Entry 185: Frauds and Fire

I read two good articles in The New Yorker recently, both about fraud.  The first details the exploits of a man named Michael Tammaro, a manic photographer who used to hobnob with the stars before falling on hard times.  His "plan" for getting back on his feet financially was to sublet his prime Manhattan apartment to multiple people at the same time without these people knowing about the each other.  This probably doesn't sound like a good "long con" to you -- I mean, as soon as somebody tries to move in and somebody else is there, the jig is up, right? -- but he was able to keep it going for quite a while and swindle quite a few people for quite a bit of cash.  The second story is a Talented Mr. Ripley type of thing -- a guy pretending to be somebody (somebodies) he's not.  There's an added element of intrigue to the narrative in that the writer experienced the con firsthand.

This got me thinking: Would I ever fall for such things?  I've never been conned in a major way before (that I know of, obviously, we all could've been conned without knowing it).  Well, actually, once I paid a guy $30 to "fix" a wobbly tire.  He pulled up next to me at a red light and told me that my tire was in danger of falling off.  Then when we just so happened to end up in the same parking lot a few minutes later (he didn't directly follow me, but he could pretty easily see where I was headed), he told me he'd fix it for $50.  I only had $30.  He looked like a legit handyman -- he had a bunch of tools -- but maybe that was part of the scam, or maybe he was a legit handyman who moonlighted as a low-rent hustler.  Whatever the case, I gave him the money, he wrench on a few things under the car (he had me get in and crank the wheel a few times while he was doing it), told me it was good, and that was that.  I immediately felt stupid for doing it.  The thing is, I suspected it was a scam the entire time, but I agreed to it anyway.  I don't really know why.  It was some sort of social pressure I can't verbalize.  I tried to placate myself after the fact by thinking -- "Hey, I don't know anything about cars.  Maybe my tire really was about to fall off." -- but I'm not good at lying to myself (yet another reason I'm not religious).  So the best I could do is chalk it up to a learning experience -- which it was... kinda.

That story isn't so much about me being conned as it is about me being put in an uncomfortable situation and not sticking up for myself (which might be worse).*  As far as actually being full-on tricked -- nothing that I know of.  I definitely don't think I would've fallen for the apartment scam.  I'm pretty wary of that type of thing.  In fact, last year I alerted an apartment-hunting friend that a place he was looking at sounded really fishy -- a possibility he confirmed as true after a few minutes on Google (while we were at a baseball game, no less... technology!).  As for Mr. Ripley, I dunno.  I probably could've been taken in by him if the circumstances were right.  I mean, when you meet somebody, and they tell you their name, you believe it.  Then when they tell you a little bit more about themselves you believe that too.  If they're good at avoiding major inconsistencies, and you don't see any direct benefit -- particularly financial benefit --  in them lying to you, why wouldn't you fall for it?

Anyway, in other news.  There was a big fire here in D.C. at a 93-year old hardware store named Frager's.  It doesn't sound like anybody was hurt, and the linked article doesn't say what started it.  (By the way, all stories about fires should start out announcing how many people were hurt and what started it.  If you don't know, then you have to say this upfront.)  I was down on the National Mall playing softball** when it happened.  I saw the smoke and thought to myself, "Huh... This doesn't look good."  Other people started to notice, but it wasn't until after the game we found out it was Frager's.  I never went to there, but apparently it was something of a neighborhood icon.  Pretty sad, but I did get a cool picture out it.

Well, that'll do 'er.  Until next time...


*I take some solace in the belief that this frequently happens to other people, and you just never hear about it because nobody wants to admit it to others (or themselves).  As an example, my friend in college once bought $100 worth of magazine subscriptions he didn't want from a shady dude he knew was shady the entire time.  He did admit it to his friends, however, which is good, because we convinced him to cancel his check, so he didn't lose any money... just some pride.     

**We won, FYI.  We had an 8-6 lead going into the final inning, and then we blew up and won 21-7.  I went 3-4 with a triple (a legit, over-the-left-fielder's-head triple, not a pop-fly-to-the-dude-in-right-field-who-can't-catch triple -- in my pre-pulled hammy days it would've been a home run).  Also I made several smooth defensive plays at third base (actually, I was playing a hybrid shortstop-third and our shortstop was playing a short outfield as they were hitting a lot of little bloopers).  I also had a crucial call on a ball down the right field line that I called fair.  (We don't have umpires, so the base coaches for the hitting team make all the calls.)  They had an annoying shortstop who tried to argue with me, but a) it was fair, b) he called a girl safe on their team earlier in the game when she looked clearly out to me, c) quit yer bitchin', it's beer league softball.  Once they fell behind big, he didn't even stick around for the final half-inning or the post-game high fives.  Now, it could be he had somewhere to go, but more likely he's a sore loser and a petty, petty man.