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I was in a pawn shop the other day where I have bought guns and various tools in the past. I had one of those experiences that told me something was wrong but I don't know what. You know, make the back of your neck tingle but you don't know why.

Anyway, there were three hispanic males in the shop when I entered. I sense something is not right because these three are scattered about the store and exchanging glances at each other...Just sort of pretending to look at stuff kinda thing...

While I'm browsing through some tools I hear a commotion, and the lady working the shop says, "No, you can't go back there. No, that stuff is not for sale." This gets my attention and I see one of the hispanic males behind the counter in a back room where the stuff is kept before coming out of pawn. He ignores her so she repeats her statement in spanish. Still ignoring her, she goes back and tugs on his arm and repeats her statements again in English and spanish. She attempts to diffuse the situation with a little humor by saying something like, "I can't sell you any of this stuff, I'm just baby sitting it until it comes out of pawn, now you'll have to go back out front." This guy takes his time getting back to the front and looks at her and says, "Yeah, you're just baby sitting it. That's all you do." Wow, not only does he understand English, he's a jerk too!

Now while the guy in the back had the lady preoccupied, the other two exchanged glances and then looked at me for several seconds, exchanged a glance to the guy as the lady retrieved him from the back, then pretended to look at some more stuff. Then all three immediately left.

Now, I'm not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure they were thinking of robbing the cash drawer or at least maybe shoplifting something they had spied earlier while she was preoccupied. Looks like I spoiled their day.

I agree. You probably thwarted a robbery or worse, by being alert.

I'm surprised the clerk was so wimpy. You have to be tough to run a pawnshop. I remember I was in one some years ago that specialized in jewelry and precious metals. The door had to be buzzed open. The owner let in a bare-chested young man wearing a bunch of cheap gold chains around his neck.

The owner immediately asked, "Are you here to pawn something or buy."

The guy said, "Buy."

The owner said, "Buy what?"

The guy had to think about it for a few seconds and mumbled something, I forget what. He looked in the display cases for half a minute and left.

- Jim

You get this sort of thing at Garage Sales, too. I've had more than one lady come to my garage sales and ask to use my restroom. I always say it's out of order. It is, except for family. Then, she always comes back and points to someone leaving and says that they are stealing something from me. Of course, I didn't see them do it, so I tell her so.

On one occasion, another lady had others with her, who were looking at things in different parts of my yard. I am certain that they would have taken armloads of things to their car, if I had chased down those she said were stealing. I am also certain that, had I allowed her into my house, there would have been things missing, either then or later, when she and her buddies came back.

Another ruse is to ask what we are doing with our stuff that doesn't sell, after the sale. If you don't tell them that you're giving to a charity or something, they offer to buy what's left from you, after the day is over. If you say, yes, they take down your Garage Sale signs at the front of your sub-division, so you don't get any more customers.

Others are a lot more fun. They merely remove the tags and claim that there was no tag on that item, whereupon, I tell them double the price that I had put on it. One lady wanted an item that I had put 50 cents on, and I saw her take the tag off. So, I told her that it would be $1. She said, "No it isn't. I saw a 50 cent tag on it." So, I figured that, if she were that dumb, I'd just tell her, "Well, it must have been mis-marked." She said, "Oh," and walked off!

Hmmmm........ I wonder. If your Garage Sale is in your very own yard, can you legally open carry, while conducting it? If so, I wonder if that might forestall some of these shenanigans? Hmmmmmm........

smyrna,

It looks to me that you complicated their plans and they decided to bug out.

Nice going.