Ahh…Children playing, birds chirping, trees green and lush, strange teenagers trying to sell me discount meat from the back of white, unmarked vans…..truely it’s a wonderful world we live in.
Seriously, what the fuck? Who decided that it was a great idea to sell “discount steaks” in an unmarked white van ala the speaker scam.
We were loading up the car to head somewhere, and dammit we just didn’t move fast enough. I had noticed the van down the street in the cul de sac out of the corner of my eye, and the minute they saw we were going to be in the drive way they pounced quickly, pulling up and blocking the entire driveway and some teenage kid hopping out right away.
The minute I saw it I knew what was up, and before the kid even got a word out I said “oh no…no no we don’t want any meat or speakers or whatever, no thanks” in the same tone of voice that one would use when they’ve realized they stepped in dog shit. Now you might think I was a bit of a dick, but here’s the thing. Ok so I say that, and turn right back around to work on packing the car…I mean seriously, I don’t have time for this bullshit heavy pressure situation they try to put you in. Meanwhile the kid is finally finishing his pitch and with our backs to him uncertain of how to proceed.
Here’s the interesting part, I can hear the uncertainty in his voice at the end….like he’s new to the whole pitch thing, and then i hear his voice drop and him beginning to converse with the driver, like he’s asking his dad “what do I do now” kind of a master/slave setup. I couldn’t hear everything, but in my mind it went like this:
kid: “what do I do now mr driver guy”
driver guy “aw fuck those bastards, worthless son’s o bitches…com’n let’s go sell dog meat to those kids playing down the street”
kid: “ok…..*sniff* I miss my mommy….can I have my bowl of gruel now?”
And then we saw them pull down the street, trolling for other suckers.
On a side note, , and it totally meshes with the vibe I got:
These teenagers are often hundreds of miles from home and being victimized by their bosses. The classified ads read “travel, have fun, make big money,no experience neccessary….etc.”
They round up as many 18 year olds as they can find, load them in cheap old cars and hit the road. Why get them out of town? Because when the shid starts coming down (and it will), having a kid in a strange enviornment several states away from friends and family allows a manipulative employer to keep the kids in a type of psychological prison.
