12/17/2006

Christmas Cheer-Not!

Went over to America the other day to do some shopping and after most of the day spent up around Warwick, we made our way to the big Wal-Mart in Westerly where the Missus says she just had to go for whatever reasons. By now, I'm sick of traipsing around in stores looking for those elusive Xmas gifts. Never did get any. So she goes into the store and I sit in the car. After a few minutes I noticed this guy and another lady arrive in front of the store carrying two waist high, 6 inch square boxes with feet to make them stand up and a locking top on them. The guy sets up shop in front of the main entrance and the lady goes to the food store part of the building. Imagine my surprise when the guys whips out a small hand bell and begins to shake it like he was trying to exorcise a devil from inside it! This guy looked like a bum, dirty, no teeth, scruffy beard and a great big parka on one of the days last week when the temp was up in the low sixties over there.This is the guy the Salvation Army supposedly sent out there to represent them. The Salvation Army is one of the charities I always felt was a worthy charity so I got out of the car, dug out a twenty and walked over to the guy and started to put the money in the slot,when he holds out his hand and says,"do you want me to put that in for you?" So I handed it to him and says sure and started to walk away as he puts it in the box. Only I happened to notice that he was holding onto one corner of the bill as he made to insert it. He pushed it in and then pulled it back a little so it was stuck in there with the corner still showing... I said to him that it didn't go down and he makes a show of wacking the box with the flat of his hand which did nothing to make the bill go down. So I stepped back over and pushed it down with my finger. By now I'm a whole lot suspicious if this guy is who he pretends to be, so I went in the store to the customer service desk and asked if these two people were legitimate reps of the "Army". The lady said she assumed so and I mentioned what had just happened and recommended that she call and find out.
I went back out to my car and watched this guy thru a pair of binoculars as he pulled this same scam with about fifteen or so other people. If they walked up and pushed the money in themselves, in it went. If anyone walked up and handed him the money, in it went also,TO HIS POCKET after making the big show about stuffing it in the box!
I don't know what the final outcome was, but he was still there when we left after about two hours, hauling in his ill gotten gains from a bunch of unsuspecting good hearted people. From now on my donation will go directly to the "Army"in the form of a check.
So in the meantime, I would wish for all of you who read this thing, a very, "Merry Christmas"! No PC bull here thank you very much. Hope all of you have a great time over the holidays and have an even better time in the coming year. The very best to all from the whole extended Littlefield family. Peace on Earth. Please!