Was I smart or heartless?? (Portland: motel, houses, neighborhood)

[sayulita]

I feel really bad and don't know if I should. Just a few minutes ago a very handsome young man, late 20's I'd say, knocked on my door and asked if I had any odd jobs so he could make enough money to get him and his 7 year old son into a motel tonight. He said he needed $24 more to pay. When he told me his son was in school, I challenged him and said school was out for the summer, he said he was in transitional school. He didn't look too road worn and was carrying a plastic glass of soda. He was very polite and was understanding when I said no and that I wasn't sure I believed him. The truth is that if I really believed him, I probably would have asked him and his son to stay for the night. If his story was true, I feel terrible. I know there are shelters but they are no place for kids.
So what do you think? Did I avoid getting scammed or am I a heartless b****?

[mullenium]

are you the only one home? if so than I think you made the right choice.. 7 year old "son" or not..

or you could have had him do some yard work.. pull some weeds or something of the sort so you wouldnt have to invite him inside your home

[sayulita]

It's just me. And I have no cash on me so I would have had to go to an ATM while he was here. I hate being so suspicious but I fell for a couple hard luck stories like this when I worked downtown and felt like a fool. I really didn't have anything he could do outside that wouldn't need tools. I have a gardener and she was just here last Thursday. I could have just given him cash (after going to get it) if I even half believed him.

[Daisy32673]

Ohhh I hate these situations but you just never know about people and what they may or may not be capable of. Personally, I may have given him a couple bucks if I had it and sent him on his way. No one I do not know comes in my home or would be allowed to work outside of it, unless they were someone I hired as a contractor, etc.
When we lived in SoCal, people went door to door all the time in our neighborhood. The reason for it - they were casing houses and getting info from owners in order to come back, break in and rob people. It was frightening once we found out what was going on. Better safe than sorry I say.

[Leisesturm]

The details of his story were probably bogus. His situation being 'sketchy' was likely not. I wouldn't have had anything to offer him either. Every now and then a guy knocks on my door and asks if he can mow my lawn. No scam, just a guy seriously down on his luck. How long are we going to accept the INSANITY of having average citizens dipping in their pockets for loose change, picking up day laborers at 'the spot' for minimum wage, manning soup kitchens and homeless shelters and other forms of charity for the less well off while billionaires and megamillioniaires live above it all. Literally above it all.

H

[OmShanti]

I wouldn't have felt bad at all. I don't trust anyone that comes to my DOOR asking for money, that's pretty balsy. I've never, ever had that happen - I've experienced agressive panhandling by bums in the beach towns around San Diego, but have never had my house approached. It's also very suspicious, as Daisy mentioned in her post. If I were hard pressed for money I would never, ever go up to someones door and ask for money, I would use common sense and investigate ways to earn money without getting in sketchy situations. To me that screams drug/alcohol use. Maybe living in San Diego with so many homeless and aggressiveness over panhandling has hardened me, but I won't take a chance with my safety.

[sayulita]

I guess that fact that he looked pretty healthy and was dressed like any other guy in Portland led me to rule out drugs/alcohol. I honestly don't know what I would do if I were truly down and out. I might knock on doors. Geez, now I'm going to lay awake tonight listening for sounds of a break in.

[aroseinrain]

Don't worry too much about it. A similar thing happened to me once in an airport. The guy (maybe 18-19years old) said that he was $40 short for his return flight to Canada and his parents were out of town and he can't reach them.

He said he couldn't find a listing for the Canadian Consulate in the phone book -- I checked, it wasn't there. He said he'd been in the airport for two days trying to get together the money but every day he spends there he has to buy food and can't get ahead enough to make up the difference in the amount for his plane ticket.

I did end up giving him the money, I figured it was worth the performance even if it was just a scam. It was a good one! Plus, I'd rather be a lamb than a lion.

BUT, in a situation where someone came to my house I'm positive I'd handle it differently. It's too bad that you can't trust people anymore, but quite often you just can't.

(ps: wasn't it a similar situation with that guy who kidnapped that Smart girl?)

[hamellr]

You avoided getting scammed. This sounds like Dave or Sam and he'll sometimes claim to be from Welches. He usually says he was down in town to watch the Blazers with his two kids (7 and 10) but ran out of gas, and lost his wallet.

He used to wear a heavy blue parka a lot.

[sayulita]

Dave or Sam, whatever his name was, is one of the scams I fell for in downtown Portland a few years ago. It was the lost wallet scam. If the guy that came to my door is doing a similar kind of scam, it seems really inefficient. I live in a regular residential neighborhood that is pretty hilly. So going door to door and up and down hills on foot encountering wary folks like me doesn't seem too smart. Maybe he used up his welcome in downtown? Plus why the homeless bit? Why not car breakdown, lost wallet, car keys etc.?