Down here at the pawn shop

[glatt]

Criminals suck.

[Undertoad]

I'm pretty sure now that I'm becoming immune to the every-day madness that comes through our door. It makes me think, as does pretty much everything these days, that I can't sustain this. I was not built for this. It's an assault. And yet it's something that I must go through, to get to another side. It's penance. It's just how things are in the new economy. It's ageism. It's my own failures as a human being. It's IT management failure. It's systemic.

Who knows.

[BigV]

I hope you're wrong

[ZenGum]

When you posted that stuff about the guys trying to sell obviously stolen GPS units, I wondered to myself whether the shop could/should have done more in the way of helping the police catch them.

But I figured, what's the benefit for the shopkeeper in that? He's a busy man, there'd be a heap of effort and time involved, paperwork, maybe court visits, and at any rate having cops and cop cars at a pawn shop is probably bad for business. For this, the shopkeeper gets to live in a society with one less petty thief, for a few months, at best.

It doesn't seem worth it.

Yet that very story just had a loss to a petty thief.

.... but ... but ...[Marge Simpson moment] ... if everyone dobbed in petty thieves, pretty soon it would cease to be viable to be a petty thief.

It's one of those collective action things, about the standards of a community as a whole. It isn't worth an individual's while to be the Lone Ranger. Or the Loan Ranger, if it's a pawnshop.

No, no solutions offered. Just remarking on the human condition.

[Undertoad]

A few months ago the store trapped a similar thief. Sammy was demoing an ipad to a guy and he tried to just run with it. But Sammy was demoing it by the door lock switch, and he simply locked the door. Dude was trapped. He gave back the ipad and then cops were called and took the dude away. The video of the event was not taken. The store never heard another word about it. Alan guesses that the dude probably spent a night in jail.

It gets weirder than that. Every other day the cops come in and check for stolen stuff. While they were there last week, the guy stealing GPSes actually came in and tried to sell a GPS. Alan tried to signal to the cop that this was probably the guy they were looking for. Either the cop didn't catch the signal or the rules of engagement meant they couldn't just arrest him right there and ask questions.

What're ya gonna do? Nobody is risking their life for a GPS thief so he can spend a night in jail. And that's right, because there are much bigger crimes happening all the time. Armed robberies, shootings, murders.

Other day a guy comes in with a pristine Windows 8 laptop. When I turn it on to test it, it's halfway through the Windows 8 setup process. Guy tells me he just had it under his bed and didn't want it any more. Yeah right. We buy it in for a ridiculous low price and sure enough, when the cops come in a few days later this is one of the items they ask to look at. I tell them the story.

I also learned that when people come to the shop to buy back their stolen stuff, they are reimbursed through "restitution" when (probably months later) the thief is officially sentenced.

[Undertoad]

Today a guy called in with a homebuilt PC with awesome specs. Says it was built for him 2 months ago for $2500. He knows he's gonna take a hit for it not being a name brand. Over the phone, I say to him:

You won't get the best deal at a pawn shop. But you will get the fastest deal.

...because that's my new saying, to people who might have the capacity for reason. And because it's the truth.

The pawn shop is the place of last resort to sell most items, unless you need money fast, and/or can't get together any other way to sell the things.

So when white guy from out of city limits shows up with this master-big PC, with an elite case, elite components, big monitor, latest video card, on the day before Christmas and is offered about a fifth of its actual value, what does he do?

He *fumes* about it, in the shop, for a good half-hour.

You won't get the best deal at a pawn shop. But you will get the fastest deal.

What he doesn't know is that both Sammy and I are both drooling over this system from the moment he put it on our counter; and both of us intend to take it home if we bag it. But Sammy has seniority, and so it's Sammy's, before any deal is on its way.

Now, this dude's system has been on our counter for a good long time, while he fumes, and it takes up more than half of the amount of plexiglass opening we have to deal with people. At some point, he can continue to fume, but his PC must go.

Now, because it's the holiday, Alan's big brother David is in the shop. David runs his own shop in another part of the city, but he's in the house today for the morning rush. David is watching this whole thing go down, and he decides to have some fun being the alpha male.

With a discussion about how this needs to wrap up because the counter space needs to open up on the day before Christmas, he bullies the guy into the deal.

I've heard LJ mention how someone can do this, and sure enough, here it goes. David knows that because the guy has fumed so long, he must be in a position where he can't refuse the deal, but he needs to be pushed into it. David firmly gives him ANY good reason to move ahead, and presses the deal on the table. The guy gives in -- with such lack of confidence that I'm uncertain whether he's totally okay with it, right up to the point where he signs for the deal.

[jimhelm]

So did the closer get dibs on the puter?

[Undertoad]

No he prefers guitars. Sammy will get it once the cops have had a few rounds to show it isn't stolen

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I'm pretty sure now that I'm becoming immune to the every-day madness that comes through our door. It makes me think, as does pretty much everything these days, that I can't sustain this. I was not built for this. It's an assault. And yet it's something that I must go through, to get to another side. It's penance. It's just how things are in the new economy. It's ageism. It's my own failures as a human being. It's IT management failure. It's systemic.

Who knows.

that is EXACTLY how I felt about me being in Healthcare (there are a lot of really horrible, serial-killer types bitches in healthcare who will drive you mad with their woman-ways of spitting on your soul whilst smiling at your face) but it WAS a learning experience (though I got PTSD in a smaller, lighter form than real PTSD) and a penance. but now I"m done! and I get to live again! and so it will be with you.

[jimhelm]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

No he prefers guitars. Sammy will get it once the cops have had a few rounds to show it isn't stolen

You'd prefer to roll yer own anyways

[BigV]

yabbut... for 20 cents on the dollar, I'd be willing to compromise

[Undertoad]

Now, the word "jawn".

This word has been used in Philadelphia for a very long time. My first spotting of it was in 1991.

It means "thing". As in, "This jawn over here, do it come wif a remote?"

The j is pronounced with either a hard J or a soft J, or anywhere in between. But it isn't pronounced "John". "Zsahwww" would be more acceptable.

I now resent the word, because it comes from ignorance. If you don't know the real word for something, you have this substitute word you can use without admitting you don't know the real word.

[Lamplighter]

"thing" and all derivative forms (thingamajig, thingamabob, etc.)
are hereafter banned from the language of commerce.
So Hershey's Thingamajig candy is banned from the groceries.

But in some suburban communities, "Whatchamacallit" may be substituted.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I now resent the word, because it comes from ignorance. If you don't know the real word for something, you have this substitute word you can use without admitting you don't know the real word.

If you don't know the word for the thing how on earth would you know if it needed a remote?

Or are remotes some sort of status symbol among your clientele?

"I here gots me a genuine imitation diamond ring; and it's got a remote!"

[jimhelm]

when they refer to a jawn, then you refer to that same thing as a jawn... give it a good whitebread over pronunciation, and then refer to all objects in the conversation as a jawn or jawns.

try it.