't be bothered.

Fran, your a woman..........I would expect you to be even more aware of your surroundings than most men.

I had a gun pulled on me in the late sixties, I put my hands up, told the guy he was right, and I'm still here.

 

[GeoEnvi]

Love the way you told that story, Old Time!

 

[KRJ]

I'm angry at Kevin for not warning you and the others about this guy. It's a common scam. If that guy had come up to me or even if I overhead him talking to someone else I would have made sure the whole pool room knew about him in 10 seconds flat.

We have to look out for each other. Some people just can't be bothered.

Actually, Kevin did "warn" him the second he said NO to the guy should have been a huge, and I mean HUGE red flag for Geno. A guy from the pool room who may know this guy would NOT even do him a solid to get his car....... well, crap, if a guy he knows, and is from the area, won't drive him, I certainly am NOT gonna drive him not knowing him and not being from the area.

Rookie mistake Geno, but you caught a good roll

 

[JAlan]

He didn't look like a bum either. But I can assure he had never been in there before.

All that was there was kevin, myself and a guy named Robert and the bar tender and he was at the other end of the place.

Like Jay said i should have asked the questions before he got in the van but I was really assuming he knew everyone.

Little did I know that he was just there to play his little game.

And he might do this all the time. Go into a place and get a ride and get a few bucks from them with a little intimidation.

I had a guy at the Rack in Memphis pull kind of the same thing. I talked to him inside. He followed me out to my car and told me he had just got out of prison after he asked me for a few bucks because he ran out of gas a few blocks away. The prison part was supposed to intimidate me and I'd just give him some money from fear.

I knew that was a bad area. That guy was about my age. I wanted to kick his ass. I was more mad than scared.

I told him good luck. that I'm about as broke as he is.

The Rack in Memphis, that used to be a rough area back in the day. Sweated a lot of action there though back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Glad you made it out of this one Geno, take it as a lesson learned. Thanks also for posting this, everyone who has read this thread will hopefully think twice if they are ever in the same situation. :thumbup:

 

[Nostroke]

No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[alstl]

Avoid gambling at pool for about a year. You used up at least a year's worth of luck by avoiding getting hurt or killed.

Having lived and worked in North St Louis for decades trust me, you got very lucky.

 

[FranCrimi]

Actually, Kevin did "warn" him the second he said NO to the guy should have been a huge, and I mean HUGE red flag for Geno. A guy from the pool room who may know this guy would NOT even do him a solid to get his car....... well, crap, if a guy he knows, and is from the area, won't drive him, I certainly am NOT gonna drive him not knowing him and not being from the area.

Rookie mistake Geno, but you caught a good roll

Kevin told the guy he didn't come there in his own car so he couldn't give him a lift. There's no warning there in that message. The message was that he didn't have a car to help the guy out.

You know what I think? I think that maybe Kevin was a little pissed off that he lost his lead and broke even with Geno, and wasn't feeling all that friendly to go out of his way to warn him. That's what I think.

 

[kycuerunner]

I live here Louisville and that part of town is not the greatest.If you need info on any local pool halls around here let me know my email is davidmhall29@gmail and i'll help you out.

 

[Island Drive]

Avoid gambling at pool for about a year. You used up at least a year's worth of luck by avoiding getting hurt or killed.

Having lived and worked in North St Louis for decades trust me, you got very lucky.

East St. Louis, 1969 gambling in a black pool room (bad move) made a couple hundred, was there with my roomie ange from the S. side of chicago, X garbage collector, tough, street wise even in his youth. We hurried out of the room got in the car, some guy popped out of no where and gabbed my side door handle to open, he had a gun, ange saw it, plus that old door lock mech hung up/ it was a pain to open that door, his fast thinking and the door handle saved us from ??

 

[Island Drive]

Actually, Kevin did "warn" him the second he said NO to the guy should have been a huge, and I mean HUGE red flag for Geno. A guy from the pool room who may know this guy would NOT even do him a solid to get his car....... well, crap, if a guy he knows, and is from the area, won't drive him, I certainly am NOT gonna drive him not knowing him and not being from the area.

Rookie mistake Geno, but you caught a good roll

Age lets things slip. We all experience that at one time or another, its one of the dangers of our late yrs., whether walking on ice or down stairs or crossing the street.

 

[Hungarian]

You need one of these on the road Gene..

 

[ShootingArts]

a long long time ago

There is a section of I-10 that runs through the wetlands. Cars abandoned and burned along it, hundreds a year back at that time. There is a man walking down the shoulder. The sumb!tch looks huge! Wild hair and beard, denim storm rider jacket, blue jeans, boots.

Temperature is about forty, but drizzling rain and a bit of wind, a miserable day for a twelve mile walk back to the closest exit. Dozens of vehicles pass, hard to say if none stopping is a good thing or a bad thing.

Finally someone stops. The car is an old junker. Rusty, bent up, the passenger door wired shut. The man that gets out is of a different race. Once he was even bigger than the man he stopped to offer a ride to but now he is bent almost double with age and illness or injury. A gauze patch on his throat indicates the reason he can't talk, almost certainly throat cancer. He is shaking badly and very obviously badly frightened.

The person he stopped to help is well into shock and hypothermia and isn't capable of speech either at this point. Although he had been deliberately using a strong confident stride walking down the shoulder he was very near collapse and was weighing his options between going down on the shoulder or walking a short ways into the wetlands after wading a ditch about ten feet wide. He only had a couple hundred dollars cash on him but as bad luck would have it he had received two checks without a chance to deposit them yet so when his pick-up broke down on the side of the interstate he had about $8,000 in checks on his person that would be difficult to get replaced. A lot of temptation to the cannibals and marginal people likely to stop even if their original intentions were good. The cottonmouths and alligators in the swamp were probably less of a risk but the weather was likely to kill him within hours and it could be days before a search found him in the wetlands.

The man with the car used hand motions to indicate the stranger had to get in the car from the driver's side because the passenger door didn't open. The car owner's fear was increasing when the stranger didn't speak but climbed in the car. Both occupants were pretty damned scared as the old gentleman tore down the interstate as fast as the old car would run! The tires wobbling and bouncing, the body screeching and rattling, drafts blowing in from everywhere!

The passenger got out at the next exit. He did offer the old gentleman some money. The man refused but it was obvious that the money was a significant amount to him at the moment. The stranger said, "Please take it my friend, my problems aren't about money right now." Reluctantly the old gentleman took the money and indicated he would be happy to take the stranger the rest of the way on his journey.

I was just weeks past a major back injury when my truck stranded me on that stretch of interstate and I still find it amazing that the old gray black gentleman overcame his fear that genuinely bordered on terror to stop and help a very rough looking stranger of another race. I looked much like I do in my avatar image. We never communicated other than the few words when I got out the vehicle and I never saw the man or angel again. However to this day I still "pay it forward" every time I stop to help someone when I would really prefer not to. I owe a huge debt to that gentleman, very possibly my life.

I don't believe in being foolish but neither do I want to be so fearful or so concerned that other people are trying to get over that I don't help others. I'm quite sure that some of the people I have given cash too were conning me but most I have given cash to didn't ask and a few wasted dollars are a very small price to pay for helping others.

Hu

 

[Hungarian]

Great read. Thanks for sharing that.

There is a section of I-10 that runs through the wetlands. Cars abandoned and burned along it, hundreds a year back at that time. There is a man walking down the shoulder. The sumb!tch looks huge! Wild hair and beard, denim storm rider jacket, blue jeans, boots.

Temperature is about forty, but drizzling rain and a bit of wind, a miserable day for a twelve mile walk back to the closest exit. Dozens of vehicles pass, hard to say if none stopping is a good thing or a bad thing.

Finally someone stops. The car is an old junker. Rusty, bent up, the passenger door wired shut. The man that gets out is of a different race. Once he was even bigger than the man he stopped to offer a ride to but now he is bent almost double with age and illness or injury. A gauze patch on his throat indicates the reason he can't talk, almost certainly throat cancer. He is shaking badly and very obviously badly frightened.

The person he stopped to help is well into shock and hypothermia and isn't capable of speech either at this point. Although he had been deliberately using a strong confident stride walking down the shoulder he was very near collapse and was weighing his options between going down on the shoulder or walking a short ways into the wetlands after wading a ditch about ten feet wide. He only had a couple hundred dollars cash on him but as bad luck would have it he had received two checks without a chance to deposit them yet so when his pick-up broke down on the side of the interstate he had about $8,000 in checks on his person that would be difficult to get replaced. A lot of temptation to the cannibals and marginal people likely to stop even if their original intentions were good. The cottonmouths and alligators in the swamp were probably less of a risk but the weather was likely to kill him within hours and it could be days before a search found him in the wetlands.

The man with the car used hand motions to indicate the stranger had to get in the car from the driver's side because the passenger door didn't open. The car owner's fear was increasing when the stranger didn't speak but climbed in the car. Both occupants were pretty damned scared as the old gentleman tore down the interstate as fast as the old car would run! The tires wobbling and bouncing, the body screeching and rattling, drafts blowing in from everywhere!

The passenger got out at the next exit. He did offer the old gentleman some money. The man refused but it was obvious that the money was a significant amount to him at the moment. The stranger said, "Please take it my friend, my problems aren't about money right now." Reluctantly the old gentleman took the money and indicated he would be happy to take the stranger the rest of the way on his journey.

I was just weeks past a major back injury when my truck stranded me on that stretch of interstate and I still find it amazing that the old gray black gentleman overcame his fear that genuinely bordered on terror to stop and help a very rough looking stranger of another race. I looked much like I do in my avatar image. We never communicated other than the few words when I got out the vehicle and I never saw the man or angel again. However to this day I still "pay it forward" every time I stop to help someone when I would really prefer not to. I owe a huge debt to that gentleman, very possibly my life.

I don't believe in being foolish but neither do I want to be so fearful or so concerned that other people are trying to get over that I don't help others. I'm quite sure that some of the people I have given cash too were conning me but most I have given cash to didn't ask and a few wasted dollars are a very small price to pay for helping others.

Hu

 

[alstl]

East St. Louis, 1969 gambling in a black pool room (bad move) made a couple hundred, was there with my roomie ange from the S. side of chicago, X garbage collector, tough, street wise even in his youth. We hurried out of the room got in the car, some guy popped out of no where and gabbed my side door handle to open, he had a gun, ange saw it, plus that old door lock mech hung up/ it was a pain to open that door, his fast thinking and the door handle saved us from ??

I'd bet he had been in the pool hall and knew you had money. I've known people to die for less than a couple hundred. I made it clear to anybody to tried to bum a dollar off me that I don't carry any cash. Not because I was too cheap to give somebody a dollar, but they aren't always looking for a dollar. They are looking to see if and how much cash you are carrying. You may not get robbed right then but sooner or later if it becomes known you carry cash you will be looking at the working end of a gun and they don't always let you walk away if you give them the cash.

Not to be too hard on the op who realizes he messed up but the guy walked to the pool hall because his car broke down and wants a ride back to his car which is broke down? You got lucky.

 

[Lock N Load]

There is a section of I-10 that runs through the wetlands. Cars abandoned and burned along it, hundreds a year back at that time. There is a man walking down the shoulder. The sumb!tch looks huge! Wild hair and beard, denim storm rider jacket, blue jeans, boots.

Temperature is about forty, but drizzling rain and a bit of wind, a miserable day for a twelve mile walk back to the closest exit. Dozens of vehicles pass, hard to say if none stopping is a good thing or a bad thing.

Finally someone stops. The car is an old junker. Rusty, bent up, the passenger door wired shut. The man that gets out is of a different race. Once he was even bigger than the man he stopped to offer a ride to but now he is bent almost double with age and illness or injury. A gauze patch on his throat indicates the reason he can't talk, almost certainly throat cancer. He is shaking badly and very obviously badly frightened.

The person he stopped to help is well into shock and hypothermia and isn't capable of speech either at this point. Although he had been deliberately using a strong confident stride walking down the shoulder he was very near collapse and was weighing his options between going down on the shoulder or walking a short ways into the wetlands after wading a ditch about ten feet wide. He only had a couple hundred dollars cash on him but as bad luck would have it he had received two checks without a chance to deposit them yet so when his pick-up broke down on the side of the interstate he had about $8,000 in checks on his person that would be difficult to get replaced. A lot of temptation to the cannibals and marginal people likely to stop even if their original intentions were good. The cottonmouths and alligators in the swamp were probably less of a risk but the weather was likely to kill him within hours and it could be days before a search found him in the wetlands.

The man with the car used hand motions to indicate the stranger had to get in the car from the driver's side because the passenger door didn't open. The car owner's fear was increasing when the stranger didn't speak but climbed in the car. Both occupants were pretty damned scared as the old gentleman tore down the interstate as fast as the old car would run! The tires wobbling and bouncing, the body screeching and rattling, drafts blowing in from everywhere!

The passenger got out at the next exit. He did offer the old gentleman some money. The man refused but it was obvious that the money was a significant amount to him at the moment. The stranger said, "Please take it my friend, my problems aren't about money right now." Reluctantly the old gentleman took the money and indicated he would be happy to take the stranger the rest of the way on his journey.

I was just weeks past a major back injury when my truck stranded me on that stretch of interstate and I still find it amazing that the old gray black gentleman overcame his fear that genuinely bordered on terror to stop and help a very rough looking stranger of another race. I looked much like I do in my avatar image. We never communicated other than the few words when I got out the vehicle and I never saw the man or angel again. However to this day I still "pay it forward" every time I stop to help someone when I would really prefer not to. I owe a huge debt to that gentleman, very possibly my life.

I don't believe in being foolish but neither do I want to be so fearful or so concerned that other people are trying to get over that I don't help others. I'm quite sure that some of the people I have given cash too were conning me but most I have given cash to didn't ask and a few wasted dollars are a very small price to pay for helping others.

Hu

Hello Hu,
Glad to see you posting again. I missed you. Good story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[Lock N Load]

Gene...glad you're with us! Just had to post this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFaLokC9hqk

Wow!!! What a link! Thanks for sharing with us.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[Lock N Load]

You need one of these on the road Gene..

Now that is what Gene needed for sure.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[Island Drive]

I'd bet he had been in the pool hall and knew you had money. I've known people to die for less than a couple hundred. I made it clear to anybody to tried to bum a dollar off me that I don't carry any cash. Not because I was too cheap to give somebody a dollar, but they aren't always looking for a dollar. They are looking to see if and how much cash you are carrying. You may not get robbed right then but sooner or later if it becomes known you carry cash you will be looking at the working end of a gun and they don't always let you walk away if you give them the cash.

Not to be too hard on the op who realizes he messed up but the guy walked to the pool hall because his car broke down and wants a ride back to his car which is broke down? You got lucky.

I'm sure your right, but ange got us out quickly, and only frequented two other pool halls like this after that. One in Los Angeles, during the day and another in MS when I went busted. All I had was a nice leather coat, but I knew I could turn it there, I told em the truth and got pumped up again once I reached N. Orleans, early seventies.

 

[fast&loose designs]

Great story. Glad you are ok. Although I must say it kind of bugs me that you felt the need to mention that he was black. I mean, does that really matter?