Sunday, January 29, 2006

Old fashion panhandling or a new fad?

"You know you're getting old when you can't stand the kids music"- Anon

After work today I stopped at the new Schiel's Supermarket in the Parsons section of Wilkes-Barre to pick up some foodstuffs that Mrs. Gort instructed me to retrieve. As I was loading my supplies in the car a kid approached me with a sob story about getting lost and asked me for a dollar. My response was "you're the third person to give me that line in the last 2 weeks." He replied, "I guess that means no." No shit Einstein.

I wasn't lying, it wasn't the first time I heard some variation of that line over the years. But it has made a comeback lately. The difference this time is it is kids in their late teens or early twenties using it. Not the usual drunks and lowlifes. Has anyone else run into this lately?

On another note. With all the robberies of retail businesses lately I was glad to find out Schiel's takes the security of it's customers and employees seriously. CV:

Schiel's Family Market owner Frank Schiel pays more than $80,000 each year for armed security guards for the family's two grocery stores in Wilkes-Barre. With the recent rash of violent crime in the city, he believes it's money well-spent.

Wilkes-Barre City Council's new chairman Tony Thomas Jr. praised Schiel's and other stores that hire security guards. He believes Turkey Hill stores, which are open 24 hours a day and are often magnets for crime, should do the same.

2 comments:

D.B. Echo said...

I was in a drugstore in a not-very-good part of Washington, D.C. about 10 years ago and I was shocked to see an armed guard walking around inside the store. How messed up is this place that they need a guy with a gun to patrol the store?, I thought. We sure caught up with them in a hurry.

I just removed all the change from my change holder in my car. No point in having some scumbag who got bused straight from Attica to Wilkes-Barre doing $500 worth of damage to my car to get $2.37 worth of coins.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to me at Sheetz; only the guy was in need of bus fare. I gave him the buck--reason number one--maybe he was sincere--reason number two--maybe he was Jesus in disguise (any Catholic school boy knows that ruse)--or most importantly, perhaps he would have either knifed me of blew a slug into my gut--and may I tell you, no dollar is worth a slug in your gut.