Mortal Monkey on 4/8/2006 at 21:05
Short answer: Get a pickup.
Parker'sSire on 4/8/2006 at 21:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dia:(parental style, worry wart, realistic rant)
What she said.
I picked up a guy recently who wanted to get to a local motel. He was moving from one motel in town to another... had def. been drinking... had his satchel of stuff over his shoulder... stopped me in an adjoining grocery store parking lot.
I have to admit I got him across town to the other motel about as quickly as I could.
Two things made me give him the ride.
1) He had approched me with money in his hand offering to pay me for a ride.
2) It was raining and pretty cold.
Turned out Ok, I handed him over to the woman at the motel and took off. (Of course, I didn't take his money.... how could you think such a thing, Dia?)
Afterward, I reminder myself of all the reasons to not pick up hitchhikers. Even if he was sincere, etc, he was still a stranger in my car, unpredictable, drunk, and in a totally unknown state of mind.
A cabbie in downtown Boston at 2am once told me that the only reason he picked me up was that I truly seemed to need a ride and he had already judged that I was "OK".
Para?noid has a very good point; knowing who to pick up is a delicate art/skill. I'm going to adopt the same rules as his friends; no pickups if driving solo.
BEAR on 4/8/2006 at 22:12
Quote Posted by TTK12G3
OK, so you picked up a drunk and after he left you alive, you decided to curse him off in your mind for shit that you half-expected him to do in the first place that he didn't really do, and you felt bad about it afterwards...um...:erm:...
Congratulations on your graduation, BEAR!
Well, at the time I wasnt exactly thinking like usual, as it was a new situation for me. I didnt half expect him to do anything, I felt like a total fool for NOT expecting him to take it, and it turned out he didnt which is great for us both.
Quote Posted by Moghedian
Bear, You got off lucky. He didn't hurt you, and he didn't swipe any of your stuff, either. I wouldn't count on someone being thinner than myself to necessarily be a non-threat, either. A person that is a little wired could be jacked up on something, and a
lot stronger than he/she looks. I've seen it. I would not advise picking someone up, either alone or with someone in the car.
Granted, I want emplying that the reason I picked him up is because I thought I could take him, I just wanted to show some comparison. Like I said, when you let them into your car, its a gamble cause you could be the strongest person in the world but driving a car with the passenger having a knife and you're still screwed.
It also comes down to just how terrified are you of life and other people, I myself am terrified of both, but I'm not content with it. If I had had a friend or my brother with me, yes it would have been safer but I probably wouldnt have learned very much, and I learned alot in this. Usually I'm content to do the easier thing, rather than the right thing, even if it bothers me I will likely forget. I learned that I'm not quite the coward I thought I was.
Chances are, it WASNT a good idea to pick him up alone, but also a few other things to note. I didnt stop with the express thought of giving him a ride, at first I thought he or someone else was hurt and he was flagging me down, I'm not sure if I would have stopped otherwise or not, but I would be a pretty sorry son of a bitch if I wouldnt stop to help someone if they were hurt or somthing just because I was scared. Doing things you know are right that you dont want to do or are just scared to do are probably as big of learning experiences as anything you will ever find (or so it has seemed to me).
All in all, Im glad I did it. If I did happen to be asked to give someone a ride, and it WAS the wrong person, I would be in a much worse situation had I not done this, it was a good learning experience and now I know more what to do and how to go about it, you all make perfectly valid points but its a gamble either way. Location is a big thing, its a rural area and not alot of murders etc, so chances are you would be hard pressed to find someone dangerous, but then again that didnt factor in that much except maybe subconciously.
Its also somthing that bothers me in this country. All you see on the news is OMG PEOPLE WANT TO KIDNAP YOUR KIDS and HITCHHIKERS ARE TERRIBLE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO STAB YOU, MORE AT 11 and bullshit like that, just to scare people when these things occur rarely, meaning we're a population of people who are too scared of eachother to help anyone out. And its kind of illogical to stab a person who will give you a ride since its not likely that you will get one, not that that will stop them but most people are grateful as shit to get a ride at all. I doubt I'll do it again alone, but Im glad I did it alone this time so that I can take most of the credit :) Of course this seems terribly profound to me, I doubt it is so for you all :D
TheNightTerror on 4/8/2006 at 22:47
You never can tell whether a hitchhiker is safe or not, I never would pick one up on my own. My mom used to take pity on hitchhikers, (the idiot even picked up two when she was driving alone once) but she stopped a while ago. She was in the local government building and noticed a woman who was on trial for attempted murder. Later in the afternoon, she saw her thumbing for a ride on the highway out of town. :p It was daylight, it was a busy highway, and she was a woman, so she might have not seemed like a threat.
On the other hand, another time my best friend and I were driving alone on a deserted stretch of highway around midnight in her mother's pick-up, and stumbled across a male hitchhiker who looked pretty rough. However, it just so happened that earlier we'd passed by a truck with its hazard lights on, with a guy napping in the cab, so we took a chance and pulled over to chat with him.
It turned out he was headed for town to get some diesel for that same truck we saw, and had to leave his friend behind because they were coming home from a camping trip, and didn't want any of their equipment stolen. He still had a good 20 kilometers to go to get into town, so we let him in. He filled up our tank up while he got some diesel for himself, and gave us $40 once we got him back to his truck, so it turned out to be well worth it. :)
Mr.Duck on 4/8/2006 at 23:51
Quote Posted by BEAR
Its also somthing that bothers me in this country. All you see on the news is OMG PEOPLE WANT TO KIDNAP YOUR KIDS and HITCHHIKERS ARE TERRIBLE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO STAB YOU, MORE AT 11 and bullshit like that, just to scare people when these things occur rarely, meaning we're a population of people who are too scared of eachother to help anyone out.
Visit Mexico.
:cool:
SD on 5/8/2006 at 00:35
In capitalist America, Mexico visits you.
Paz on 5/8/2006 at 01:04
Bear, I think you managed to do exactly the right thing and absolutely the wrong thing at precisely the same time.
BEAR on 5/8/2006 at 01:08
Im cool like that. (btw just walked home from graduation a few blocks through the city AND THERE WERE BLACK PEOPLE :o)
Mr.Duck on 5/8/2006 at 05:09
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
In capitalist
Gringolandia, Mexico
0wnz you.
Fix'd
:cool:
