Weirdness at in the parking lot..pls read & be aware

[vernacular_life]

This is long, but too important to cut.....

I had a really weird/scary/infurating experience this weekend ....one of those things that scared the hell out of me, and really made me wonder what would have happened if my crap detector isn't constantly on High.

It was about 2:30 on a perfect-weather saturday afternoon, crowded Sam's club parking lot (not my normal one, but one convinent to where I was at the time). I got a spot close to the store & headed in, only to realize that the insanity of the checkout lines wasn't worth the 2 things I needed, so just decided to leave. I turned to go out, and a guy (30-something black guy w/ white t-shirt and black quilted jacket) approached me and asked "Was that your red car out in the parking lot?"

Caught off guard, I reply, "Um, yeah...why?"

"You've got fluid running out of the right front brake box.....you need rotate the cylinder or else it will sieze up. When you stopped, it made a fizz and a pop."

I'm slightly puzzled and a bit concerned at this point. He then says, "You got a minute for me to show you what to do to fix it? I gotta go to work in 20 minutes, but this should be quick."

Me: "Um, well, not really, I'm kind of in a hurry..." but continue heading to the front of the store. At this point, he starts to head out to the direction of my car, and I notice that there's a lot of Sam's employees and customers around, so I'm not AS freaked out as I could be. I ask him some more details of what's happened, and he says some more stuff about a brake box popping out and fluids. He walks up to the front tire & points to the brake pad & says something else about rotating the cylinder. (There was nothing physically wrong looking w/ the tires at this point)

I try to blow him off by saying "I'm taking the car in for an oil change & will just have them look at it" to which he replies, "well, let me at least show you what to tell them to do so they don't rip you off. Pull over here [motioning to the other side of the parking lot] and I'll show you what to do" and he walks past my car and through to the next row. I didn't see where he was going, but there was NO WAY IN HELL I was driving over there, so I jumped in the car, locked the doors, and drove the long way around Sams and left.

I reported the incident to the security guard at the wine store across the road, then did a tasting of a couple of wines to calm my nerves..

Lessons learned/points of note:

1. This guy watched me leave my car & saw that i was alone.


2. Thank God that I've worked on cars w/ my dad enough to know that there's nothing called a brake box, and to rotate the cylinder, all you do is have the tire turn. Also, the pavement was wet, and he wouldn't have seen any fluid running out of the brakes. If there had been a problem, not only would my brake petal sunk to the ground, but the brake light would have come on.


3. This was in a Sam's club on a Saturday for chrissake! This wasn't a empty parking lot at night!


4. I have no idea what this guy wanted....money/my car/me...


5. What freaked me out..then really made me mad was the fact that for about 60 seconds, I BELIEVED THIS GUY. All this guy had to do was have squirted a little brake fluid on my brakes and I would have believed him.....

So, just a warning to everybody out there...there's freaks that will try anything anywhere...

Comments

[ee-chick.livejournal.com]

That is really freaky. I'm glad you reported him, and I'm glad that you're okay. I'm shocked that he was doing this in the middle of the day in a crowded parking lot. I'm automatically more on guard in what seems to be more "dangerous" situations, but tend to be much more relaxed about my safety in those situations.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

exactly! I'm on super-guard when on the Light Rail & in the parking lots in the morning/evening when commuting, or when out at night, but this was Saturday afternoon!!

[a-wags.livejournal.com]

stuff like that is always scary and always leaves me a little shaken up

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

what was weird is that the conversation was in the store! I don't want to be an ass and avoid all conversation with everyone (as my oho so polite husband says I should do), but when the scam started not with a "wo is me" but a "I'm trying to help you" angle, it caught me off guard...

[djoyusone.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that's scary shit. Reason to not care about being super-bitchy to strangers.

[tinksdust.livejournal.com]

That is pretty freaky. Glad that nothing happened to you and that you reported the guy.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I dunno if the report actually went to the police or not...I think I'm going to call the local cops from that neighborhood & do a after-the-fact report, but I don't remember what he looked like & don't have a vehicle desciption..

[tray85.livejournal.com]

Oh my God I am so glad you had your radar on! I can't believe he was trying to pull something in broad daylight. I am so glad you are OK!

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

It is unbelievable, isn't it?!

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Creep. E.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

No kidding!

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I'm "hoping" that he just wanted $$, but after seeing so much survellance camera footage of people being dragged away, it makes you wonder....

[banshee.livejournal.com]

Man, am I glad you're ok. What's also scary is that he spiel will probably work...on somebody. Eventually.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

Exactly! This was a big ol' suburban neighborhood -- he wasn't betting that he'd encounter the (former) urbanite w/ the high awareness!

[njlorelei.livejournal.com]

Glad you're okay but it sure is a scary situation. I'd have been rather freaked out for awhile I'm sure.