Kiowa_Pacer
Aug 4, 2010, 7:50 PM
Greetings All;
This is not something I am prone to doing a great deal of, but something happened that disturbed me greatly. Primarily because I thought I was going to have to contact my husband for bail money for our Cat.....Let me explain. This is lengthly so please bear with me.
She and I were downtown in the Mall shopping, and saw a couple outside of South Sound Mall with a small table that touted; "Please help us to help them" and they were raising monies for the Children of Haiti, and South Africa. Supposedly. They were talking to people as they entered and exited this mall. Cat paid them little mind as we walked past, and said they were 'more'n likely' hustlers. As we came out, the woman stepped in front of Cat unexpectedly and tried engaging her in conversation. Cat politely declined, and tried stepping around the lady. The woman actually put her hand out and halted our cart.
The conversation went thusly:
The Lady: "We are collecting donations for the orphans of Haiti, South Africa, and Somalia. Your money would go to getting them much needed medicines and clothing to help them get back on their feet"
Cat: "Well that's a very worthwhile cause Ma'am, but I only donate to those in need in the US. But very cool that you are tryin' ta help"
The Lady: Well dont you think they are worthy of your donation?"
Cat: "Yeah, I'm sure they are, but there are more people here in the states that need help just as much. There are tons of homeless right here that could use good ole American dollars. See that guy at the corner, he's a veteran trying to feed his 2 kids. If I was going to give someone a donation, it would be someone like him"
Now in the meantime, the man with this lady got up and was standing there listening to all of this. He is tallish (compared to my five foot-one stature) and big and frankly looks like a thug from gangster movies. I didn't like his appearance from the time I saw him, he frightened me, but you know our Cat. She looked at him and said "Hi, how ya doin?" and continuted to try and get her point across.
He listened as the two women debated, and I was getting uncomfortable with the way this guy was eyeing Mama. The lady was getting more insistant, too. Cat was trying to be nice, but this was getting out of hand and she was ready to be off, as was I.
The Lady: "Children need help from us adults.
It is our Christian duty to help those who are unfortunate and in dire need, that is why we are collecting mony for them and I for one think you should be a little more respectful and charitable to those less...padded...as you are.
Cat's eyes never changed, but I could see she was getting tired of this chick's tirades.
Cat: "Yes, I agree with you there, but until people start doing fun-raisers for children and families in This country, then I wont be donating. Do you realize how many kids on public reservations go hungry everyday? What about the miner's families in Kentucky who face hunger and poverty every day of their lives? Dont you think They deserve more attention from us that those in other countries? Charity begins at home, Lady"
I spoke to a lady going into the mall and asked her to fetch a manager or security personell for I didn't have a good feeling about this situation, when the guy came up close behind Cat, and said "Why don't you just be a good girl and plunk some money down. Wouldn't hurt you to skip McDonalds today anyway"
The way he stood over her looking down at her scared me. I took it to be a threatening gesture and I was terribly worried. Cat just smiled up and said, "Wellll, ya'll have a good day. This conversation is over"
She turned to walk away and this man reached out grabbed her by the 'fatty' part of her arm and yanked her back. I thought he was going to yank her off of her feet! You could see his fingers digging into her arm, and it did indeed bruise her later. Cat turned and grab this man by the...well, to be indelicate about it, by the balls. This started the guy and all he could do was look at her. Cat said, "Boy, if you want this intact later, you Best let go my arm"
At this time, a big security guard stapped out, and he could not see her right hand, but could see that the man had Cat's arm. He told the man to unhand Cat, and she quickly loosened her vice grip as well. The guard did not see where her hand had been. The manager of the store came out as well, and we had to explain what had happened.
Cat clearly had the advantage visual-wise. The guard saw that she had dropped her cane when the man grabbed her, and could clearly see that she has a brace on her right leg. This did not bode well for the "Thug"
When the explaining had been done, Cat suggested, "Why don't you ask these two if they really Are a non-profile organization doing fund raising for this group, and see if they have Washington state business licences. I have mine, wanna see them? I know for a fact that to do this you have to have city business permit, and a non-profit organization card."
She pulled hers out and showed the manager and guard, as these two spit and stammered that they didnt Know they had to have these to collect donations. Funny thing is, some lady in the parking lot called 911 when she saw the big guy grab Cat, so here came Olympia PD on the scene. One nice Officer asked Cat if she wanted to press charges, especially when he saw the finger prints/bruises on her arm.
She retorted, "Naw. Now unless you have a stupidity clause in there somewhere"
The Officer said, "If that was the case, then the jails would be over run"
They both chuckled over this as he took her statement.
(Cant even let that woman speak to an officer without her flirting)
The man yelled at the cop that Mama had had him by the personals and that he wanted to have her arrested. Guard replied that since he hadn't see said action, he could not comment on it. The police checked to see if the couple had any indentification to substanciate their business, and they could not produce any documents or permits to collect monies. They were escorted off the property, but in the parking lot, the thug swung at one of the cops, resulting in them both being arrested. The guard escorted us to my vehicle, and even helped us load them. He was a very nice man.
What disturbed me the most, outside of the strong-arm tactics, was the fact that there Are indeed people out there collecting monies for various charities, and the public has no idea of if they are ligitimate or not. Clearly this two were not, and it makes you worry that some of these folks, if not most, are not whom they claim to be. I have in the past donated something to causes like this, and never thought much ot it, but now this has got me to where I shall be hesitant to do so in the future.
Has anyone else experianced something of this fashion? And I might say for any who knows Cat well that even going shopping with her is an adventure, and Ki laughed uproarously when we told him about.
Still shaken Kit.
This is not something I am prone to doing a great deal of, but something happened that disturbed me greatly. Primarily because I thought I was going to have to contact my husband for bail money for our Cat.....Let me explain. This is lengthly so please bear with me.
She and I were downtown in the Mall shopping, and saw a couple outside of South Sound Mall with a small table that touted; "Please help us to help them" and they were raising monies for the Children of Haiti, and South Africa. Supposedly. They were talking to people as they entered and exited this mall. Cat paid them little mind as we walked past, and said they were 'more'n likely' hustlers. As we came out, the woman stepped in front of Cat unexpectedly and tried engaging her in conversation. Cat politely declined, and tried stepping around the lady. The woman actually put her hand out and halted our cart.
The conversation went thusly:
The Lady: "We are collecting donations for the orphans of Haiti, South Africa, and Somalia. Your money would go to getting them much needed medicines and clothing to help them get back on their feet"
Cat: "Well that's a very worthwhile cause Ma'am, but I only donate to those in need in the US. But very cool that you are tryin' ta help"
The Lady: Well dont you think they are worthy of your donation?"
Cat: "Yeah, I'm sure they are, but there are more people here in the states that need help just as much. There are tons of homeless right here that could use good ole American dollars. See that guy at the corner, he's a veteran trying to feed his 2 kids. If I was going to give someone a donation, it would be someone like him"
Now in the meantime, the man with this lady got up and was standing there listening to all of this. He is tallish (compared to my five foot-one stature) and big and frankly looks like a thug from gangster movies. I didn't like his appearance from the time I saw him, he frightened me, but you know our Cat. She looked at him and said "Hi, how ya doin?" and continuted to try and get her point across.
He listened as the two women debated, and I was getting uncomfortable with the way this guy was eyeing Mama. The lady was getting more insistant, too. Cat was trying to be nice, but this was getting out of hand and she was ready to be off, as was I.
The Lady: "Children need help from us adults.
It is our Christian duty to help those who are unfortunate and in dire need, that is why we are collecting mony for them and I for one think you should be a little more respectful and charitable to those less...padded...as you are.
Cat's eyes never changed, but I could see she was getting tired of this chick's tirades.
Cat: "Yes, I agree with you there, but until people start doing fun-raisers for children and families in This country, then I wont be donating. Do you realize how many kids on public reservations go hungry everyday? What about the miner's families in Kentucky who face hunger and poverty every day of their lives? Dont you think They deserve more attention from us that those in other countries? Charity begins at home, Lady"
I spoke to a lady going into the mall and asked her to fetch a manager or security personell for I didn't have a good feeling about this situation, when the guy came up close behind Cat, and said "Why don't you just be a good girl and plunk some money down. Wouldn't hurt you to skip McDonalds today anyway"
The way he stood over her looking down at her scared me. I took it to be a threatening gesture and I was terribly worried. Cat just smiled up and said, "Wellll, ya'll have a good day. This conversation is over"
She turned to walk away and this man reached out grabbed her by the 'fatty' part of her arm and yanked her back. I thought he was going to yank her off of her feet! You could see his fingers digging into her arm, and it did indeed bruise her later. Cat turned and grab this man by the...well, to be indelicate about it, by the balls. This started the guy and all he could do was look at her. Cat said, "Boy, if you want this intact later, you Best let go my arm"
At this time, a big security guard stapped out, and he could not see her right hand, but could see that the man had Cat's arm. He told the man to unhand Cat, and she quickly loosened her vice grip as well. The guard did not see where her hand had been. The manager of the store came out as well, and we had to explain what had happened.
Cat clearly had the advantage visual-wise. The guard saw that she had dropped her cane when the man grabbed her, and could clearly see that she has a brace on her right leg. This did not bode well for the "Thug"
When the explaining had been done, Cat suggested, "Why don't you ask these two if they really Are a non-profile organization doing fund raising for this group, and see if they have Washington state business licences. I have mine, wanna see them? I know for a fact that to do this you have to have city business permit, and a non-profit organization card."
She pulled hers out and showed the manager and guard, as these two spit and stammered that they didnt Know they had to have these to collect donations. Funny thing is, some lady in the parking lot called 911 when she saw the big guy grab Cat, so here came Olympia PD on the scene. One nice Officer asked Cat if she wanted to press charges, especially when he saw the finger prints/bruises on her arm.
She retorted, "Naw. Now unless you have a stupidity clause in there somewhere"
The Officer said, "If that was the case, then the jails would be over run"
They both chuckled over this as he took her statement.
(Cant even let that woman speak to an officer without her flirting)
The man yelled at the cop that Mama had had him by the personals and that he wanted to have her arrested. Guard replied that since he hadn't see said action, he could not comment on it. The police checked to see if the couple had any indentification to substanciate their business, and they could not produce any documents or permits to collect monies. They were escorted off the property, but in the parking lot, the thug swung at one of the cops, resulting in them both being arrested. The guard escorted us to my vehicle, and even helped us load them. He was a very nice man.
What disturbed me the most, outside of the strong-arm tactics, was the fact that there Are indeed people out there collecting monies for various charities, and the public has no idea of if they are ligitimate or not. Clearly this two were not, and it makes you worry that some of these folks, if not most, are not whom they claim to be. I have in the past donated something to causes like this, and never thought much ot it, but now this has got me to where I shall be hesitant to do so in the future.
Has anyone else experianced something of this fashion? And I might say for any who knows Cat well that even going shopping with her is an adventure, and Ki laughed uproarously when we told him about.
Still shaken Kit.