Ungrateful

One Saturday last spring I was on my way home from turkey hunting. I stopped at a rural conveniance store to get some fuel for my pickup and grab a snack and Mt. Dew. As I'm pumping gas, standing there in my turkey hunting camo, a guy pulls up in a newish Ford pickup, gets out and comes over and says he's left his wallet at home and could he borrow a few bucks to get gas so he could get back home. I give him $5 and as he goes in to pay for the gas I got the license plate off the truck and called my dispatch and ran the plates.

Interestingly enough, the truck comes back reported stolen earlier that day, so I told the dispatcher where I was and to send a deputy over. She made a radio call and the closest deputy just happened to be only 3 or 4 minutes away on a traffic stop.

The guy comes back out after paying for the gas and as he's working the pump I strike up a conversation just to kill time and hope to stall the guy. Just as he's finishing up with pumping the gas the marked sheriff's patrol unit drives up and the guy gets a paniced look on his face. Come to find out, he'd stolen the truck and he had felony warrants out for him.

I never did get my 5 bucks back.
 
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My son in law & I were hunting deer last month. Driving along a logging road we came across a old Toyota Dolphin with a old Indian camped there. He worked for the logging company as a weekend security man. He needed gas. We drove back to camp & took one & a half gallons back the next day. Son in law took a nice 3 pointer on the way out. Two weeks went by & I had written the gas off. But into camp he came with 3 dollars. He told us when he went into town to fill up the Dolpfin took 18.9 gallons for a 19 gallon tank.
 
oldflatfoot said:
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".
Click to expand...

Well if he left it on the road/right of way, its rightfully mine! :D

I can say in all these years, I've never found one abandoned on the highway with fuel still in it. I've always just figured the person had a prissy outlook and didn't want to mess up their car with a nasty old gas can.

But this spring I was yard sale scrounging with my wife. It was early, probably before they were supposed to open. But the old guy had a 20 gallon propane tank out by the sidewalk. I saw it was a modern type of the Blue Rhino. I needed an empty so I could have a full spare on hand (they always run out about half way through the steak or burgers). The guy said "oh, $5". So I paid up and went to carry it to the jeep. It was already full! :D :D So I won double! The only thing better than a spare tank is a full spare tank.
 
He must have thought you were part of the government handouts.
This is what we are cultivating in our society today.
His logic was........He was out of gas, you had gas, it's up to you to share your gas.
 
scammers

A couple of months ago our local media rode with the county LEO to do a
story on the beggers with the cardboard signs along exit ramps, supposably homeless and needing money. one of the guys they stopped at had 2 outstanding warrants $1600. cash and a cell phone on him.
(where does the phone company send the bill to a homeless person?)

vic3620
 
The phone bill comes to the phone and you pay it from a debit account or at a phone distributor. When I lived in Missoula the story was the sign people averaged around $100 for a 3 hour begging shift. I think the real opportunity would be in making their signs. A friend who was an LEO would stop at the ones with "will work for food" and give them a can of chili. "OK you have food now leave". None of them wanted the food or to leave.
 
Was waiting for my wife in wally world where they had the game machines. Little kid was playing and when the machine was done he turned around and asked if he could have some money. Why is it because I'm an old fart people think I have money to give away?.
Another story, was cutting the grass and a woman had a flat right in front of my house. OK being the nice guy I am I changed the tire (I am on old fart) I put the jack, lug wrench and tire in the trunk, close the lid and off she went. No thanks or nothing. Wasn't looking to get paid or anything like that. And that is the last time I'll change someone's flat. Frank
 
i'm at home one night about 7pm, a guy I reconize from the local hardware store (one of 3 or 4 owners) knocks on the door,has borrowed a friend's m.c. and ran outof gas. i grab a can out of the shed and put about 1.5 gal. in the bike. He says nothing, about 2 weeks later I'm in the hardware store getting parts on the church charge account and he waits on me, looks at me funny, but says nothing. My guess is that in our modern society no one's mother teaches them to say "Please and Thank you"any more. He's out of bussiness now, and there is a new storefront church there now, I guess it's an improvement,they help people in need! Now I drive further and get friendly service when I need parts.
 
A old family friend told me this one. Lee was commander of the local VFW and civic minded about most everything. He knew some poor hard luck guy who`s house needed painting. He got a crew together and went to paint the house as a surprise. The guy took a fishing pole and went down to the river and fished while they painted his house!
 
After a series of garage breakins in our area, our neighbors were becoming quite concerned.

One enterprising neighbor decided that he would bait the thief by leaving his garage(detached from the house)unlocked.

What they didn't know was the night vision game camera that he had put in the garage with a SD card in it.

Sure enough, they hit his place about a week later.

He brought the video of them on a CD to the station.

We got a warrant and went to pick them up. Should have seen the look on their faces when I showed them the vid of them breaking in on my Ipod.:D

Recovered about $5000 worth of stolen property that day.

Turned out one of them had been mowing lawns in the area and casing the houses.

Watch who you hire.
 
I have read these posts. Some of you felt ripped off by ungrateful and unappreciative recipients of your efforts to assist them in a time of need. Others received payment and a kind word of thanks. I changed as a person about a year after becoming a police officer. I saw the worst in people and the best of people. If you really want to know the world as it truly is become an Officer. In about a years time you will see and do more than most people see and do in a lifetime. It will truely open your eyes. We are here on this earth only a short time in the grand scheme of things. Opportunities to help people only come around every once in a great while. It is how YOU react to these opportunities that sets your character. It is not about whether you will be repaid or if you receive the thank you. It is about how YOU as a person reacted and helped your fellow mankind. Maybe these opportunities are tests? I dont know but I do know that one day I will be accountable for my life. At my reading I only hope that the good things I did in my life will offset the bad. Do not get me wrong I am no saint. I have done things in my life that I am not proud of but if given the opportunity to make a difference I have chosen to not look the other way. The encounter with the young couple I posted about in my earlier post not only affected them but me also. I have often thought about how their lives are now. Their young infant son is now a man. How is he doing? I have been retired now for two years. Opportunities do not come around to help people as much now but I can only hope that the Officers I trained realize just how much they can affect others by their deeds and misdeeds. If you do not receive the repayment or thanks that are due do not let that stop you from helping others because the bottom line is that you do make a difference.
 
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rburg said:
I've always just figured the person had a prissy outlook and didn't want to mess up their car with a nasty old gas can.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it was all the warnings about explosive gasoline fumes in side a car, coming from a recently used gas can?
 
A friend and I were out riding our motorcycles one day and on a long rural road , we came across another bike (Ironhead Sportster) and rider, on the side of the road. So we pulled over and he said his bike just stopped , no electrical power. Guy was rather gruff and grungy , as was his bike. So we found that the nut came off the bolt holding the wires on the positive terminal of the battery. And even though when I work on my Harleys , I use locknuts and fresh lockwashers , I always carry tools , and a small pouch of misc hardware , just in case. Now this was an import battery with metric bolt , but I had a small 1/4-20 nut, bolt & washers , so we reattached the wires. So as soon as I stood up , he jumped on the bike , fired it up , and took off , leaving me to pick up my tools , without so much as a thank you!

Hopefully , I'll see his bike at a bar late one nite , and take my nut & bolt back!
 
Back in '69 I was driving a cab in Bloomington, IN. Some game had ended at the coliseum (or whatever they called it) and it was RAINING.
We, the cabbies, would go there, take someone home, and zoom back for another trip. I did this several times and then there just wasn't anyone looking for a cab - We all dispersed. It was still pouring.
On my way back to the stand there was a couple walking in the rain, wind, and lightning - So I told them to get in.
They told me they couldn't afford a cab ride. I told them that's OK and took them home.
The next night when I got to work I was called into the office.
The people had called and said what a wonderful cab company it was to take care of folks like that.

I was chewed out and fired :(
 
Wow deadeye, is that where the saying comes from, "No good deed go`s unpunished"?
 
Years back we were going into a resturant and my daughter about 5 years old, found a book of travelers checks of about $1,000s! We went in and had the waitress call out the name on the checks. A guy came up, I or the waitress explained my daughter found them in the lot. He took them without a word and walked off! I should have done or said something but didnt. I suspect both us were dumbfounded but for different reasons.
 
We were westbound (F-150 pulling a 20' travel trailer), in northern Arizona on I-40 and got off the interstate to pick up highway 191 south down into the White mountains. Very rural area, middle of nowhere, with lots of poor folks and not much else. We stopped at a gas station/convenience store and as soon as I pulled up to the pump a guy who had been leaning up against the trunk of his old beater across the lot makes a beeline for me. I get the "I'm outa gas and need to get home can you give me some money" pitch. I suggested he try the folks in the store as I'm sure they would help a fellow local out.

He mumbled and grumbled and went back to watching me from the rear of his car but now there are two of them and their conversation is getting animated with more than few gestures and dirty looks coming my way. I always carry a pistol in the center console of my truck but that morning for no particular reason I had left it in the trailer. When I finished gassing up I unlocked the trailer and "let" them see me as I retrieved my holstered MP9 from the trailer and placed it in the truck. At this point they jumped in his car and took off. The next 60 miles are very isolated and you better believe I had my threat radar sweeping on high the entire drive. Without having given them a reason not to, I suspect they would have paid me a visit somewhere along that stretch of road.
 
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Nothing new. I left the Army 40 years ago and one thing I learned very quickly was that there were sponges and freeloaders and if you were lucky someone pointed them out to you and you NEVER gave them the time of day, much less anything else of value. I recall one kid in my Boy Scout Troop, if you had some sort of goodie he was on you in a flash, did he ever share with anyone? All the gas stations I have dealt with, you leave them a $20 deposit on their beat up old gas can they probably paid $4 for years ago.
I lived in a house with a shared parking lot, there was one snooty young woman, several times she left angry notes about my taking "her" parking spot (they weren't marked), one winter day I left her one saying I never saw her out shoveling the snow.
I stopped giving cash to beggars, homeless, etc., years ago. I offer them a job instead.
 
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I've helped out many people in the past and I've been blessed with help from others. I don't give money to anyone anymore but I will always buy someone food. Usually they don't want it.

One time in the mid 1980s I was going on leave or to a new duty station I don't remember which. Anyway I was in my Marine uniform (3 years USMC and 19 years USAF) and the plane I was on was late and I had literally 2 minutes before the other plane took off. I did not have enough time for the ticket agent to sell me a ticket so he gave me a pass and told me to pay for it when I got to my destination. I had to sprint accross the airport with my seabag to the other gate but I made it. I've always been thankful to that ticket agent for what he did. I'm also amazed I was in that kind of phyisical condition to be able to run across the airport like that. Marine training is top notch for sure.

The ticket agent at the other end looked at me like I had two heads when I told her I needed to pay for my ticket.

When we lived outside Velva ND a guy came to the door asking for gas. The wife went to door and called me when he asked for the gas. I took one look at the guy and moved in front of the wife and started to tell him to get off our property. The wife whispered to me that he was OK and he had some kind of brain surgery and while he looked dangerous he was totally harmless. So I got the gas for him and he did bring back a full can within a couple of hours. I asked her later if she knew the guy and she said no but she knew his mannerisms and speech patterns and the scar on the back of his head so she knew he had that surgery. In the wifes early years as a nurse she was an RN on a neuro surgery team.
 
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I was getting gas at a station when a guy appears and says he ran out of gas right over the hill with his wife and kid and did I have a spare bucks. I asked if he had a gas can in his car and he said yes. I said I'd give him a ride over there to get it. He insisted he would rather walk. I said No, I'll give you a ride. Finally he just said, "Oh maaaaan!!!" and walked away. This guy would never be nominated for an academy award.
 
Getting hustled by a stranger or trying to be hustled by a stranger is bad enough by itself. But getting hustled by someone you know is a real letdown. An old friend I worked with in the fugitive warrant unit meets up with this kid he knew from the neighborhood. He later told me the kid was a recovered heroin addict and had been clean for over two years. He knew the parents and said they were good people too.

Well the kid puts the "touch" on my partner. It was Mothers Day and the *** story was that he wanted to get some flowers for his Mom, but lost his paycheck, or some such BS. Anyway, my partner hands him $20 (after pumping him for info on another rat we were looking for) and they part company. When he got back in the car I asked if he got any intelligence from the informant. That's when he told the story. I just shook my head and said, that was a poor investment.

The following week or so, we go into a YMCA to cuff and stuff a suspect we were tipped off about. As we walk up the stairs, we meet the brother of the guy who had put the touch on my partner last week.

My partner says, "Hey, so and so, (I don't remember his name) how's your Mom & Dad?"
He replies "Not so good, my brother passed away last week."
"How"?
"O.D. or a hotshot"
"Where?"
"Right here at the Y."
"When?"
"Mothers Day."

F.T.D. He should have said it with flowers!

Cheers;
Lefty
 
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I just retired from L/E in September with 38 years in. The last half were in administration. I always had a good relationship with the local clergy and was familiar with the number of people that go to the churches for handouts. Being concerned about the number of scams and the fear that they were giving Ted Bundy gas money to get to his next victim, we developed a system.
The churches each made a donation to their own Ministerial Association and a seperate account was created. A local motel, grocery store and gas station agreed to provide service/product, at reduced cost. A voucher was created and on the presentaion of the voucher, signed by a police supervisor, the service provider would bill the Ministerial Association.
All the churches knew that when they were contacted by persons in need they were to call a police officer to provide the service and protect all the persons involved.
The police officers were simply directed to verify the identity of the persons involved and confirm that they were not wanted. Far more often than not, the persons requesting assistance left before an officer arrived. Officers also had the ability to use this fund when they identified specific persons in need, not covered by other local social services. There were specific safeguards in place to insure proper use of the voucher system.
This system worked pretty well for a department with less than 100 officers but probably would be a problem in a larger agency.
gaf
 
If you're going to loan your gas and can, ask if you can take their picture with your cell phone, and one of their vehicle. If they say no, take one of them anyway and tell them to vamoose.
 
K.38 said:
I don't give money to anyone anymore but I will always buy someone food. Usually they don't want it.
Click to expand...

That's what I usually do, and I get the same response. I've bought two meals in the last ten years. Folks seem to think truckers are rich (or easy marks), so they often come begging in the truck stop parking lots. Occasionally, I will come across someone who appears to truly need help, and I give it to them. If they need to eat, I'll feed them. If they need gas, I'll pay the cashier and watch them pump it. (that offer was accepted once) If they want cash, I give them a hard luck story about having to rebuild the engine in my truck and ask if I can borrow $10,000.

Two summers ago, I was on a mission trip with the youth from church. As I stopped the van at a red light under the highway, I saw a guy with a sign asking for food. We had leftovers from lunch, so I had the girls pass up a sandwich, chips and a piece of fruit. As I handed them to the man with the sign, he seemed truly grateful. It kind of surprised me, but it opened the door for a great discussion about charity that evening.
 
Hey lefty, after that I would have nicknamed your partner dr. kevorkian!
 
I'm a federal officer in a fairly rural area and I work alone. Whenever I go into a local eatery and see the evening shift deputies having dinner, I pay their check. I do this several times a year. I was a deputy back in the 80's and I know what it's like to be standing in the rain, working an accident while that ice water drips down the back of your neck.
It's not the money, either. It's the fact that someone appreciates what you do for them. Face it, guys; we don't do it for the money.
Thanks for all that you do and the kindness that you show. It does matter.
 
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