LOL I was out today where Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley meet, when these two guys (late 20s, early 30s) drove up in the parking lot in an SUV out of nowhere. I don't know if they were sitting there and then drove up or they just happened to pass by.
So the driver rolls down his window with this cheeky grin and is like, "hey can you keep a secret?" I was like wtf is this but I asked him what he had. Kinda dumb on my part but sometimes random encounters are fun and these guys didn't appear to have any skills, although I gave them an A for effort. So he pulls into the parking lot and gets out and opens up the back and inside are a bunch of super HD projectors and studio quality amps, and what looked like a screen you could affix to the wall (to get a better image from the projectors).
These are super high end boxes and the projectors run about $3,500, the amps around $4,000.
So already I'm like oh wtf way to steal stuff guys but I play stupid like I don't know what time it is and hear them out to see where they are going with this. The guy shows me a packing slip he has with all the stuff on it while his boy waits up in the passenger seat. He was like "yeah I am showing you this so you don't think this is hot equipment." I was like "lol" inside but kept going with it.
They start negotiating prices as if I was already going to buy it and then so then I asked them, "why do you guys want to sell this stuff so bad?"
They made up some story about how their bosses had been at the company 30 years and so they were delivering it back to their bosses and "last time" their bosses told them they should have just sold it. As if this story made any sense.
So then I was like thanks guys but I'm not interested. So then they started saying, "how much do you have to make this happen? I'm not a salesman or anything." I was lol again thanks but no thanks. This went on for about 5 minutes before I started to get uncomfortable. When I met the driver I immediatley thought he was on something and you could hear the desparation in these guys' voices.
"How about 1,000, this is 8,000 worth of equipment." So then I said 3 times, "I don't want it" and started walking away. I did notice he had an ID badge on his neck, not sure if it was legit or what.
So then the passenger gets out and is all "fuck it [other dude]." At this point I am getting ready to throw down cause this just took a weird turn but then he said, "just buy us a beer next time" and he literally takes one of the boxes and shoves it in my chest. So I took it and put it back in his suv and said, "LOOK I DONT WANT IT, LATER." And got something to eat. So great now my fingerprints are on one of the stupid boxes lol.
Possible scenarios:
1) They stold it and wanted to unload it.
2) They work for an installation company and are skimming off the top
3) They wanted to jack me at an ATM or when I took out my wallet
4) They had GPS installed in one of the boxes and would come back around later (I had not heard of this until coworker told me today)
5) The boxes were empty and they would have made a quick buck.
6) The equipment was defective and these bozos were responsible for collecting it for replacement so wanted to sell it instead
I used to work for a major studio and we had idiots lifting equipment all the time and then putting it on ebay. It got so bad they installed cameras everywhere to catch the thieves. (Who were caught). These guys are lucky I didn't file a police report. In retrospect I should have but was in a rush and freakin hungry.
I think I look like a big mark today since the haircutting lady asked to sell me some overpriced shampoo crap. As soon as I sit down she says, "hey what kind of shampoo do you use?" I was like damn here we go again... LOL
Thought I would pass this on, I swear people think LA is weird but at least you expect it there. I have had just as many if not more weird experiences here in the OC and it's always worse here because it catches you off guard. Harbor Blvd. is the worst.
So the driver rolls down his window with this cheeky grin and is like, "hey can you keep a secret?" I was like wtf is this but I asked him what he had. Kinda dumb on my part but sometimes random encounters are fun and these guys didn't appear to have any skills, although I gave them an A for effort. So he pulls into the parking lot and gets out and opens up the back and inside are a bunch of super HD projectors and studio quality amps, and what looked like a screen you could affix to the wall (to get a better image from the projectors).
These are super high end boxes and the projectors run about $3,500, the amps around $4,000.
So already I'm like oh wtf way to steal stuff guys but I play stupid like I don't know what time it is and hear them out to see where they are going with this. The guy shows me a packing slip he has with all the stuff on it while his boy waits up in the passenger seat. He was like "yeah I am showing you this so you don't think this is hot equipment." I was like "lol" inside but kept going with it.
They start negotiating prices as if I was already going to buy it and then so then I asked them, "why do you guys want to sell this stuff so bad?"
They made up some story about how their bosses had been at the company 30 years and so they were delivering it back to their bosses and "last time" their bosses told them they should have just sold it. As if this story made any sense.
So then I was like thanks guys but I'm not interested. So then they started saying, "how much do you have to make this happen? I'm not a salesman or anything." I was lol again thanks but no thanks. This went on for about 5 minutes before I started to get uncomfortable. When I met the driver I immediatley thought he was on something and you could hear the desparation in these guys' voices.
"How about 1,000, this is 8,000 worth of equipment." So then I said 3 times, "I don't want it" and started walking away. I did notice he had an ID badge on his neck, not sure if it was legit or what.
So then the passenger gets out and is all "fuck it [other dude]." At this point I am getting ready to throw down cause this just took a weird turn but then he said, "just buy us a beer next time" and he literally takes one of the boxes and shoves it in my chest. So I took it and put it back in his suv and said, "LOOK I DONT WANT IT, LATER." And got something to eat. So great now my fingerprints are on one of the stupid boxes lol.
Possible scenarios:
1) They stold it and wanted to unload it.
2) They work for an installation company and are skimming off the top
3) They wanted to jack me at an ATM or when I took out my wallet
4) They had GPS installed in one of the boxes and would come back around later (I had not heard of this until coworker told me today)
5) The boxes were empty and they would have made a quick buck.
6) The equipment was defective and these bozos were responsible for collecting it for replacement so wanted to sell it instead
I used to work for a major studio and we had idiots lifting equipment all the time and then putting it on ebay. It got so bad they installed cameras everywhere to catch the thieves. (Who were caught). These guys are lucky I didn't file a police report. In retrospect I should have but was in a rush and freakin hungry.
I think I look like a big mark today since the haircutting lady asked to sell me some overpriced shampoo crap. As soon as I sit down she says, "hey what kind of shampoo do you use?" I was like damn here we go again... LOL
Thought I would pass this on, I swear people think LA is weird but at least you expect it there. I have had just as many if not more weird experiences here in the OC and it's always worse here because it catches you off guard. Harbor Blvd. is the worst.
