Yesterday I did a bit of browsing with thank you while J was doing her comm svc. It was dark and quite cold when we left Walmart to go get her.
A woman approached us in the parking lot. She had a large plastic laundry hamper filled with bags and it seemed heavy from the way she was dragging it. She asked if we could help. I thought she wanted help lifting it into a car or something. She wanted me to drive her home.
I almost NEVER get bad feelings from people. It wasn't the woman's ethnicity (she looked like she was from India or Pakistan - we have a HUGE international community because the univ is a top agricultural school) and that rarely even registers anymore. It wasn't her size as she was smaller than I am. I have NO clue why alarm bells rang in my head but I listened to them.
Part of me wondered why someone would go and buy a lot at a store if they couldn't get it home. Most ofme just anted to get AWAY from her in a hurry. I told her we couldn't give her a ride because we were late picking up my daughter.
She then stood behind my car so that I would have to run over her to get out of the parking space. I tapped the breaks several times and was ready to either start honking the horn or to turn the car off and go back inside to get security.
While this is the holiday season and we want to think the best of others, it is time to remember that not everyone has good intentions. Please be careful as scam artists and criminals are in every community and with all the pre and post holiday shopping it is a time with an increased crime rate.
thank you and I did have a good chat about giving rides to strangers, helping strangers, and always listening to that little voice in your head that says NO! even when you might otherwise be inclined to help and/or you can see no apparent threat.
I truly think that either this woman had someone waiting to steal from us or hurt us when we dropped ehr off, or she would steal or she had some other motive that was unsavory. Esp because our police dept issued warnings of a similar thing leading to crimes and false insurance claims and lawsuits being an increased problem lately. I didn't know about this before. I saw it online earlier today when I thought of this and wondered if I should have notified the police or Walmart mgmt.
Be esp careful if your kids are with you. I always feel that if I am alone then I can take responsibility if I make a choice to give someone a ride in a situation where they need help, but I don't have the right to endanger my kids by doing that. They have been taught since very early ages that if you see a motorist in trouble you go to the nearest phone or the first place you have a signal to call and send help to them, but you do NOT normally stop to help yourself.
A woman approached us in the parking lot. She had a large plastic laundry hamper filled with bags and it seemed heavy from the way she was dragging it. She asked if we could help. I thought she wanted help lifting it into a car or something. She wanted me to drive her home.
I almost NEVER get bad feelings from people. It wasn't the woman's ethnicity (she looked like she was from India or Pakistan - we have a HUGE international community because the univ is a top agricultural school) and that rarely even registers anymore. It wasn't her size as she was smaller than I am. I have NO clue why alarm bells rang in my head but I listened to them.
Part of me wondered why someone would go and buy a lot at a store if they couldn't get it home. Most ofme just anted to get AWAY from her in a hurry. I told her we couldn't give her a ride because we were late picking up my daughter.
She then stood behind my car so that I would have to run over her to get out of the parking space. I tapped the breaks several times and was ready to either start honking the horn or to turn the car off and go back inside to get security.
While this is the holiday season and we want to think the best of others, it is time to remember that not everyone has good intentions. Please be careful as scam artists and criminals are in every community and with all the pre and post holiday shopping it is a time with an increased crime rate.
thank you and I did have a good chat about giving rides to strangers, helping strangers, and always listening to that little voice in your head that says NO! even when you might otherwise be inclined to help and/or you can see no apparent threat.
I truly think that either this woman had someone waiting to steal from us or hurt us when we dropped ehr off, or she would steal or she had some other motive that was unsavory. Esp because our police dept issued warnings of a similar thing leading to crimes and false insurance claims and lawsuits being an increased problem lately. I didn't know about this before. I saw it online earlier today when I thought of this and wondered if I should have notified the police or Walmart mgmt.
Be esp careful if your kids are with you. I always feel that if I am alone then I can take responsibility if I make a choice to give someone a ride in a situation where they need help, but I don't have the right to endanger my kids by doing that. They have been taught since very early ages that if you see a motorist in trouble you go to the nearest phone or the first place you have a signal to call and send help to them, but you do NOT normally stop to help yourself.