Grrrr, vent! - a bit long

cameragirl21 wrote: Ok, so the thing is that I dinged up my car a little bit by turning too close to a pole
(don't ask) and from a fence falling on my car during last year's hurricanes and I was just thinking how awful it looks and it's very unprofessional since I visit clients frequently and you know, it just looks bad if your car doesn't look nice or if it looks dingy. Anyway, I was justthinking about it earlier today as i pulled into a Home Depot store and just as i got out of my car some guy in a car pulls up to me and says something to the effect of, "maam, i see you have those dents in your car, why don't you let me fix them, i have the tools in my trunk and it wouldn't even take me an hour and i'm much cheaper than the body shop and i do the exact same work b/c i work for xyx (whatever it was called) body shop and i have the tools with me and can do it now." and i look into the car and he has some other guy in the front seat and a boy of about 8 years old in the back. and i really got an uneasy feeling about it but at the same time he caught me at the perfect moment, all i could think about as i pulled into the HD is how i need to fix the car. and i said, "well, give me your card, i don't have time now but maybe another time." and he said, "well, i have to go return the tools today (which btw is such a typical salesman tactic) and i can just do it while you're shopping so you won't lose any time." and then he says, "that's my brother and my son, i'm a family man, i just want to make more money for my family." so even though the whole thing really stunk i reluctantly went along with it but insisted i'd stay and watch the whole time. and then he said, "i'll do it all for 180 bucks." and i said, "well, that's too much, sorry." thinking that i just found a way out. and then he said, "ok, 150." so i looked at the kid and thought wth maybe he needs the money and i doubt he'd try anything in front of the kid. and then an old man in a dented car pulled up and he pulled the same crap on him so we both waited while they attended to our cars. anyway, the boy just carried tools from their car to mine and back again, nothing more than that. and i was thinking they could be killers or something b/c i recently watched a documentary about Ted Bundy and how reeled women in the same way so i wouldn't turn my back to these guys and noticed how easily you could kill someone with any of these nasty looking tools. finally, they finished, took way more than an hour and they did a god awful job, it looked better before they touched my car, same with the old guy's car. anyway, the first guy says to me, "just make sure you leave me a nice tip." uhhhh, tip? whoever said anything about a tip, we agreed to 150. so i try to tell him that i'm a photographer and not making millions and millions and because what am i supposed to say? the work wasn't worth a buck. so anyway, no offense to any italians but these guys were like tony soprano come to life so i just wrote him a check for 160 and figured i'd call it a day. and he looks at my check and goes, "160?" incredulously as if he were expecting 10,000 or something and then, get this, this is what i'm all about--the kid comes up to me and says, "maam, i worked too, don't i get something?" and then it hit me that it was the middle of the day, Why the H wasn't this kid in school?! and it was soooo obvious the kid was totally trained to say that, the dad was using him to weedle more money out of people, i mean the only reason i agreed to this in the first place is b/c he said he wanted more money for his family.
now what kind of schmuckface hustles his kid for money?!!??!?!??!!?? Thank God he doesn't have a girl, i can only imagine how he'd use her to get money out of people.
and like i said, they did a crappy job, i could have done a better job myself.
thanks for letting me vent.

PrairieMom replied: So... here's the million dollar question, did you pay the kid? what did you say to him?


You were way more patient than me, I don't think I would have let the guy approach me at all, period. I would have said no, and kept walking briskly, and I live in the "heartland" where we have a low crime rate. I am so scared of people.

cameragirl21 replied: no, i didn't give the kid money b/c i didn't have any cash and i couldn't exactly write him a check. sorry, i left out that little tidbit...that was how it all started, i told them i didn't have cash trying to use it as an excuse and they said they'd take a check.
i told the kid i had no cash which he knew b/c i had mentioned it before to his dad and the kid walked away right away, didn't really react, it was obvious he was trained and didn't know how to react when the money isn't forthcoming.
well, Tara, you'd said that you're shy and i'm the opposite, i'm a little too friendly which as you see, got me into a bit of trouble today.

boyohboyohboy replied: what did the old man say, the man in the other car?
did they leave quietly?
i think i might have mentioned it to the manager at the home depo that this man was in the parking lot....
thank god you were ok.

Donna027 replied:
I totally agree. I would have just said no thanks and be on my marry way. When you said that you doubt he'd try anything in front of the kid I still wouldnt have trusted them. People are cold hearted now a days and having the kid there or not wouldnt make a difference. Im so scared when people approach me like that, but then I live more in a city area. Thats terrible that something like that happened to you. Did they even do a DECENT job?

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Sorry you got suckered into that. That makes me feel very fortunate that my husband works for a dealership.

Did they get money out of the other man?

cameragirl21 replied: calebsmom (Stacy, right?), the old man didn't have money and had to go to an ATM...they went with him but he went in his car and they followed him and i asked him if he wanted me to come b/c i was a bit worried about him and those guys but he insisted he was fine, and in all fairness, i don't know how much help i would have been anyway and i just told him not to get in their car with them for any reason and he promised me he wouldn't. i now regret not asking for his number so i could call him and make sure he's alright.
and yeah, 160 bucks is nothing if you walk out alive...lesson learned, don't talk to strangers.
And Donna, I live in Miami and yes what i did was dumb and dangerous and i hope i learned my lesson.

Cece00 replied:
Me too.

Did you get their license plate # & report to the cops?

cameragirl21 replied:
no, actually i didn't think about that but i should have...or course this is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, except for the fact that the boy wasn't in school, i'm pretty sure that's against the law.
i didn't get too near their car but i was a bit scared of the freaky looking tools they were pulling out of it. like i said, i recently watched a documentary about Ted Bundy and he often hit women over the head with a blunt object and knocked them out and took them off to kill them so i was freaked out looking at those tools which for sure could have been used as weapons...seriously, Ted would have been jealous.
ETA--i don't think i'm more patient than any of you and i really don't think patient is the word here, dumb is more like it.

luvbug00 replied: just glad ur ok

CantWait replied: I'd be running to the bank to cancel that cheque. Sorry that happened Jennifer. I always say to follow your gut, although I rarely do it.

mom2my2cuties replied: I would SERIOUSLY put a stop payment on that check immediately! The WORST they can do is take you to court, and all you have to do is show the "bang up" job they did repairing your vehicle.

cameragirl21 replied:
Thanks, Nadia.
And as for cancelling my check, i thought about that but it has my address on it and i'd rather be out $160 than be six feet under by the hands of a couple of freaks and their son, the unwitting understudy.

redchief replied: I'm not going to preach. I'm not going to preach. I'm NOT going to PREACH!

cameragirl21 replied: preach what, Ed? Feel free to say it, now you've got me curious.
if you want to tell me i'm dumb for not trusting my instincts, trust me, i already know.
btw, i'm a little offended that you didn't put the snowy owl in your avatar....

redchief replied:
Heheh... then I don't have to preach at all... you already got it.

I've taken girls who were at lower risk than you to the hospital after what some scumbag did to them. *shudder*

Please don't be offended at my not putting the owl in my avatar. I'm not big on changing my avatar often, and I don't like to mess with my siggy at all (everyone will tell you that's true). I want the reminder to me to keep those two boys in my thoughts and prayers; to me that was more important than touting my animal charicature. I hope you understand. I don't remember if I thanked you for your impression of me; I was humbled and I appreciate your sharing it with me.

cameragirl21 replied: i'm just messing with you, Ed, it's just that you are SUCH an owl!

C&K*s Mommie replied: Glad you are okay in the end. There is a lesson is to be learned.