Parking Lot "Entrepreneurs"
[QUOTE=Mtnboy49;6256516][QUOTE=Dr Willy;6255651](...) I've also been into AMPs (not in Orlando) where dubious appearing "street urchins" approach guys in the parking lot and "offer" to watch their cars for them while they are inside a place of business. Decline that $10 or $20 offer and, at a [B]MINIMUM[/B], you return to find your car "keyed" and scratched from fender to fender, while the worst case is your window is smashed with any belongings inside most likely stolen. By the way, those same "urchins" are usually so bold as to still be sitting on the curb when you come back out and, if you ask them about the damage, they'll just grin and say "[i][red]Yeah, we saw some tall white dude with a long beard, wearing bright red pants, smash up your car, but we weren't paid to watch it so we didn't do anything.[/red][/i]"[/QUOTE]I paid a couple kids to watch my machito (Venzuelan Toyota Land Cruiser) in Puerto Ordaz. When I came back at end of the day, spare was gone. The little shits wanted me to tip them extra for watching my car.[/QUOTE]Well, [b]THAT[/b] sucks! I hope it was a rental!
The place I witnessed this practice going on was in Metro Detroit on the edge of a sketchy part of town and right next to a very busy major freeway overpass. I had read online about these guys trying to grift AMP customers for cash, so I never actually fell into the predicament.
Unfortunately, the AMP was the only place in that market that, at the time, was offering service almost close to Milk, so the nature of the surrounding area wasn't enough of a deterrent to keep customers away. Any time I even SAW those guys in the parking lot, I just didn't stop. I would usually drive into the parking lot of a White Castle across the freeway from which one could scope out the entire parking lot to see if those guys were there or not.
While these practices served to assure I never encountered the "offer" to watch my car, should I have ever been approached by anyone that I missed in my recon my planned approach was to say to them "[b]Oh! Thanks... I didn't think of that. I didn't bring enough money for you, so let me run across the street to the ATM to get what you need and I'll be right back.[/b]" Then I would get in my car and drive off, praying they wouldn't do anything as long as they were hoping for me to return with money for them. Of course, I just would not return at all and count my blessings to have gotten out of there without further trouble.
As I said, I never had to employ that strategy, but the risks ran deep enough through my mind that I had it all thought/planned out!