Ungrateful

Stevens

Stevens

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Last Saturday while I was out, a kid in a pickup ran out of gas and coasted in to our driveway he knocked on the door and asked my wife if we had some gas, she gave him a 2.5 gallon container which he promised to use in his tank then bring to the gas station, about 1/2 mile,
and return full.
So he put the gas in his truck, drove away with the container and never came back.
So the next guy it happens to can make the walk to the station and beg a can off of them.
Steve W.
 
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Look at it this way- you're only out a can and a couple gallons of gas. It could have been worse nowadays, a woman alone answering the door to some strange guy at night...

Something to think about.
 
I've helped a lot of people out, over time, but the OP's
story puts a bad taste in the mouth. I don't know if I'd change my mind on one incident, but my next gas can would be an awful cheao one.
TACC1
 
Today I was taking my wife to a dentist's appointment. His office was located in a strip mall, and we were just on time. As I turned into the mall parking lot, there was a woman standing by her car with the flashers on, and she waved at us, like she was trying to flag us down. My wife asked me if I was going to see if I could help her, and I said I would go back after I got her into the dentist, since if I stopped now she would be late.

I went back, and there was a guy talking to her (his car was parked close to hers.) I rolled down my window, and asked if she got the help she needed. She said, "My husband beat me up, and I'm out of gas and have no money...I'm just trying to get enough to make it to Texarkana."

The other guy said he had given her $20, but he didn't have a gas can, and wanted to know if I could take her to a gas station, since he needed to get to work. I said I would, since there was a gas station about a block away. The woman said no, she wouldn't leave her car...she asked me if I had any money that she could have. (At this point, I was mentally going "hmmm...") The other guy started trying to tell her that she would need to bring some gas to the car, when a police car drove by. He slowed down and gave us the once over, but didn't stop. When the woman saw the police officer, she jumped in her car, fired it up, and drove off....with the other guy's $20, of course. He had the most amazing look on his face!

Man, what people won't do...and it makes you hesitate to help anyone.
 
I kind of remember my own impoverished past. I remember one night I ran out of gas less than a mile from home. As embarrassing as it was I knocked at the guys door and explained my problem. I was out of gas and wanted to leave my car in his drive if I could. I was going home to get our lawnmower gas and would be back as soon as I could. The old guy would hear nothing of it. He insisted I pour his can of gas in my tank. And he wouldn't take money for the fuel. At a loss, I then asked if I could borrow his fuel can so I could refill it the next day. He agreed to that, but reluctantly. You had better believe I returned it the following day, full to the brim.

When I got home, I told my dad what had happened. He wanted to pour our gas into the guys can and take it back right then. He only backed off when I pointed out it was almost 9:00, too late for that.

In the few years following, I saw the guy from time to time (small town.) Every time I repeated my thanks for him helping me. He always said he'd help anyone who seemed to be sincere.

I now live in a fairly large metropolitan area. But one of my hobbies over the last few years has been "highway hunting". I occupy the slow lane. I'm one of those geezers! :D You can have the fast lanes, and I don't speed often. But I do look for fuel cans along side the road. Weekends seem to be prime time for folks to run out.

You can't beg a can from a filling station. They will gladly sell you one for about $7, and you can fill it with $3.50 a gallon fuel. The interesting part is the fool then pours the can in his/her tank, then drives off leaving the can sit along the interstate. I'm the guy who stops to clean up the mess alongside the road. If I can get off safely, the can comes home with me. If the can looks damaged, I drive on.

I once was a rich guy. I had 6 or 7 of the big 5 gallon cans. But then my son bought a motorhome. That was almost 6 years ago. He got it in his neighborhood, and there was serious question if it had enough fuel to go the 2 or 3 blocks to his driveway. So dad swung into action. I had a fuel card from Jeep for buying a new one. I filled all the cans I had and gave them to him, full. At least there was no question that he had adequate fuel. And it didn't make it to half tank! And he kept my precious fuel cans!

But I've restocked, one at a time. I've got at least a dozen of them. But with fuel as high as it is, I'll only give away an empty can. I don't have the the generosity or the faith in my neighbors that the old guy had back in the 1960s. I might reconsider if the guy knocking impressed me as being worthy. You know, clean cut, not filthy or looking like a druggie, or driving a BMW! :D
 
I figure I can either afford to be generous or I can't, so I either "grant a gift" (without expectation of return) or I don't.

I keep a five gallon gas can for my lawnmower at the house. I live at the top of a fairly long and steep hill road. It is not that unusual for someone to make it to the top of my hill road, but then have trouble going any further. From time to time folks run out of gas just as they get to my address. If they're polite in asking, and I can afford to be generous (which is usually so), I've let them have a couple of gallons of my lawnmower gas without any expectation of return or money. If they're either rude or "suspicious", they get a polite but very straight "Sorry, I can't help you" – my next step is fully dependent on how they react to that.
 
Stopped to fill up after a late night at the office. Guy who reminded me of the bald-headed guy form Iron Chef on food-tv channel pulls up and tells me he got locked out of an office building nearby, where he left his wallet and ID, and needs to fill up to get back to Long Island. I suggested he ask the gas station guys for some help. He laid some more story on me, and the BS meter instead of quivering went into full sweep. I told him the local PD was just up the way, and they would surely want to help him. He refused. When fill up was done, he asked one more time and I told him he seemed like a scam to me and I wasn't going to help him. He told me that if I wasn't going to help him, I should hurry up and get out of his way so he could talk to someone else at the pumps. I smiled and pulled away knowing that my little guardian angel looked out for me again, and made sure he didn't follow me out of the lot and back home... NJ doesn't allow carry unless you are part of the glitterati or have the pull to get one. Lots of wolves out there, my friends.
 
society today isn't what it used to be. Back in the day, there was trust and help……………this has be replaced with greed and deception.
 
My little fun in the 49th...........

I'll help someone in clear need. These other scammers, not a chance. They are plentiful up here in the Last Frontier. They think they can scam you because it is cold here. As they approach me with the "I'm in need" look, I usually beat them to the punch and ask them if they got 5 bucks and a cigarette I can "borrow". They usually get real confused and walk away as their BS(bravo sierra) line was discombobulated. Sorry, but I get a good chuckle every time I do it. :)
 
A very nice local kid, now in college, used to mow our 25 acre lawn. He used an old John Deere riding mower, his Dad worked on relentlessly to help the kid make a few bucks during summer. He mowed our lawns, a few neighbor estates, a couple small family cemetery plots, that kind of thing. He was not a professional landscaper or anything like that.

It was about 99 degrees in the shade that day, he came up to the shop and told me he was out of gas. I took him over to a shed and gave him one of those 5 gallon highway pick up jugs Dick Burg was talkin' about. Yeah, I'm an old scrounger too!

He went up on the corner where we have a 4 way intersection, set down the jug next to the riding mower and was so hot and sweaty lookin', I said "go down to the house and get a drink, your too overheated to finish up now". The boy went down as directed, cooled off awhile. He was a neighbors boy afterall, I didn't want him down with the heat.

Sure as hell, he was back at the shop in short order with a puzzeled look on his face, telling me the gas can was gone. In the distance I swear I saw Dick Burg driving down the road in his dammned old jeep, laughing his *** off! Screaming "I'm king I'm King, I'm King of the Kentucky Gas Cartel".

Cheers;
Lefty
 
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Tonight I and theresa ended up at IHOP. I didnt reconise any of the few people in there but the waitress`s. We went to pay and found someone had already paid our bill! The waitress said they had swore her to secretcy. They had left long before us I understand. Only had that happen a couple times in my life. Guess it`s our turn to play it forward!
I wouldnt change my usual actions because of what some skunk did or didnt do!
 
Stevens said:
Last Saturday while I was out, a kid in a pickup ran out of gas and coasted in to our driveway he knocked on the door and asked my wife if we had some gas, she gave him a 2.5 gallon container which he promised to use in his tank then bring to the gas station, about 1/2 mile,
and return full.
So he put the gas in his truck, drove away with the container and never came back.
So the next guy it happens to can make the walk to the station and beg a can off of them.
Steve W.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is not a new happening with people. I remember working in my Dad's gas station as a kid & every time Dad "loaned out" a gas can it seemed to never be returned. That was back in the 1980's...
 
I was on a plane, probably Norfolk, VA, to one of the NYC airports, back in the early '70s. Guy next to me had a hardluck story, so I lent him $20 and gave him my address to mail the loan back.

He didn't. (But he provided me with a lesson in my youth!;))

But I think it is not about the guys asking us for favors. It's about us and how we react, knowing that it might be a scam. I agree with what Feral and ASA335 say.:)
 
Back in the early 70s, I was a young and stupid - umm, make that "naive" - high school kid. Summer,and I'm cutting the yard. Guy walks up, points to his car in the street, and tells me he is out of gas. Could I loan him some, and he'd fill up the can and bring it back. So I go get him the almost-full five-gallon can, he pours it in his tank and drives off.

Then it hit me. Worried about how I was gonna tell Daddy, and what he'd do to me. Wasn't worried about the gas. 20 cents a gallon, so it was less than a buck. But minimum was 2 dollars. That 7 dollar gas can was half a day's pay.

'Bout a hour later, that guy came and knocked on the door, with a full can of gas and another "thank you".

I wouldn't do it, now, though.
 
I've been scammed a time or two myself and because of that I'm sure that when asked again, I overlooked someone truly in need. Sad when there's little trust left in the world.
 
I think we've all been hustled a time or two. Hard luck stories, true or false, usually appeal to the kindness present in all of us. I never worried about it either, I still think it all comes back to you and most of the time makes you a better person for having done somone a kindness. But listen, don't expect to get the gas can back or the loan repayed. If that troubles you, keep on walking while they're still talking.

Cheers;
Lefty
 
rburg said:
.

I now live in a fairly large metropolitan area. But one of my hobbies over the last few years has been "highway hunting". I occupy the slow lane. The interesting part is the fool then pours the can in his/her tank, then drives off leaving the can sit along the interstate. I'm the guy who stops to clean up the mess alongside the road. If I can get off safely, the can comes home with me. If the can looks damaged, I drive on.
Click to expand...

I am 39 and do the same thing, it drives my wife nuts.:D
 
I wrote this on the subject long ago here, found it and am reposting it.
I assume the average age on this site is a lot less here than my almost 70. I was raised in centeral wisconsin in the 40s and 50s. No big citys in that area so possibly I could have got a false impression. I dont remember ever seeing a panhandler in those days. There may have been a incident or two of a bum passing through knocking on your door offering to chop wood or work for a meal. I had no experiance even seeing a panhandeler untill I came west in the 60s. When I lived in california I reconised some of the same panhandlers for a generation! I mean they worked the same area for over 10 years and better!
I have went both ways on the deal. At times I belittled and refused them, and at other times I have taken them in resturants and ate with them. I have taken them to a cheap motel and paid their rooms for a few days in advance, but overall, I have many more times refused them
any money. I guess I went by my sences of beliveability and snap judgement. I have blew up at a few.
I have had 12 year old kids ask me for money in stores that were well dressed like they expected it to buy a toy or snacks! I belive that made me even madder than older poorer bums that seemed to really need help.
Once I was entering a coffee shop for a chat with friends. A older black woman asked me for gas money so she could go pick up her chillen at school. I gave her a few bucks and silently observed she seemed old to have school age kids. My buddy saw me give her money as he waited inside for me. He asked about it than roared with laughter saying, "Ya dang fool, there aint no school open today, this is memorial day!
Once I was starting to leave my house and a lincoln mark pulled up in front. This older black guy got out, walked straight up to me and was crying. I come here to tell ya my wife died this morning! Well I am sorry to hear that, but I dont even know any black women, are ya looking for sombody else that knows her? No, she told me she had talked to you about a week ago and that yo wuz a nice christian man. ( I faintly rememberd a black woman walking by and trying to engage me in conversation about that time frame.) I had been set up! Then he asked me if he could come in my house and me pray for him! I yet hadnt put his game together, and being a christian, what do you do? I said okay, let him in and prayed with him. Then he proceeded to tell me how he had to take his kids to san diego to his sister for a week or so untill the funneral was over but didnt have gas money. He explained he was about 25 years older than his wife and they had young kids.
I said I would loan him $200 to make the trip. About 4 days later here he came again and told me he hadnt forgot the loan and was going to get some more money up to go to a pawn shop to get out his new browning 380 that his wife bought new last christmas and he never fired, and that when he bailed it out he was gonna sell it and pay me back.
Of course when he was to my house the first time he no doubt seen numerous gun magazines and books!
Larcaney took over. I had earlier once owned the same gun and knew the value. Tell ya what I will do. Heres another $100s. Go get that gun bailed out, bring it ta me, and we will square the deal.
I am still waiting for my browning .380!
 
My daughter is 24 now, but she still talks about the homeless guy we encountered at a Mrs. Winner's Chicken place when she was just about 5 years old. We had eaten in and I had noticed the guy sitting there in the corner with a cup of coffee and about 60 sugar packets. Everything about the guy screamed druggie.

Sure nuff, as we finished our meal and began to take our tray and trash to the container he stood up and approached me with a sad song about his car was broken down up off the interstate and he had no money for gas or food, and could I spare some extra cash?

As a Christian, and as one blessed by growing up in a home of loving, giving parents myself, I didn't want to toss this guy aside or be rude to him in front of my young daughter. Instead I wanted this to be a teaching moment for my daughter. I told him I'd buy his dinner, whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted to eat (they had a buffet there) just walk with me to the counter and let me pay for you. He then changed his story and said he really wanted to eat later and just wanted the money. I explained I didn't have any cash, but would be happy to buy him some food for his trip. He just shook his head and walked away.

As he did, my daughter said, " Guess he wasn't really hungry after all, was he Dad?".
 
I stopped giving cash to beggars.

I always offer to get them food, and I've never had one take me up on it.
 
About three years or so back I was in a local city (biggest thing we got around) which has turned into a big haven of drugs, bums, drunks and robberies. I was walking through a parking lot not more than a mile from the local PD when a guy walked up to me and started bumming for change. I told him no, and he was a mangy looking thing about in his 50's and he started to rear back like he was going to take a swing. I on the other hand leaned in on him and backed him up against a car and gave him a quick word or two and he was on his way. I've seen a couple of incidents like that go bad when I used to work overnights in Rutland, VT. I saw one homeless guy pull a steak knife on a guy and another bum whipped out a fat end of a fishing rod that had been cut at an angle and that nearly got jammed into the throat of a bus driver. The point being you never know these days when someone begging for change or help might not like being told no, which is what I tell the wife. We had a couple times where people broke down in front of the house, and she keeps an old wooden bat we found in the attic of the house by the door. We have a porch and that's where anyone who ever needs help stays, no farther. This day and age people one never knows anymore.

Makes me think of a story from back this summer. I was selling a truck I had bought as a project and it really was more for parts after I got looking into it. I had it for $500 and it didn't run. Some local guy called up and said he wanted it because he needed something to get back and forth to work. I told him that this truck needed work, but he said that was ok since he was a mechanic. No problem, the truck was his for the money. Turns out what I didn't know was that he had been at the house and tried to start the truck. I told him no matter what he doesn't step foot on my property unless I'm there. He called me two or three days in a row trying to meet up with him and I was working so our schedules were not clashing. He tells me on the third day he has a check, I replied no problem, but I hold onto the truck until it clears the bank. Turns out he borrowed the money from the local church. I then ask him how he is going to get the truck off of my property if he has no money. He then told me he bought a starter for it and was going to come up and install it. I told him under no circumstances is that happening in case he gets hurt. I then cut him a deal and tell him for $400 he can use the extra money to tow it away. Ok this kid says, call him the next day. Turns out the next day at noon his girlfriend calls the house and speaks to the wife, she can't find her man and wants to know if he's at my place, nope. I then call his house later after I get home and speak to his girlfriend, turns out he took the cash and went to the local bar and was drinking it all. I apologized to his girlfriend and told him to never have him call here or show up ever again. I was happy when that truck sold to someone else so that we didn't have to worry about this loser showing up at my door. Makes me wonder what ever happened to him and if the church let him waltz.
 
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"she jumped in her car, fired it up, and drove off....with the other guy's $20, of course. He had the most amazing look on his face!"

Hey, you guys are from Texas. You both should have been shooting at her car as she sped away! ;-)
 
Un unh flapjack, quoteing scripture got me in trouble yesterday on that other thread, but I think you right!
 
One cold winter night about 2 in the morning I was patroling through a Wal-Mart parking lot. I noticed pick-up with it's windows fogged up and noticed the exhaust. I stopped and found a young couple with a small child. They told me that they had a flat and did not have a spare and that they could not get it fixed until daylight hours when Wal-Mart auto dept. opened. The back of the pickup was filled with everything they owned. They were moving from Oklahoma to Dallas where the young man thought he could get work. He told me they did not have enough money to get a motel being that he was needing to replace the tire and was afraid that he would also burn all their gas trying to stay warm. A motel 6 was right across the street so I went over there and told the night manager what was happening and asked if Motel 6 could comp a room for the young couple and child. I was told he could not do that due to policy so I paid for a room. I went back to Wal-Mart and assisted them in limping their truck to the motel parking lot. I remember the tears in the young couples eyes and telling me that someday they would repay me. I told them not to worry about it. The next night when I came to work dispatch advised that someone had left me something at the front desk. It was the womans personal small hand bible with a note. I still have it and the note put back in my memory box. About a year and a half later the same couple came into the PD and had the money for that hotel room. Dispatcher would not take the money because I had left instructions at front desk not to.
Whenever I gave someone a ride to a motel or hotel from the interstate during those late nights I would always tell them not to write a letter of appreciation to my department. First letter of appreciation I received for giving someone a lift to a motel I got called into the Chief's office and I left a few pound lighter. I remember him saying, "We are not a taxi service". I told him that there was not a taxi service available in this area. It did not stop me from assisting people stranded on a desolate highway late at night. I just never documented it on my daily log and always told them not to write any letters of appreciation. Heck of a way to run a business.
 
That reminds me of an incident many years ago. I stopped on the freeway to help a guy who ran out of gas. I drove to the nearest exit and pulled into a gas station. I asked to borrow a gas can and fill it with gas to help the stranded motorist. I said I'd bring it right back. The attendant said sarcastically, no way. He would not give me a can of gas. The ironic part is I was working, driving a marked police cruiser, in uniform. I guess he didn't trust cops.
 
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