What would you do? July 17, 2007

So, Carlee’s post about Target has prompted me to write about something that has been bothering me.  About two weeks ago, I was in Macey’s (grocery store) parking lot with Dylan loading up some groceries.  A man wearing a black shirt, levis and was holding an empty gas can approached me and asked for some money.  He stated that his car had run out of gas about a 1/2 mile down the road and he needed to purchase some gas.  I was suspicious of his story, so I politely told him I did not have any money and returned to what I was doing.  A few moments later two older women approached their car which was by mine.  As they started to open their car doors the same man came up to them and gave them the same story he had given me.  I overheard one woman say, “I have one dollar you can have.”  She gave the money to him and proceeded to get into her car.  The other woman was also opening her wallet to give him money, but I did not overhear how much she had.  Anyway, I was so irate that they gave him money that I wanted to turn around and tell them not to because I felt they were being scammed.  I didn’t however mostly for fear of what the man might say or do.  Then as I got into my car I watched the man walk two rows over, put his gas can in his trunk, get into his white Chevrolet car and drive away.  By this time I am fuming mad because he lied and took advantage of these two women who were probably scared to death of what he might do if they didn’t give him something.  I took down his license plate number, color, make and model of his car, wrote down what he was wearing and wanted to call the cops.  However, after talking with Ryan about the situation he explained there probably wasn’t anything that the police could do.  So, I decided not to report it.  It has weighed on my mind so much since then and I just wish I would have been brave enough to say or do something to stop him.  So, I’m just curious as to what you would have done in this situation.  Is it worth maybe calling Macey’s and asking them to beef up security in their parking lot?  Calling South Ogden City and telling them to patrol down there a bit more frequently? Or should I just give up and consider the man lucky to have met two very nice women who were willing to share what they had with him in a so called time of need?  I’m curious as to what you think.