Three Dollars

It’s 6am and a couple friends and I walk out of my building to get some food. Katz’ deli gives half price food to pedicab drivers like my friend Aaron, and I can’t turn down a deal. As we walk across the street we see a shady looking fellow walking near where we’re parked. Hopefully we can avoid contact.

We can’t.

“Hey guys… can you help me out? My car ran out of gas… “

It’s the same tired hustle that we’ve heard a million times. His story winds on to the tune of a thousand silent violins as we look for the polite pause to fill with our excuse to leave.

“I have my license. You can hang on to it. Or I can write you a check.”

At that point it doesn’t occur to me that any gas station that’s open is likely to accept his check.

I’m intrigued. How could a scammer trade his license for three dollars? I consider that he might be legitimate, but it doesn’t seem likely. I ask to see his license, and it’s him. I bend the license like a bouncer and look for some finer details. It’s real.

Jonah is growing tired of the conversation and offers three dollars. I take his license.

He briefly looks concerned.

“How will I get my license back?”

“We’re going to Katz’ on sixth. Just meet us there.”

“What if you’re not there?”

“I live in that building. I’ll leave it with the front desk.”

“Ok.”

We walk off three dollars poorer, leaving him one license lighter. Curiously it seems like we’ve both gotten a bad deal.

As we drive to Katz’, we ponder the situation. Legit or hustler, WHO is willing to give their license to a stranger to hold in escrow for $3? It’s insane.

We eat our half price meal at Katz’, eagerly awaiting his arrival. It seems more and more likely that it’s a scam. This doesn’t seem like reasonable behaviour for a real person. How does he have his license and checkbook, but no debit cards, credit cards, or cash?

He never shows up.

I get back to my place. I don’t want him looking for me. At the same time, I don’t want him getting his license back without giving me $3. I don’t like being scammed. I debate whether to leave the license at the front desk or to hold it ransom, assuming he ever found me.

In the end I decide to leave it on the front desk with the note “Lost License”. I don’t particularly want to involve myself with this guy anymore.

What do you think? What would you do once he didn’t show up?


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11 responses to “Three Dollars”

  1. Boston Austin Avatar
    Boston Austin

    I would have gotten one of Tynan’s Angels to find the guy. Then I would posted a field report letting people know I am a great PUA and that anybody who does not know stye or van markovik or Owen durden is missing out on the all you can eat buffet of ladies …you know Tynan is Better than Your Boyfriend..well sort of

  2. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    I have actually had this happen before. A friend I was with gave the guy $20(!) in exchange for his license. When the guy paid him back it was with a check…that bounced.

    Did you check the dates to see if it was an old license?

  3. Stewen Wright Avatar
    Stewen Wright

    Sell that on a black market for 200 $ 🙂

  4. Ira Avatar
    Ira

    I wouldn’t have let it get as far as him not showing up. I always say I don’t have any money—which is frequently true as I usually avoid carrying cash at all.

    However… leaving it at the desk as lost is a good call.

    One wonders what a guy who’s willing to give up his license for $3 is after. He’s gotta be desperate, and he can’t realistically expect to get the license back. So, desperate for what?

  5. Hu_Hefner Avatar
    Hu_Hefner

    You have his “address”. Go to it, stake it out until you see if it is actually his house. If it is, beat him senseless. If it is not his house, beat up whoever lives there. Violence is always the answer.

  6. Pentarix Avatar
    Pentarix

    One has to wonder… how much crack can $3 realistically buy?

  7. Statcat Avatar
    Statcat

    Could be his brothers license? These guys will go as low as possible to get their next fix.

  8. Parker Avatar
    Parker

    You know its odd. I have been asked several times for money downtown and sometimes its just some guy askign for a dollar but there have been several occasions in which i have been asked for exactly 3 dollars and 2 of the times it was because someones car broke down and they needed to make a long distance phone call on a payphone to call a friend or something. one time i really didn’t have 3 dollars and this guy kept talkign to me for at Least 10-15 minutes dispite my attemps to leave. its seems like one could EASily get $3 if they went down onto redriver or a more congested street and just asked 3 people for a dollar. i even suggested that he do that and he wouldn’t. I deffinatly thought it was strange that he needed exactly $3 so badly and wouldn’t go ask anybody if he could borrow thier cellphone. I really don’t see what you can significantly do with a measly $3 surely crack is more expensive than that

  9. Kelsey Avatar
    Kelsey

    One time my friends gave some RANDOM guys in a car $35 because the guys said they could get them good weed…guess what?! the guys never showed up again….obviously

  10. Ebony Avatar
    Ebony

    One bum told me an interesting tale about how he’s so poor that his family has to unscrew the lone lightbulb in the house and take it with them if they’re going into a different room and want light. I laughed in amazement and gave him a $5.

    I saw him again about 2 months later and this time he said he needed bus fare to get back home and wanted to sell me his umbrella for like $3. I asked him what he did with the $5 I gave him last time, and he admitted the umbrella thing was a “hustle” and we ended up in a shouting match with him saying I needed to lose weight and me calling him on his balding hairline. A draw.

  11. Spin Avatar
    Spin

    I follow the generally accepted White Boy Creed of “don’t make eye contact.” It’s magical. As long as you don’t make eye contract you haven’t heard them, you don’t exist and they don’t exist.

    It’s like when you were really young and you thought that if you covered your eyes you were invisible. Same deal. Only it works.

    ~Spin

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