Yes or no way buddy, walk it?

[farronwolf]

So today another couple and their son and us decide to go up into Arkansas and do a bald eagle watch thing. It is about an hour and a half away, and after about 80 miles on the road we pull into a Cracker Barrell cause his wife and son need to use the bathroom. Him, my wife, my son and myself stay in the van and wait for them to return.

After they return, everyone gets strapped back in and and I back out and start out of the parking lot. While traveling across the parking lot in front of the store, I am glancing around and it appears that there is a guy trying to get my attention. I look where I am going and then back at the guy. Yes, he really is trying to get my attention. So I slow down, stop and hit the button to roll the drivers side window down. He is about 55 or so, dressed casual and clean, and as he approaches ask if we have a full load of passengers. I reply yes. He says that he is the coach of the boys basketball team at Delta State, and that he has left his money bag back at the motel. The bus has dropped off the team to eat, but he has forgotten the the money to pay for the meal. He asks if we could possibly give him a ride back to the motel for him to get the bag of money.

Our van seats 7 and there were 6 of us in it. I was carrying and I am pretty sure that my other male passenger who was sitting up front with me was also carrying. There was a bus that pulled up while we were waiting for his wife to come out and a bunch of guys, looked like college and could have been basketball team got off and went into the restaurant. This is in a small town, and all the motels were within 1/2 to 1 mile of where we were, but on the other side of the interstate. Do you let the guy in the van and give him a ride or tell him, no we're not going that way?

What do you do, and why?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[target1911]

I dont let anyone I dont know in my vehicle. NEVER! BGs can dress nice too. I would have told him I couldnt help and may even offer to call a cab.

[JD]

Tell him to have the bus driver take him.

[lopadrino79]

It was a no before but after watching the movie "the Hitcher" its HELL NO

[retsupt99]

Tell him to have the bus driver take him.

You took the words right out of my mouth...

Something was definitely wrong there...DING, DING...it's the danger bell...

[HotGuns]

I would have given him a ride.

Since at least one of you were totin and you had 5 either people in the car, the odds are that they guy was doing exactly as he said he was....just trying to hitch a ride back to the hotel. A simple walk into the restaurant with him to talk to the team could have verified this.

Having coached several baseball and basketball teams for my kids over the years, I can testify that things like that happen. Normally, a restaurant such as the Cracker Barrel is a good place to go with a team, we used to do it all the time, and they are usually located by hotels and not far from the interstate.

I have been in similar situations and needed help, and it never took me more than a few minutes to find someone that was willing. I guess I look OK enough that they didn't run scared and fear for their lives.

While I'll be the first to admit that situational awareness is of the utmost importance, sometimes someone seeking help is just that and only that....someone seeking help.

[Janq]

No.

Call the motel/hotel and ask them to send a driver/employee to pick himup and return him.
Or have one of the students pay on a CC which today in the modern world even pre-teens have via their parents.
There are too many other options available to this situation.

No.

- Ted Bundy came off as a cordial and warm person

[Stirling XD]

The short answer is NO.

But if I did feel sorry for the guy and decided to help out, here's what I would I would do. I would ask my buddy if he was carrying too. I wouldn't be subtle. If so, put him behind the passenger's seat and the coach in the passenger seat. If my buddy wasn't carrying, I woiuld let him drive and I would sit behind the passenger's seat. He may be nervous, but he should understand. Either that or he'll decline the ride.

"Be polite, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

[stanislaskasava]

What is a 'money bag'? Why would you put money anywhere else besides your wallet or your pocket?

I don't trust people just because they tell me they're an idiot. Get walkin' buddy...

[josh]

I would've verified it with the team inside first. Otherwise, probably not.

[Dakotaranger]

The story just sounds a little off. IF he was a university coach, why wouldn't he have an unversity credit card to pay for the teams' meal?

The only way I would do it is if it was a coach that I've seen on tv (Bobby Knight for an example) and the story wasn't a little strange.

[GBS]

Which hotel, what room, name of your team, whom are you playing?
Asking questions usually clears up whether the guy
is for real or not.

Probably ask him to call the hotel, lots of ways to handle this one.
(My favorite) Tell him you'll call the Sheriff and have him give him a ride.

My answer is a polite but firm no, because I really do not want an adventure
(at my age) of any kind.

[QKShooter]

Giving a total stranger access to the inside of your vehicle with your kids in the van?
You might be armed but, a razor sharp knife pressed tight up to some young kids throat in your van will change that in a big hurry.

If you go looking for trouble I can almost guarantee that eventually you'll find it.
No...and especially not with family in the car.

[monky]

Maybe I'm just one of the few people left in this world that would have said yes.. It's a karma thing.

A few years ago heading to work at 2am, I hit SOMETHING in the road that was flat.. black.. and sharp. It was actually a piece of powder coated metal that had fallen off a truck.. landed oddly on a rut, and slashed both of my left side tires. It was apparently some expensive metal that was on it's way to a fab shop for something for the DOD.. Yes I found the truck that dropped it thanks to a blurb on the news about it having dropped it and recovering it.. they even paid for my tires.

Needless to say at 2am, while I am cursing at this metal on the side of the road, flashlight going between it and my tires, I was pretty much screwed as I lived pretty far east of the city and the part of the highway I was on I very rarely saw vehicles heading into the city at that time.

Flashers on, interior lights on, I start calling my boss who very kindly laughs at me and tells me it's a long walk to work. Start calling my co-workers to see if any of them want to swing by and grab me.. none of them live anywhere near me.. no such luck. Call my house, and no answer.. I kick myself for not having a phone in the bedroom. So it's about 2:30am, middle of nowhere, I only have 1 spare tire, why don't they come with 2! I see headlights approaching and I'm pretty sure it's not a trucker too low..

This nice couple was travelling from Tenn to Utah to see some family and stopped to see if I was ok.. apparently they were driving in shifts.. sleeping then driving, as their neice had just had a baby and they wanted to get there fast. Some really nice people actually, we email occasionally. Long story short, they offer me a ride to work.. I get to work, give my boss the finger for not offering to come get me, but I know why he could not have left anyway.

Since then.. I have stopped and helped people everytime I can. Changed flat tires for older people, jerry rigged a radiator hose, pulled people out of ditches when it was snowing.

I know in this world you have to be really careful.. I am armed and I am aware, I don't carry cash on me. I have heard the stories of people setting 'traps' for the few kind citizens left that will actually stop and help.. but you know.. I grew up being told to 'do unto others'.. I do what I can.

I have made u-turns through the median to assist people, I stop to offer assistance at any accident I come to that emergency personel are not at yet (paramedic even though I don't do it for a living), I keep a tow strap (and a shovel during winter) to get people out of ditches in the winter.. I have had people offer to pay me when I help them, but I do it for one reason.. The nice couple who in the middle of the night stopped to help me when I needed it..

Someday I am sure I will need help again, and I hope that my efforts of helping others will pay off and some kind person will offer me assistance...

So yes I would have given the guy a ride.. if something happens when I am assisting others, better me than some lady who is not prepared..

[Ashoob]

+1 for Monky's frame of mind. I may not go the limit he does and shovel people out of ditches, but the right person in the right situation can pull at my heartstrings and encourage my help. I too, am armed and aware (Phoenix born-and-raised), but learned that karma involves action sometimes. Especially when those good samaritans in our past have made our lives a little easier.