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At Christmas I stopped to put diesel in the Excursion with the wife, kid, niece, nephew, and sister-in-law inside. Guy 2 pumps over setting in a car asked if I was getting gas cause he had some gift cards to sell me the people in the store would not take inside. I told him no I wasn't getting gas, told my wife (LTC holder and carries) to watch him while I went inside to get her a drink as the pump was filling up the Excursion.

This was in the Belton-H190 area. I guess there are still enough suckers to buy crap like this for people to keep trying their scams.

TxRVer wrote:

baldeagle wrote:

Vol Texan wrote:The beggar isn't the only thing to worry about. You also need to remember their only job may be to distract you from the other person stealing from within your car while you're busy fending off the request for money.

Sliders are the reason I always lock my car as soon as I get out to pump gas.

I make sure my wife's car has gas in it, so she can avoid gas stations.

Me too.

tiger1279,

Thanks for the tip.

I'll be sure to OC when I fill up from now on.

Having been approached a few times at the gas station, parking lot at the grocery store or shopping center and the countless beggars on the street corners of Houston my question is, who hasn't?

Tracker wrote:His story? He wanted to know if he could take her pickup to the car wash and clean for a few dollars more while she went shopping inside.

Is there really someone out there that can afford to drive a car but is so stupid they would turn it over to a stranger to "have it washed" while they went shopping?

VMI77 wrote:

Tracker wrote:His story? He wanted to know if he could take her pickup to the car wash and clean for a few dollars more while she went shopping inside.

Is there really someone out there that can afford to drive a car but is so stupid they would turn it over to a stranger to "have it washed" while they went shopping?

Nordstroms in La Jolla had a courtesy car wash for customers. Operated like a valet parking operation.

A very similar thing happened to me in Austin. If you don't know it, Austin is the California of Texas... Among the many amenities of Austin we offer a bum on every corner... Literally every corner. And such attractions as Hobo Hamlet and Vagrant Village, campsites under highway underpasses. Making a left hand turn at a light in Austin gets you the pleasure of a few moments with a friendly or not so friendly street person. If a gas station is near a bum corner or hamlet, the bums often pester customers for money (not food - they'll toss that).

So I was getting some gas near hobo hamlet (Burnet and 183) and sure enough there is a guy pestering people in the parking lot. I was open carrying... For some reason he never came to me? Looked right at me but walked off. Strange isn't it?

VMI77 wrote:

Tracker wrote:His story? He wanted to know if he could take her pickup to the car wash and clean for a few dollars more while she went shopping inside.

Is there really someone out there that can afford to drive a car but is so stupid they would turn it over to a stranger to "have it washed" while they went shopping?

If there is someone that will hand over their banking information online so that Prince Mogobi can send them 10 mill then yeah there is.

jason812 wrote:

TxRVer wrote:

baldeagle wrote:

Vol Texan wrote:The beggar isn't the only thing to worry about. You also need to remember their only job may be to distract you from the other person stealing from within your car while you're busy fending off the request for money.

Sliders are the reason I always lock my car as soon as I get out to pump gas.

I make sure my wife's car has gas in it, so she can avoid gas stations.

Me too.

Yep I do the same thing, I don't want her having to deal with it.

Abraham wrote:tiger1279,

Thanks for the tip.

I'll be sure to OC when I fill up from now on.

Good one.

Unocat wrote:A very similar thing happened to me in Austin. If you don't know it, Austin is the California of Texas... Among the many amenities of Austin we offer a bum on every corner... Literally every corner. And such attractions as Hobo Hamlet and Vagrant Village, campsites under highway underpasses. Making a left hand turn at a light in Austin gets you the pleasure of a few moments with a friendly or not so friendly street person. If a gas station is near a bum corner or hamlet, the bums often pester customers for money (not food - they'll toss that).

So I was getting some gas near hobo hamlet (Burnet and 183) and sure enough there is a guy pestering people in the parking lot. I was open carrying... For some reason he never came to me? Looked right at me but walked off. Strange isn't it?

Isn't it so!

When I came to Austin ~50 years ago, I thought it was the greatest place in the world. They had taxis, buses, one way streets, street lights, elevators, honky tonks, all night restaurants and more besides. It was easy to find your way around, lots of places to go and see, clean, well kept. Hippies were pretty much confined to the Student Union in those days.

Now, not so much. Traffic is hideous, it looks mostly like some third world hell-hole, even some of the faculty look like bums.

Tracker wrote:

Vol Texan wrote:The beggar isn't the only thing to worry about. You also need to remember their only job may be to distract you from the other person stealing from within your car while you're busy fending off the request for money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjkghjJ55BU

And what makes it easy for them to pull this are new autos that automatically unlock all doors when the drive gets out to pump gas.

Read the manual. That can be changed so that only the driver's door unlocks or that no doors unlock.

My truck is set so that when I turn off the ignition, NOTHING unlocks until I open the door and then only that door unlocks.

We were approached two different times within a mile of each other just West of Knoxville, TN. The second time, I did not even get the car door more than opened to the first detente position until the guy was in my face, telling me that he had a sick child and needed to get it to the doctor. I grabbed for my phone in my pocket and told him that I was calling 911 to get him help right away. Suddenly, he was backpedaling and saying that he could not pay for medical treatment anywhere except this one particular doctor. I told him that I was certain that the medical authorities would treat a sick child regardless of his ability to pay and he walked away. In both cases they were looking for "gas money".

I truly want to help someone with legitimate need. It is really hard to figure out legitimacy in many pan-handler situations. We also had an incident in the RV at a Mississippi truck stop. The guy was no panhandling but was trying to keep me engaged in a conversation while the other person from his car circled back behind our RV. I was able to extract myself from that situation before anything bad happened. The guy who posts the Active Self-Protection videos on Facebook is always talking about "transitional spaces" with gas stations qualifying as one of those.

I've been approached before, pretty much everyone has I think. I need bus money, I need gas money, I need food money, etc. I tell everyone except food, no. For food I offer to buy them something to eat. In my entire life of being begged I've had two people take me up on the food offer. One at a Wendy's and one at a Taco Bell.

I have been approached numerous times and have never given money to anyone.

It was not in a gas station, but once I bought lunch for a woman when I was visiting NYC.
I took her into a cafe and talked to her while we ate. It was an interesting meal.
After lunch she asked me for money, but I refused.