Eric Lippert, a Microsoft coder* and blogger, posted a riff last week on the increasing number of aggressively creative “roguelike people” in Wallingford: Roguelike People on MSDN. He’s right, they’re not really grifters, even if that is a more enchanting word than “liar”, but still a fun read.
* It seems that “engineer” is the preferred term these days for someone who writes computer software, but that always leaves us with the image of someone in a striped cap leaning out the window of locomotive, pulling a steam horn.
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Thanks, Eric! Your perspective is refreshingly realistic. I used to carry some little cards from Family Works listing resources that I gave to panhandlers and ‘grifters’ who approached me. It only took a few refusals and a couple of really threatening looks before I decided it wasn’t smart for anyone but large, youthful males to hand them out. Everybody else, including the beggars, is better off when we ignore them.
QFC, Post Office, Bartells.. these guys know their rights.
hmm the numbe rincreased when we go tthe homeless shelter..
of course there is no relationship.. hu!
I get the old “My car is about to be towed and i need some gas” line about once a month. If I have a minute to kill, I like to play along with their scam, just to screw with them a bit. So I tell them, “Oh hey, I’ve actually got a gas can in my car. Let me go get you a gallon or two. Wait right here, I’ll be back soon.” Then of course they tell me they don’t want to trouble me, it’s easier if i just give them a few bucks. So I respond by pointing out that they would have to walk all that way to the gas station, it really makes sense for me to drive there and get some.
Eventually they get frustrated and just ask for cash, I respond by saying, “But I thought you wanted gas, right? I would have given you 20 bucks if you’d been honest (not) I guess I’ll have to give it to the next guy.
Just a fun game to play to teach these scum a well deserved lesson.
I simply do not engage. Trying to keep the energy even.
If I can help, I will. But I wont just hand out cash to a scripted, over dramatic actor. I’ll bite, but it will cost you a joke I havent heard, or an interesting fact I dont know. and you have to carry my groceries, wait for my latte or follow me while I pick up my dogs poop which I now have to find a garbage can for. then. I will get you your gas. And, if you, “cant find your car” then there is no use in wasting gas so I will put it in my vehicle. …But this will only happen if I have the time, bored, PMSing, need a distraction, avoiding cleaning or doing my taxes.
Much love to the ones that are honest and still have a soul. Shout out to the guy that sells ‘real change’ out front of bartells. Boston fan. Wonderful man.
I just hope one day I don’t end up running out of gas in the middle of the day in a city I’ve never been to, get robbed and have no way getting back home in time for my mothers funeral.. which I’m going to miss because I had no gas. Because then I will feel like a horrible person and take back all the snide remarks I’ve ever made in the past.
Peace
me
about engineer’s wearing striped shirts — that made me laugh hard!
When I was little (4ish), I remember a new young family moving in across the street, the Browns. My folks told me that Mr. Brown was an engineer.
It took me a few weeks, but after watching him arrive home from work nearly every night, I finally got up the nerve to go ask him he wasn’t wearing his striped overalls and cap.
I had to go get my Richard Scary book to show him an engineer wearing just such an outfit. (So what if the ‘railroad engineer’ in that book was a cartoon mouse. It made perfect sense to me!) My Dad still likes to tell that story. I think Mr. Brown remains a little puzzled about the whole thing to this day.
I turned out to be a software engineer, but don’t currently have any striped overalls in my wardrobe.
…to go ask him *why* he wasn’t wearing his striped overalls….
I left that little word out.
After going to Bartell’s and QFC the other day, I remarked to my son’s partner that it was amazing how many disabled vets in wheelchairs had made it to these spots. My money goes to the people who sell “Real Change” at these locations. They are trying to make an honest living.
After going to Bartell’s and QFC the other day, I remarked to my son’s partner that it was amazing how many disabled vets in wheelchairs had made it to these spots. My money goes to the people who sell “Real Change” at these locations. They are trying to make an honest living.
After going to Bartell’s and QFC the other day, I remarked to my son’s partner that it was amazing how many disabled vets in wheelchairs had made it to these spots. My money goes to the people who sell “Real Change” at these locations. They are trying to make an honest living.
“… but [“engineer”] always leaves us with the image of someone in a striped cap leaning out the window of locomotive, pulling a steam horn.”
I’ve been a software engineer for almost 40 years, and believe me, your description sounds like a lot more fun. 🙂
The guy in a tie with the gas can on the I-5 off-ramp is good for a good laugh at least. Haven’t seen him in a while, maybe it is too cold outside.
About 15 years ago I encountered the oddest short cons I have ever witnessed (and I’ve seen many and fallen for at least a couple over the years). My mom and I were stopped at a red light after just having visited a dying relative in the hospital. A guy came up to the driver-side window and showed us a guinea pig he held in his hands and he said “If you don’t give me ten bucks, I’ll put this guinea pig under your tire and you will kill it when you drive off.” He must have thought my mom looked like a softy, and generally she was, but he picked the wrong day to mess with her. She said, “Bullsh*t. If you put that thing under my car I will drive over it and you will have a dead guinea pig. Now step back from car before you end up under my tire.” And the light changed and we drove off.
A fairly good article. I liked the part where you reminded the reader that extraneous detail is a hallmark of a charlatan. Still trying to figure out what all the verbiage about engineers, and software has to do with the subject of panhandlers and grifters.