Was at the "old" mall in Memphis/Whitehaven, and taking back a vacuum cleaner to Sears that broke 2 weeks after buying it. Not an area I like going to, even if it was noon. Was on high alert (I thought), but my back window is tinted. As I quickly leaned into the back seat of my F-150 Crew cab to get the box for the vacuum (too lazy to disassemble it, so the upright vacuum was one item, the box and contents another), I lean back out to check my situation, and see that a car has pulled up perpendicular to the rear of my truck, effectively cutting me off from egress. To make things much worse, a very large guy (I'd say 6'6", 400, b/c I'm 6'5" and 255 and this guy made me look small) had already exited the passenger side and was at the back bumper of my truck. Female driver of the car, tinted windows, unable to see any other occupants. Now, with me standing by the open rear door of the driver's side of my truck, and the car parked next to me, I was in a hole, and immediately in condition orange, cursing myself for getting into this mess. Didn't take over 10 seconds to get there, and I really believe much less. I put on my gameface, scanning his hands first, then the waistline (T-shirt, oversized, baggy pants). He was WAY too close to me. I told him to back up a few feet, that I was not comfortable with him being so close to me. I put the vacuum between us on the ground about 3 feet in front of me (halfway between us) as he began to speak, scanned behind me, then stepped toward him enough to close the truck door. I looked again around my truck, continued to scan and adopted a strong stance; listened to him tell me about being in town from the Texas hurricane, no money, etc. Told him about my church and that they are getting all my donations for such folks, and that he can call them. He tried to talk around it to get money, but I "circle talked" him, and he eventually seemed to back off. He kept looking at me kinda funny, and looking at my right front pocket. After the incident, I realized he was seeing my Buckmark Sidewinder clip sticking out. Condition orange plan: with front foot, kick vacuum toward him on first movement to confuse any plan he might have pre-formulated, retrograde as I untuck and present, and give verbal instructions to stop.
As it turned out, he follows me into the mall, and peels off talking to someone else as we enter. Got me pretty hyped up, pretty fast....
As it turned out, he follows me into the mall, and peels off talking to someone else as we enter. Got me pretty hyped up, pretty fast....