Think I got duped....
two saturdays ago i was on my way home and had just gotten off the NQRW line at Times Square. i was making my way through the maze of underground passageways towards the escalators leading up to street level when i felt a tap on my shoulder. i turned around to find an older asian man, i think about 60, wearing a white hat, navy blue windbreaker, slouchy dirty jeans, and carrying a messenger bag and a white plastic bag.
he asked me if i was korean or chinese. chinese. he asked me if i spoke english. yes. tells me he's korean. i believe him because i can distinguish a what a heavy korean-english accent sounds like. tells me a long story about how he is a computer programmer type person and is only here in the united states for only 6 months to work with people at a university in connecticut (he named the city, but i forget now 2 weeks after the fact) on a big computer project involving... maybe nukes? who knows. i lose track of his story. he says he's telling me the truth and dares me to ask him any computer program related question if i didn't believe him, ask me cobal, sql, etc, etc.... dude, i believe you, just get to your point.
so says that he decided to travel to new york city for the weekend since he's never been. he went to rockefeller center, to grand central, to blah blah blah. and ended up standing in line to purchase tickets to a musical, maybe hairspray. next thing he knew, his wallet was stolen.
a-ha! the point!
i see what you're gettin at, old man. did you target me cuz i look like i have a soft spot for asian folks in need? (i actually do)
says his passport is gone, his wallet is gone. he tried the korean consulate, but they were closed. its saturday. he tried calling the university. no one. he went to the police and they couldn't do anything for him except give him a metrocard to get to grand central to take the train back to connecticut. BUT his problem is that he has no money to get back to connecticut. he shows me the tourist brochure he's holding and points to a number scribbled on it - $16.50. says thats how much he needs to buy his tickets back to connecticut. keeps repeating that he doesn't have anyone to help him out.
my turn to talk - so do you not have family here you can call to get help? responds with heavy korean accent - no, all family in seoul. i only here for 6 months at university.
he says that he will pay me back right away, will fedex the money back to me. just needs to get back to connecticut, in a hurry, help, please.
hmmmm, i am this poor guy's last resort. yet i still have some doubts.... i'm standing there looking at him all the while he's telling me his story. i try to assess his 'situation' by checking out his clothing. ambiguous. he could be a bum or a tourist. he doesn't smell, but i don't venture to step closer to try to get a whiff. one thing that's buggin me is his underbite, or what looks like an underbite. better way to describe it is after someone takes out their dentures and their mouths kinda shrivel up and create the illusion of an underbite. that's what he looked like. and to me, it also made him look semi-bummy.
god how i wished esther was here so she can test his korean AND his computer programming skills to see if he was lying.
i ask him, you're not lying??? that's the truth???
yes.
o....k.....
i look through my wallet for $16.50 and find nothing but a twenty. shit.
i hand him the twenty. he hands me the tourist brochure and a pen and tells me to write down my address so he can pay me back. i'm iffy about giving out my place of residence.
just take the twenty, don't worry about sending it to me.
thank you, thank you, kamsahamneeda. do you know what that means? thank you. words cannot describe. thank you....
yes. i know what it means.
ok, bye.
i walk a few feet, stop, and turn around... just to be sure...
i watch him walk, slowly, in the opposite direction. why is he moving so slow? thought he was in a hurry.... at least he's walking towards the S shuttle to grand central... at least i think that's where he's heading.... something is still nagging at me though... something doesn't make sense...
i shrug my shoulders and head on home.
i better get some good-ass karma for this. i must be an easy target for people to take advantage of me. i'm not saying old korean man was pulling the wool over my eyes, but if he was, he's gonna burn in hell for it. at least that much i believe. in any event, maybe he deserves the twenty bucks for succesfully holding me hostage in an underground train passageway for well over 10 minutes.
he asked me if i was korean or chinese. chinese. he asked me if i spoke english. yes. tells me he's korean. i believe him because i can distinguish a what a heavy korean-english accent sounds like. tells me a long story about how he is a computer programmer type person and is only here in the united states for only 6 months to work with people at a university in connecticut (he named the city, but i forget now 2 weeks after the fact) on a big computer project involving... maybe nukes? who knows. i lose track of his story. he says he's telling me the truth and dares me to ask him any computer program related question if i didn't believe him, ask me cobal, sql, etc, etc.... dude, i believe you, just get to your point.
so says that he decided to travel to new york city for the weekend since he's never been. he went to rockefeller center, to grand central, to blah blah blah. and ended up standing in line to purchase tickets to a musical, maybe hairspray. next thing he knew, his wallet was stolen.
a-ha! the point!
i see what you're gettin at, old man. did you target me cuz i look like i have a soft spot for asian folks in need? (i actually do)
says his passport is gone, his wallet is gone. he tried the korean consulate, but they were closed. its saturday. he tried calling the university. no one. he went to the police and they couldn't do anything for him except give him a metrocard to get to grand central to take the train back to connecticut. BUT his problem is that he has no money to get back to connecticut. he shows me the tourist brochure he's holding and points to a number scribbled on it - $16.50. says thats how much he needs to buy his tickets back to connecticut. keeps repeating that he doesn't have anyone to help him out.
my turn to talk - so do you not have family here you can call to get help? responds with heavy korean accent - no, all family in seoul. i only here for 6 months at university.
he says that he will pay me back right away, will fedex the money back to me. just needs to get back to connecticut, in a hurry, help, please.
hmmmm, i am this poor guy's last resort. yet i still have some doubts.... i'm standing there looking at him all the while he's telling me his story. i try to assess his 'situation' by checking out his clothing. ambiguous. he could be a bum or a tourist. he doesn't smell, but i don't venture to step closer to try to get a whiff. one thing that's buggin me is his underbite, or what looks like an underbite. better way to describe it is after someone takes out their dentures and their mouths kinda shrivel up and create the illusion of an underbite. that's what he looked like. and to me, it also made him look semi-bummy.
god how i wished esther was here so she can test his korean AND his computer programming skills to see if he was lying.
i ask him, you're not lying??? that's the truth???
yes.
o....k.....
i look through my wallet for $16.50 and find nothing but a twenty. shit.
i hand him the twenty. he hands me the tourist brochure and a pen and tells me to write down my address so he can pay me back. i'm iffy about giving out my place of residence.
just take the twenty, don't worry about sending it to me.
thank you, thank you, kamsahamneeda. do you know what that means? thank you. words cannot describe. thank you....
yes. i know what it means.
ok, bye.
i walk a few feet, stop, and turn around... just to be sure...
i watch him walk, slowly, in the opposite direction. why is he moving so slow? thought he was in a hurry.... at least he's walking towards the S shuttle to grand central... at least i think that's where he's heading.... something is still nagging at me though... something doesn't make sense...
i shrug my shoulders and head on home.
i better get some good-ass karma for this. i must be an easy target for people to take advantage of me. i'm not saying old korean man was pulling the wool over my eyes, but if he was, he's gonna burn in hell for it. at least that much i believe. in any event, maybe he deserves the twenty bucks for succesfully holding me hostage in an underground train passageway for well over 10 minutes.
posted by joaners @ 4:16 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:48 PM,
Peter said…
I was once duped out of $300 in college. Long, stupid story but I still kick myself to this day about it but console myself by thinking that I still have $300 worth of karma coming my way. That was almost 10 years ago. Wonder what the inflation rate of karma is.
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