So, yesterday was the first day of my 5-day staycation, and about 2 PM I showed up at the Saucer for lunch. After finishing an order of Atomic wings, I walked outside to get a Memphis Flyer to read. I looked across the street, and noticed a guy at the entrance to the Tri-State Bank lot run by Premier Parking. Just standing there. I got suspicious. That lot is a common target for scammers.
A few minutes later, a metered space opened up across the street on Peabody Place, and the guy went over and stood there. That was all I needed to see. I called the number of the safety patrol (901-281-9146) run by the Downtown Memphis Commission (formerly CCC) and gave a description. They said they were on their way.
Before they could get down there, a car pulled into the Tri-State Bank lot. The guy chased after it, trying to wave it down and convince the driver to park in the metered space instead. He was unsuccessful and went back to his spot. He tried to wave a couple more cars in, then the safety patrol rolled up on their bikes. He talked to them for about 5 minutes, went back to the entrance to the Premier lot, and stayed there for about 10 minutes. When it became clear that the safety patrol was not going to leave until he did, he walked away, heading north through the entrance to the Peabody Place parking garage.
I later heard that he’d told the safety patrol he worked for Premier Parking. OH REALLY buddy? Then
1) Where’s your uniform?
2) Where’s your work ID?
3) Why are you waving people AWAY FROM THE LOT to park in metered spaces instead?
Classic fake parking attendant scam. Thankfully, I had my 13x zoom camera with me and snapped several pics of him while the safety patrol was talking to him. Those will be shared with the proper authorities today, so they can keep a watch out for him.
Later, I saw another of Downtown’s well-known scammers attempting to sell copies of the Memphis Flyer. He had a new sidekick with him who was acting as a lookout. They saw me take out my phone and knew what was about to happen next. They skeedaddled north on Main, out of my sight.
Although I had plenty to see from the window of the Saucer, I was rather disappointed… I thought the Downtown safety patrol had the panhandling/scamming pretty much under control. From what I saw yesterday, though, it looks like they’re back and as bold as ever. Guess I’ll have to do some more “urban hunting” on my second day of staycation, and see if I can get a few of these idiots in the back seat of a police car.
77 emails in the box. Sorry if I’m slow to respond to communication this weekend, but that’s how vacation goes. I’ll take a look and see if there are any events I need to blog about. If so there will be another post.