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Ever Been Hustled?

Started by Wet Blanket, July 10, 2018, 02:34:16 PM

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Wet Blanket

Quote from: massive bereavement on July 11, 2018, 05:09:17 PM
I do wonder what kind of hours these people put in doing this type of activity. If they can make the equivalent of a day's minimum wage in a couple hours then I guess it's a sensible career choice, but if you're spending up to 7 hours a day, 5 days a week having to deal with the general public and being blanked or told to fuck off on a regular basis then they may as well join the living dead in getting a proper job. Being able to communicate and sell an idea must surely be a talent that's very much in demand.

Your standard 'I need a quid for the bus' pan handler is presumably reduced to doing so through addiction or homelessness or whatever which prevents them from joining the rat race, but there's obviously an industry behind some of the more elaborate hustles. There must be a factory of some sort making phony sand dogs, bracelets, 'dancing' Bart Simpsons etc.

Does Soho still have clip joints, where they fool pervs into going into mucky clubs then won't let them out until they've paid over the odds for flat champagne for the girls?

Dr Rock

Quote from: Wet Blanket on July 11, 2018, 05:23:02 PM
Does Soho still have clip joints, where they fool pervs into going into mucky clubs then won't let them out until they've paid over the odds for flat champagne for the girls?

No, I know people who worked in that industry, it stopped about 20 years due to political correctness or something. Soho in the 80s was mad.

Dr Rock

Ever been suspected of being a hustler? Recently I had to stop someone in the street saying 'hello my car here has broken down I need to phone the AA but I forgot to bring out my phone also I am disabled even though I don't look disabled but look there's my disabled badge in the car which I can't actually prove is mine, please give me your phone I won't run off and I can't anyway due to the disability which you will have to take my word for.' It worked but the man was very suspicious.

steveh

Quote from: Gregory Torso on July 11, 2018, 03:15:05 PM
I was in Hong Kong walking by the harbour once and this Indian guy came up to me and said "my friend, I see three things" and I said "NO", I don't know what he saw and I don't care. I don't talk to anyone now.

Had that one too. Was severely jetlagged at the time so I began by being polite before my inner Londoner kicked back in.

Talking of Soho, the top of Rupert St at one time seemed to be a scrum of gypsies trying to force heather on you and cursing anyone who wouldn't pay, clip joint girls trying to push people towards their premises and ancient, gobby street walkers desperately trying to outwin them both for punters.

steve98

What do the soho streetwalkers ask? When they're soliciting? In Glasgow it's "Lookin' for business?" (And you (worst case imagining) just gone bankrupt)

Bobtoo

I was waiting for a tram in Blackpool when a drunk Scottish guy appeared and told me the old joke about the balloon boy letting himself down etc. I laughed politely and he followed it up by telling me how he'd just got out of hospital and he didn't have any money for the tram back to his digs.

I still don't know if he was telling the truth. He did specifically ask for his tram fare and seemed fine with me paying it to the driver, rather than giving him the money, so it might have been true.


Z

Times Square, one guy throws a burned CD into my hands, asks me my name then signs it whilst in my hands. Tells me he's after gifting me a special signed record by a future rap superstar. I then get surrounded by about ten guys and am told I owe them $20 cos they've signed the disc for me (there's no way he heard my name and got it right on the disc).
I give them a fiver and run.

St_Eddie

#67
Quote from: Bobtoo on July 11, 2018, 09:07:22 PM
I still don't know if he was telling the truth. He did specifically ask for his tram fare and seemed fine with me paying it to the driver, rather than giving him the money, so it might have been true.

You mug, that's the oldest trick in the book!  He was clearly in cahoots with the tram driver.  They took your money, dismounted the tram off the rails and rode it on down to the local boozer, where they laughed at your gullibility, as they gulped their fine ales, at your easily acquired expense.

Quote from: Z on July 11, 2018, 09:25:42 PM
Times Square, one guy throws a burned CD into my hands, asks me my name then signs it whilst in my hands. Tells me he's after gifting me a special signed record by a future rap superstar. I then get surrounded by about ten guys and am told I owe them $20 cos they've signed the disc for me (there's no way he heard my name and got it right on the disc).
I give them a fiver and run.

Are you sure this was a scam?  It's seems much more plausible to me that it was either Drake or Jay-Z.

Seriously though, did you ever bother to listen to the CD?  I'm sure that it was blank but inquiring minds must know.  If I were a scam artist, I would have burned a single track onto the CD, with me repeatedly singing "you got scammed, yo", to the backing of a kazoo.  I see no reason why a scammer shouldn't at least attempt to leave a smile on the mark's face.

The Lurker

#68
Quote from: nugget on July 10, 2018, 04:36:27 PM
Last year I was loitering around the Fernsehturm in Berlin like a typical idiot tourist and a small asian-looking girl tugged at my elbow and shoved some kind of petition in my face. It appeared to be something to do with deaf-dumb kids and she made gestures to indicate she couldn't speak or hear, and the 'petition' was requesting donations. I was a bit confused but, if only to get rid of her, I filled in my name and gave her the smallest amount of cash I had (a 5 Euro note). Amazingly she seemed offended by this, and pointed to a bit on the petition that said "minimum donation 10 Euros". Obviously at this point it clicked that it's a scam and I gestured to her to go away but she was persistent in trying to get me to donate another 5 Euros. I couldn't believe the cheek of it. She eventually left me alone when she spotted some other sucker to try it on with.

I've heard this kind of scam is quite common in some cities but I honestly had no inkling until she deemed my initial donation unacceptable. If she hadn't been so pushy I'd probably still believe it was a legitimate collection, and would have gone to sleep that night with a nice, fuzzy feeling as a result of my remarkable generosity.

I was just about to post about a similar scam.

It was in France though, not Germany. It was a year 7 school trip and at least one lad ended up handing over 20 euros. At this point, the scammer saw his stupid young English friends (IE us) and came over to us asking if we were English and insisted we signed this petition for disabled babies (or something like that) and give a donation. One of our teachers saw what happened and came over and told us not to sign it, at which point the scammer slapped him around the back of the head. Being the children we were, instead of feeling sympathetic for our teacher, we fell about in fits of laughter. To be fair, the other teachers laughed too and we came home with a story of our history teacher getting slapped in France and, at the time, that seemed more than worth our mate getting scammed for twenty euros. The fucking idiot.

Ray Travez

#69
I was eating some chips in a cafe in manchester sometime after midnight. I think it was just me in there. A big guy with a dangerous vibe comes in and sits at my table, and his opening gambit is, "I just got out of Strangeways..." It's not really a hustle, but I consider a quid to be a fair price to have paid to exit that conversation*

I don't think I've been hustled much, but scammed many times. It's part and parcel of living in a big city where most of your interactions are with strangers.


*Obviously, he hadn't just got out of Strangeways, but I expect he knew the colour of the wallpaper

Gregory Torso

The most minor of hustles, but the one I hated when I smoked was the bloke who comes up to you and says "alright mate, alright, can I buy a cigarette?" And then I'd be thinking "fuck off, cigs are expens" "SIVE" I would finish the thought with my mouth. If I say ok, I look like a tigh bastard but if I give him a fug, then thats it, he'll want another and another and this nauseating carousel will never stop.

"40p" I would say. Bloke then goes "Woooooooooooh! That's a bit much" and then depending on his size I would either be forced to say "ah yer alright mate yer a good lad yer alright, have this fag for nowt" OR "take it or leave it, child"

When I lived in Lincoln I was eating chips one bus station afternoon when a big cunt came and said "mate, my son, lad, yer alright you are, mind if i have a chip" and I was so surprised by this  bold as balls out opening gambit I could only huskily purr "OK" and this cunt, god this awful human bonfire, this blot on the world, he stuck his filthy spadelike mole paw right into the middle of my flourishing bouquet of chips and curry sauce and scooped out a divot, feeding it into his opening. I threw the chips in the bin and was so angry that I didn't even say alright mate to the driver when I got on the bus.

Gregory Torso

Now I really want cheesy chips. That what they say in Lincoln, "Us want some cheesy chips". That's all there is at night, the screaming. The endless uphill reeling "Get us some cheesy chips" says one person, confusing you with the pronoun. Fight through summer ice to the cathedral and throw a wet paper bundle of cheesy chips into the face of the Christ child.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Gregory Torso on July 12, 2018, 12:33:08 AM
The most minor of hustles, but the one I hated when I smoked was the bloke who comes up to you and says "alright mate, alright, can I buy a cigarette?" And then I'd be thinking "fuck off, cigs are expens" "SIVE" I would finish the thought with my mouth. If I say ok, I look like a tigh bastard but if I give him a fug, then thats it, he'll want another and another and this nauseating carousel will never stop.

"40p" I would say. Bloke then goes "Woooooooooooh! That's a bit much" and then depending on his size I would either be forced to say "ah yer alright mate yer a good lad yer alright, have this fag for nowt" OR "take it or leave it, child"

When I lived in Lincoln I was eating chips one bus station afternoon when a big cunt came and said "mate, my son, lad, yer alright you are, mind if i have a chip" and I was so surprised by this  bold as balls out opening gambit I could only huskily purr "OK" and this cunt, god this awful human bonfire, this blot on the world, he stuck his filthy spadelike mole paw right into the middle of my flourishing bouquet of chips and curry sauce and scooped out a divot, feeding it into his opening. I threw the chips in the bin and was so angry that I didn't even say alright mate to the driver when I got on the bus.

I was once smoking a rollie and this bloke comes up to me and asks me for a fag. I held out my pouch of baccy and said 'if you can make one you can have one' and this twat says 'oh no I don't smoke rollies' and then looks at me expectantly. Dunno if he expected me to magic a pack of tailor made out of somewhere or run down the shop but I just sort of stood there and he went away after a bit.

Gregory Torso

I hated that. Almost didn't want to smoke in public because some arsehole would invariable come up and ask if I could crash him a fag. Fucking hell, no, but you've got to say yes right, solidarity amongst smokers and all that. Bastards. Socially unnacceptable to ask someone for a bite of their sandwich or a go on their baby so why do people think it's fine to nab a cheeky fag?

Ferris

Actually, Paris a few years ago a French-Canadian guy spotted our accents and came up to us and, to be honest, I forget what he asked for. I think he wanted money to go to Disneyland or something. I remember it being very persuasive and almost worth considering.

I said "nah" and walked off, but it fucked my day up a bit to be honest because I felt guilty in case he was just some poor cunt who was out of pocket. I mean, he wasn't because what he was claiming was so unlikely but still.

steve98

Most chucklesome Mr Gregory Torso.

littlenell

Quote from: Danger Man on July 10, 2018, 02:36:43 PM
To my eternal shame my concept of myself as a sophisticated international playboy took a hammering when some bloke tied a bit of string to my wrist when I was leaving a metro station in Paris and demanded I pay him for the 'gift'.

I paid. He was big, black and scary.

20 years back, my boyfriend and I bought 50 quid of weed on a beach in Barbados whilst on holiday. Actually, we paid 50 quid for beach twigs and leaves heavily wrapped up.

We didn't confront him. He was big, black and scary.

mothman

How have some of you lot survived to adulthood with your finances and sphincters intact?

I've never been scammed, not really. Once gave a pound to one of the local "trying to get home" lot at Haymarket Metro station in Newcastle, but that's it.

Walking through some of the Roman ruins in, er, Rome we were approached by one of those locals dressed as a Roman centurion and I ended up taking a picture of my wife with him. I then offered him a few Euros (5 or 10?) only for him to get aggressive and make clear the going rate was, I dunno, 30, 40, 50 or whatever. We flat out refused and walked away. What was he going to do, attack us with his little wooden sword? Good luck with that, it was shortly after the Paris attacks and the place was crawling with police and army.

Brian Freeze

We'd been farting around a bit of Sinai and Egypt with backpacks and thin wallets and the attempts were not as common as those aimed at the wealthier looking travellers in those areas but it was fun while it lasted.

Some dude with a camel was most insistent that we owed him money because we'd happened to have taken a picture near the pyramids that happened to have his divine creature in the background. He got fuck all but took some persuading about it.

In Cairo itself I really upset someone who may have been genuinely interested in us as people but by the time I'd fobbed him off it really spoilt his day. The curses are long forgotten now but they did spook me out for a few years.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: massive bereavement on July 11, 2018, 05:09:17 PM
they may as well join the living dead in getting a proper job.

And be in work for 9.00am on the dot every weekday for months on end? Nah mate, I'm usually stoned off my box on weed and can't get out of bed before 1.00pm. Also getting a job is a lot easier when you have stuff like a C.V and a place to live.

Also, like you said, why take a whole day to make a day's minimum wage when you can make it in a couple of hours on the street? Being told to fuck off by the public? So what? Water off a duck's back mate.

Norton Canes

Oh yeah, there was that time we were in Manchester for a Happy Mondays gig at the G-Mex. Spent the afternoon doing a bit of shopping around the Northern Quarter. A bloke came up to us in Piccadilly Square and asked if we wanted to buy some pork. He only wanted a couple of quid so we shelled out and I put his pork-filled carrier bag in my rucksack. Where it stayed for the entire three-hour duration of a rammed Happy Mondays G-Mex gig.

Look we were students OK.

checkoutgirl

Bought a genuine Ronex watch in a piazza in some Mexican town. The second hand had fallen off after 2 days. I remember wondering how they got the second hand to work at all and only work for 2 days exactly. They'd have to shift the gear really quickly or they would break in the guy's bag before he could sell them.

I'm very intrigued by the "I see three things" scam. I've googled it and nothing. Sounds like it might be some type of clairvoyant type read your palm hornswoggle.

Gregory Torso

Definitely got the vibe that he was going to try and tell me my future and then demand some payment or perhaps that I go with him to his tailors shop and get a crepe paper suit fitted. He was with three other guys and when I just said no and walked off he shouted after me, "Why are you angry, my friend?"

Ray Travez

Quote from: checkoutgirl on July 12, 2018, 09:16:50 AM
Also, like you said, why take a whole day to make a day's minimum wage when you can make it in a couple of hours on the street? Being told to fuck off by the public? So what? Water off a duck's back mate.

I have a friend who's on the old crack n' heroin, and he said that he could make around £150 in a few hours on a wet Saturday evening in Manchester. I dunno, it's not something I'd want to do.

I had another friend who became a professional beggar in Berlin. He was a fascinating guy. When Thatcher first got elected, he decided, "That's it" and fucked off to Berlin to become homeless. He lived on a university campus, under a footbridge, and while he was there burglaries went down, so they let him stay. He learned the ropes and became a professional beggar. You never ask for money as a professional. The way he described it, your role is akin to a counsellor. People tell you their problems, and then they pay you. He had a good life over there, learned perfect German, then when Thatcher finally got ousted, he came back, got a flat. His hustle was to get people talking for as long as possible, and then they would pay more. I liked him a lot, he had a unique way of looking at things. 

Hat FM

Quote from: Z on July 11, 2018, 09:25:42 PM
Times Square, one guy throws a burned CD into my hands, asks me my name then signs it whilst in my hands. Tells me he's after gifting me a special signed record by a future rap superstar. I then get surrounded by about ten guys and am told I owe them $20 cos they've signed the disc for me (there's no way he heard my name and got it right on the disc).
I give them a fiver and run.

reminds me of the time i saw plan b in this small room in cardiff in around 2005. he announced he would be selling bootleg cd's at the back after the show for a fiver. end of the show, a load of blokes behind the table trying to sell, what i thought, were only plan b cd's. i see a tall ginger man and tell him i want to buy the cd, give him the money and he hands it over. i look at its by some guy called professor green. "erm no thanks mate. i want the plan b one." he gives me back my money and i get the plan b one. could have sold that pro green one. this was when his teeth were fucked and he was an interesting good rapper.

Beagle 2

Walking back from work in Camden an attractive young Irish blonde woman stopped me and said it was her first week in London and she'd locked herself out of her house with her phone inside and didn't have her housemate's number, but knew where she worked. She was well spoken, very plausible. I said no worries, this is the kind of shit I do all the time and gave her a fiver to get a bus or a cab. She took my number but I said honestly don't worry about it.

Walking back the next day, exact same spot, she was spinning the same yarn to another man with a penis and a brain the size of a lentil.

I suppose she could have just been a fucking idiot.

Small Man Big Horse

I was sat outside the Slug and Lettuce near Leicester Square tonight drinking with a friend and we were approached by three different women selling flowers for an exorbitant amount, but also a man who offered us a quality street chocolate, which was a new one for me. We turned him down but he then offered them to a woman sat near us, who took one and was afterwards asked for a pound for the chocolate, which must be the most expensive quality street ever eaten.

Sebastian Cobb

It always amazed me that those women selling single roses at club chucking out time used to ask blokes going home with only a kebab for company if they'd like to buy one.

Dr Rock

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 12, 2018, 11:49:57 PM
Walking back from work in Camden an attractive young Irish blonde woman stopped me and said it was her first week in London and she'd locked herself out of her house with her phone inside and didn't have her housemate's number, but knew where she worked. She was well spoken, very plausible. I said no worries, this is the kind of shit I do all the time and gave her a fiver to get a bus or a cab. She took my number but I said honestly don't worry about it.

Walking back the next day, exact same spot, she was spinning the same yarn to another man with a penis and a brain the size of a lentil.

I suppose she could have just been a fucking idiot.

Did she wear a suit or a suit jacket, and operate mostly around Mornington Crescent?

St_Eddie

#89
Quote from: Ray Travez on July 12, 2018, 12:21:16 AM
I was eating some chips in a cafe in manchester sometime after midnight. I think it was just me in there. A big guy with a dangerous vibe comes in and sits at my table, and his opening gambit is, "I just got out of Strangeways...

Ah, but was he big, black and scary?

Quote from: Beagle 2 on July 12, 2018, 11:49:57 PM
Walking back from work in Camden an attractive young Irish blonde woman stopped me...

Ah, but was she big, black and scary?

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on July 13, 2018, 12:55:31 AM
I was sat outside the Slug and Lettuce near Leicester Square tonight drinking with a friend and we were approached by three different women selling flowers for an exorbitant amount...

Ah, but were they big, black and scary?