Down here at the pawn shop

[Undertoad]

Fuck yes the glass is there because ghetto.

In Olney, the Chinese restaurants all have more bulletproof glass than the pawn shop.

That mobile phone shop ... I've not been in it, but why was the guy robbing a person in the shop, and not robbing the shop itself?

In Pottstown, iirc the pawn shop has no glass.

[xoxoxoBruce]

He was robbing someone on the street, after being shot he staggered to the phone store sidewalk before he collapsed. They had a phone video from somebody on the sidewalk, of the cop running up to the guy and grabbing the gun, but he wasn't moving at that point.

[Gravdigr]

None of the pawn shops I've been in within fifty miles of me have glass, bullet-proof, or otherwise. Robbing a pawn shop around here is, literally, unheard of.

[xoxoxoBruce]

What about Louisville? Boston, NYC, Detroit, Chicago, LA, etc? They problem with pawn shops is not robberies as much as pissed off people who feel they're being fucked. Same for Comcast offices.

[Undertoad]

I thought we determined earlier that the ghetto is where people shoot people.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not just the ghetto, on the highway, outside of bars, in houses, schools, military bases, theaters, you name it

[Undertoad]

Steve took a few punches to the face today. Bloody nose, black eye.

"Had a little trouble getting a high school aged kid out of the shop today and took a good handful of hits to the face," he reports.

The kids that come in late afternoon are 16 year old thugs looking to graduate to felons. They have no business at the shop. They don't buy anything. It's illegal to buy from them, or do pawns. Steve works right at the window and generally leaves it open and deals with people. That's how I used to do it, too. He told them to get out, the kid popped him a couple.

[xoxoxoBruce]

When I worked at the speed shop the counter was quite high, I'd guess about 40". Coming in the front door the coke machine and shit on the right, and counter with catalog racks to the left, so a straight shot to the back counter with the cash register. The front of the counter was the crappiest paneling imaginable, and under the back was a full shelf, 6" below the counter top. The only thing on that shelf was a 6" .357 Smith & Wesson.

[Griff]

So much suck, that's no way to come home from work unless you're Jon Jones.

[Undertoad]

Stories continue to drift in when something interesting happens, which is increasingly rare.

The other day, someone stole Steve's phone. He had it too close to the window, and someone reached in and nabbed it while he wasn't looking.

So he used the lost iPhone feature and had it pop up with a message, telling its potential new owner that if he was in the shop, they had him on camera, and a scan of his ID.

20 minutes ago the thief came back in with the phone and apologized, with a story that was obviously bogus.

Steve doesn't care about the story. Phone is back. S'all good in the hood.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wonder how much plastic explosive would fit in an iPhone?

[Pamela]

Answer varies, depending on whether you want the phone to operate normally or not. If not, one could theoretically pack several ounces of C-5 inside, enough to destroy a sedan and everyone inside. If yes, however, there is very little excess space inside, maybe enough to kill the holder but not much more.

Do NOT ask me how I know this.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Enough to blow a hand off is enough.

[Undertoad]

Steve excitedly sends along a bunch of photos of an item that came in this morning: a $7000, big name, 50 megapixel digital camera, along with a high quality macro lens.

The shop paid $500 for it.

"Medium format" as this camera maker was known for its camera that shot "medium format" film... and they are still using it to describe high-resolution digital cameras.

A buy-in like this is always very exciting. It will actually keep the shop alive.

The question is always "does the seller know what he has?" because sometimes they will bring something like this in and just say "oh i have a camera to sell" with the same excitement as if they had a $80 point and shoot from Walmart. But no, in this case the gentleman did know what he had. And refused to give ID. The shop explained that they have to take an ID in order to to buy it, so he found a random person in the shop to sell it for him. That person probably got $50 out of it and the small chance that they will be visited by the cops and will have to explain how they came to sell this item.

Which is, in case you didn't figure it out, very obviously stolen.

[Clodfobble]

I guess it's also a given that the owner won't come looking for it? Is that because people don't know to look, or there are too many stores to check?