Goonie Goo Goo

[servermonkey]

Had to run to Wal-Mart for soy milk, some juice, yada yada yada. It was shaping up to be a fairly painless experience--unlike some times when shopping there is just pure dag nasty evil.

Anyway, as I stood in line, I was approached by a middled aged Hispanic man.

"¿Usted va a la iglesia?" (which translates to "Do you go to church?")

Sure, I tell him, without explaining that I typically don't go every other weekend because of my work schedule. The man seems pleased with my answer and continues to explain, in Spanish, that he and his church were selling tamales and that something happened to his vehicle. He and his friends prayed about it, and hoped that the transmission would hold up.

"Okay," I replied, wondering what this is leading to.

Eventually, he asks me if I speak English, to which I reply yes, and then continues on with his melodrama. I finally interject with a, "Okay, so what's the problem? What exactly do you need?"

He finally explains that he could use some help for some gas money. His Grand Marquis is still having problems--so I interrupt again and tell him, one, I don't carry cash, and if I happened to have any I would probably consider helping (though not really). Now, I have to go home to my family, and sorry. He then dismisses me with a Ruby Rod-like bzzzzt! hand motion.

While waiting in line, I got to thinking about it some more, and started getting a bit more upset about it. So, I paid for my stuff, and then walked to the Customer Service counter and described the man and what he was doing. I felt kind of stupid doing so, and told them that, but they agreed that I was doing the right thing.

Well, as I finished up telling them, I see the same guy walk past and head towards the entrance.

I walked out to my car, but kept an eye on the dude.

Sure enough, he walked toward a Grand Marquis that looked to be in decent shape. He got into the car, started it up and headed west on Highway 60. He also had a large red cooler in the back seat of the car--though a small part of me seriously doubts that the guy had tamales in it, if you know what I mean.

And here I thought I was having an okay evening at Wal-Mart.

Also, if you happen to have made it this far, you are probably wondering, "Goonie Goo Goo?" Well, I happened to be listening to Eddie Murphy's bit The Barbecue while driving to Wal-Mart.

Comments

[mineral777.livejournal.com]

mmhm soy milk. I love that stuff, what kind did you buy?
people like that are why I avoid walmart at all cost and if I must go I choose 2am.

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

I've been buying Sun Soy brand soy milk. It's $2.06 for a half gallon and there are chocolate, vanilla and regular flavors. It's for Jonothan, as he can't handle regular milk all that well.

Yeah, if I were up at 2:00 a.m. I'd probably choose to go then. We could hang out.

[mineral777.livejournal.com]

sun soy is good stuff. I like also like vita soy, and silk a soy

[dodging-fate.livejournal.com]

in the last month I've had THREE men approach me with sob stories asking for transprotation money... one outside a convenient store, one outside my work (and he first asked for a RIDE to the next town... uh, NO, freak???!!!???) and the third outiside my kids' daycare which kind of freaked me out!

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

Must be a revival in using that money begging technique--I was approached with something similar to this several years ago when I worked as a video store clerk. The guy then had the audacity to ask if I could just take it out of the register and he'd come back to pay me. Yeah, riiiiiiiiiight.

Rachel told me the Wal-Mart guy walked up to the wrong guy looking for a sympathetic ear.

That someone would be doing this outside of a daycare facility is more than slightly disturbing. FREAK is putting it mildly.

[dodging-fate.livejournal.com]

I suggested the man leave the vicinity as I was going to call the police on my cell phone and give his description.

In my neighborhood...where my daycare is... we already have three lvl 3 sexual predators, two of them pedophiles... not taking any friggin' chances!

The guy who asked me for a ride is the one who really freaked me out, however.

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah definitely. No WAY a stranger's getting in my car.

That many predators in the vicinity? Geez!

[dodging-fate.livejournal.com]

yep. and with a middle school, high school, elementary school and three daycares all within three blocks of all three of them. Nice, eh?

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

Goodness! WTF? seems appropriate for this.

[dodging-fate.livejournal.com]

yep. I'm dumfounded. I can't believe they allow this... many states have a 'no sexual predator within three blocks of any school' law. Not NY, however. *sigh*

wow...

[(Anonymous)]

I've had similar things happen to me and sometimes I feel guilty but then I think it is our responsibilty as believers to be discerning and to kind of feel out when one is being truthful and when they are not.

Sounds like they just wanted money for non-religious things..
Unfortunetly in today's world you can't just hand things out.

Sounds like you handle it just right!!

Re: wow...

[servermonkey.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Still though, I felt really stupid going up to another Wal-Mart employee, "tattling" in essence.

Sadly, my cynical side seems to dominate quite a bit more from time to time. Well, I have spent quite some time becoming jaded about certain things.