"I know I'm a big, scary, Black man..."

[Sophist]

Sounds very scammy, and sorry, folks, but it does strike me as a line practiced to throw people off kilter and make them feel like they have something to prove. I worked at a gas station right off of a freeway during highschool, and we saw stuff like this a lot. Black peddlars/scammers relied heavily on the race card. Some that come to mind were "Don't be scared. I am black, not wanted. Sometimes there is a difference." and "You know, a black man really can't catch a break in a white Cali town." The second one was pretty funny, because whites made up less than 10% of the population of the town, and it still worked on people.

Then again, white men also used similar lines just for size or gender, even young white women came up with something self-deprecating that put you in the defensive, where people felt like they had to PROVE to this person they weren't closeminded, judgemental, and prejudiced. Nearly all of these people were angling for gas money, but very few spent it on that. One gentleman would get gas money, set the pump, put the nozzle in his car but wouldn't start it, and then profusely thank the giver until they finally drove off. Then he would come back inside for us to cancel the gas money, pocket the gas, and head back outside.

I also have to echo a sentiment already found throughout this thread: Don't roll your window down for anybody!

[TamanduaGirl]

One time I was driving home from a show and it was real late like 2am on a Sunday or some odd day so no one anywhere in site but was nearly home and just entering out neighborhood when some guy jumps out in front of the car waving his arms like he needed help. No way I was stopping under those cercumstances with just me and another lady in he car.

I changed lanes and he moved in front of the car again. I had to slow down at which point my passenger started yelling at me not to stop, lol. Actualy my out plan was to go over the curbe and drive on the wrong side of the road since there was no traffic and we had made it over curbs before and this one was short. But I managed to squeeze past him without doing so and he hit the side of the car and yelled at us.

Oh he also had somethig in his hand it looked like it cold have been a wallet but in the dark it could have been a gun or wallet too since couldn't really see it just that it was something.

Like I said we weren't far from home but far enough he couldn't have followed us and called the cops soon as we got home and explained everything. They sent them and then let us know they found him and were dealing with it. I never did find out if he actualy had a problem or was trying to cause one.

[areias]

Agreed-I never roll the window down for anyone, nor do I give money to anyone. Under normal circumstances, I may listen to what the person has to say, and give a response-usually directions to somewhere. I have given a cigarette to someone once (I know what that's like!) and I threw an unopened bottle of water towards someone standing by the off ramp by my house, but I would never physically get out of my car for someone. The only time I ever somewhat did was to someone who I saw blow a tire, and then watched him get out and look very upset-I asked him if he needed anything, and he looked very relieved after he used my cell phone. Nowadays I never go ANYWHERE without my cell phone, and I have a car charger, just in case of anything. The technology is there-even if you have to buy a prepaid one for emergencies, its always a good idea to have one.

I think we had a thread on this before, but I don't give to homeless people either. They make more an hour than I do! And I had my own house and everything...I've watched them take the pot that they are collecting money in and pocket it, and put the pot back with just a few coins left in it. There was one guy my friend stopped to talk to in St. Pete...he sang us a song, looked like Hank Jr. My friend threw him some money. Right after she gave him money, he reached around <to his leather briefcase behind him> and pulled out a joint and a beer. Yeah bud, you really need money.

Don't forget-it's not always men. A lot of times it can be women too.

[Logan]

On Christmas Day, I drove my daughter to meet her dad. It was about an hour's drive from my home. On my way back, around 1:30 pm or so, the interstate was backed up. When I arrived at the scene that caused the backup, I pulled over onto the left median, as no one else had stopped and there was a car sitting in the middle of the highway and no law enforcement there, no nothing.....all I could think was that this was Christmas Day and here is a wrecked car with 3 human beings inside (that's what I could see) and not one car out of hundreds had even stopped to see if they were ok.

I did not approach the car, as so many cars were passing on either side of it. But I could detect that there were 3 people inside. I kept yelling, "are you ok?", to no avail. No one stopped. Finally, one car pulled over and asked if I needed help and I explained the situation (that I was not involved in the accident, but that I was concerned for the people in the car). The guy driving pulled over, but he told me that he felt it was a "fishy" situation, with 3 males in the car and no one saying anything. Right about that time, an ambulance came towards us in the emergency lane, and the guy who had stopped drove off. One of the paramedics asked me if I was ok, and I told him I certainly was, but I was worried about the people in the vehicle. He assured me that they would handle it and that I could move on. I did.

When I got home, I was in tears. I told my husband, Scott, that it just broke my heart that on Christmas Day, not one soul could stop to make sure those people were ok, other than me. It could have been drunk driving, drugs, etc. Who knows? I didn't do anything good in that situation, but I certainly wanted to.

But, given the same situation as described in the original post, here, I could not/would not have lowered my window, either. Its sort of a sad statement, isn't it????

Logan