Every city in every country has people who want to steal from
others by preying either on the greed or the kindness of the
person who is the intended target of their deception.

Atlanta is no better or worse in this respect than the
city or town you come from, no matter what your nationality.

The purpose of my telling these stories is to make visitors
aware of some of the local "scams", so their departure from
Atlanta is not accompanied by bad memories of being "ripped off".

Every tourist dollar lost to street confidence people hurts
not only the visitor, but also the legitimate bussinesses in
our community that offer goods or services that would make a
visitors' stay in our city more enjoyable with good memories.

If you have a story to add, send it to me for consideration,
but it must be a true story like all of the ones that follow.





Will Work For Food

Hey!... Wanna Buy A Watch?

Mister!... Wanna Buy A Ring?

Help Me Please... I need...

I'm Homeless, Give me money.

Use Your Good Sense!




Will Work For Food

    You will run into them on streetcorners.   They will carry hand lettered signs telling you that they will work for food.   Some of you will feel sorry for them and you will give them money because you have no work for them.   That's what they want.   How do I know?   I live here, and I have offered lawn and yard work to more than 70 of them!   Not a single one of these beggars has ever gotten into my car and said "Let's go."   They always have some reason why they can't work.




Hey!... Wanna Buy A Watch?

    A guy walked up to me in front of a downtown hotel.   He asked me if I wanted to buy a watch.   It was a sharp looking SEIKO and it had a price sticker on the watch back that said $499.95.   If I had allowed my greed to overcome my good sense, I might have made him an offer.   Instead, I grabbed his arm and threatened to call the police if he didn't tell me where he was getting the watches.   I promised him that I would say nothing to the police if he told me.   I walked into the carnival supply store he told me about and I saw a few guys leaning over the front counter.   They were gently rubbing watch faces with wooden toothpicks.   The watches sold by the store for $6.50 had the brand name EISEIKOR on their faces.   For an additional 75 cents the store owner would lift the crystal for the buyer.   Then the buyer would dip a toothpick into cigarette lighter fluid and gently rub the EI from the leading edge of the brand name and the R off the trailing end.   The name left was SEIKO.   After the store owner re-installed the watch crystal, he would sell the buyer a price sticker to put on the back of the watch to make a potential buyer think the watch was the real thing - a genuine SEIKO!




Mister!... Wanna Buy A Ring?

    That's what he asked me, again in front of a downtown hotel.   He had a beautiful mans diamond ring with what looked like 2 karats of well cut bright stones.   He told me that he worked in the cleaning crew at the famous jeweler Hyman Gordon Epsteins' store.   He told me that the company had "done him wrong" and so he stole the ring to "get even".   He told me that Hyman Gordon Epstein was very proud of his work and always signed the jewelry he made with his initials.   He said, "Look inside and you'll see his initials!"   He asked me how much money I would give him for the ring.   I told him $6.   Why?... Because I knew that the 14K HGE marking inside the ring meant 14 Carat Gold Heavy Gold Electroplate.   The only gold in the ring was a very thin plating on its surface, and certainly no jeweler would set real diamonds into such a cheap setting!




Help Me Please... I need...

    He looked like a "clean cut" college student when he walked up to me.   I was eating a sandwich in a restaurant on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlantas' midtown area.   "Mister will you help me, my car is out of gas two blocks down the street.   Would you lend me just two dollars for gas so I can get it home?   I promise I'll send the money back to you if you give me your address!"   I wanted to help him.   So, I finished my sandwich and told him to get into my car.   I took him to a gas station on the corner and gave the lady a five dollar deposit so she would lend me a gas can.   I took the can and walked toward the gas pump.   Just as I was putting the pump nozzle into the can he said, "Never mind!" and he quickly walked away.   I have been approached and asked for help several times... isn't it funny that when they say their family needs food, and I offer to take them to the food market and buy them food, they suddenly no longer need the help they asked for?




I'm Homeless, Give me money.

    For some time I (not being able to afford to pay a maids salary) have been looking for a nice sweet lady who wants a nice place to live; and who would show her appreciation by helping out around the house.   It would be a great situation for her because she wouldn't have to worry about all the things she needed to live a decent life.   One day I went to a womens shelter on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta.   I told the ladies running the shelter who I was and what I wanted.   They said, "Talk to them.   The room with the ladies without children is over there."   I walked into the large room and saw row after row of small army type beds with ladies of all ages, colors, and sizes laying in many of them.   In a nice clear voice I said, "Is there a lady here who wants a nice place to live, and who doesn't mind helping out some around the house to say thank you?"   What do you think they told me?   Do you think a lady might have come up and said, "Gee thanks Mister!   I'd like a chance to rebuild my life!"?   No such luck!   Here's what I got in response to my inquiry.   "How much you gonna pay???"   "You ain't no axe murderer is you???"   "Why should we go someplace where we gotta do work when we can stay here and don't hafta do nothing???"   Go ahead... Ask me how sorry I feel for them.




Using Your Good Sense!

    I am not advising you not to be kind to others.   I am asking you to use your head and not give money away foolishly to those who, if they were not able to get money so easily, might have to get jobs and become worthwhile citizens of their community.   Would this be so bad?

    Don't let your desires get ahead of your good sense.   If somebody tells you something that sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't!

    In Paris some try to sell you a painting "stolen" from the Louvre.   In Cairo it's an ancient Egyption artifact.   In South America it's "stolen" indian art treasures.   Get the idea?

    And, for your personal safety, it makes sense not to walk about alone in a strange city if you can avoid doing so, don't you think?





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