Bad Boys

I was running some errands on Route 2 this evening and I saw the most bizarre thing.
I was at a stop light and I saw a biker (motorcycle not bicycle) coming towards me at a reasonable pace (on the other side of the road, of course). On his tail was a Warwick police cruiser with his lights flashing and siren "woo-woo"-ing.
The biker was forced to stop because there were cars in front of him waiting for the light to turn green. From where I was sitting, it looked like the biker was talking with the police officer in the cruiser. When the light did, in fact, change to green, the cruiser attempted to corral the biker into a nearby parking lot by taking a right turn.
The biker...let's call him Butch...wasn't having that. He sped up and swerved around the cruiser and started, what I'm sure was, a police chase through Southern Rhode Island that could be featured on COPS.
Here's where I'm confused. Did Butch honestly think that he could get away with evading the police? Even if the cop didn't catch him tonight, there's a super slim chance that they can't find the guy in the days to come. I mean, I imagine that they have his license plate number and a description of the vehicle/guy. The cruiser probably had a video camera mounted to his dashboard for scenarios just like this!
For the love of God, Rhode Island is such a small state you are bound to run into the last person you want to see at some point!
Also, I can't imagine that the initial offense was SO bad that adding "Resisting an Officer" wasn't a big deal.
Sidenote: I do realize that this story would be 20 times better if Butch was a cyclist in a Spandex ensemble.

Drug Bust

While sitting in my car outside of Kohl's in the Riverdale Shoppes in early May, I turned my head and saw what looked to be a green plastic container in a plastic bag on top of a car's tire. I don't want to point fingers or jump to conclusions but it, clearly, had to have been a very well-organized drug deal. Hear me out...
The "stuff" is in the plastic Tupperware container in the plastic bag. The trusted junkie goes to the front passenger-side tire and retrieves the "stuff". He (all junkies are males, right?) pulls out his wallet and carefully counts out his dolla dolla bills and leaves the payment (with tip, of course) in the container.
When the dealer gets back to his ride after shopping at Kohl's, he gets the Tupperware off the front tire and heads to the TD Banknorth just across the parking lot.
Sounds like a fool proof plan to me.

Dancing Nancies

What is it about driving with the windows down while the sun beats down upon your left forearm that only adds to the quality of a Dave Matthews Band song?
I remember many random things from many random occasions and the one constant I remember about going to a DMB concert is that it's always gorgeous out. Oh, okay. There are two constants. It's always gorgeous out and it always smells like marijuana.
Other "inevitables": I give myself a crash course in DMB music in the days leading up to the concert. Once the big day comes, I'm always drinking out of a red plastic cup in a parking lot. Finally, I always have the best time.
A perfect spring or summer day seems to transport me to a DMB tailgate in Mansfield or Foxboro or Hartford.
See? Wikipedia knows! "The band is known for their annual summer-long tours of the US and Europe, featuring lengthy improvisational renditions of their songs, accompanied by an elaborate video and lighting show."
It's not that I don't like DMB when there are leaves or snow on the ground but, to me, it just sounds different. It's seasonal, almost. From Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, I listen to Christmas music and from Memorial Day to Labor Day, it's Under The Table And Dreaming, Stay and Proudest Monkey for me.
I haven't been to a DMB show in a few years so I'm really excited to see them when I visit San Diego in September...post-Labor Day. I realize this is pushing the DMB season a bit but, hey, it's in San Diego. I don't want to jinx it or anything but, chances are, the weather will be decent.

Greedy Greedy Greedy

A while back I told my Facebook friends to remind me to blog about an encounter I had at the Stop & Shop Customer Service desk. No one did. Lucky for you, I remembered on my own.
I had found four gift cards to Stop & Shop while pumping gas a few months ago. They were on the top of the pump and, although I assumed they had no money left on them, I took them anyways and made a special trip to Stop & Shop to inquire about their worth. Why would I pass up potential free money? I wouldn't. Call me greedy...
When I got to the service desk, there were two people in front of me. Two crazy people.
Crazy customer #1 was returning a half-eaten bag of potato chips. Can you actually do that?
Crazy customer #2 had a laundry list of things he needed taken care of. He had explained to the service representative, me and anyone else that would listen that his mother's boyfriend had just passed away and, while cleaning out his house, they found a pile of scratched lottery tickets, gift cards and paper gift certificates.
The employee took the pile of lottery tickets and, one by one, scanned them into the machine. Each scan prompted a ridiculous jackpot alarm. This took a few minutes and, honest to God, by the time the employee was done scanning the tickets Crazy customer #2 had turned to me at least three times to apologize for how long his transaction was taking.
"I'm so sorry. If I could've come at a different time, I would've. I take the bus..." What? So you would've wasted someone else's precious time? It didn't matter what time you came in...you still would've been wasting someone's time.
Crazy customer #2 was given over $60 in cash for the deceased man's winnings. R.I.P.
Next, he asked the man at the service desk to check the balance on each of the gift cards. There must've been 20 of them. They were still connected to the cardboard just like the ones for purchase at the register and they have their amounts printed right on them. The very patient employee checked each one and verified that they were for the amount that was noted on the cards.
Finally, he asked if the paper gift certificates were still valid. The employee apologized and stated that they no longer accept those paper gift certificates. Crazy customer #2 requested to speak with the manager on duty so he could complain about how a business shouldn't be run that way. The woman manager advised that those paper gift certificates were years old and their current system no longer could process them.
Crazy customer #2 took a phone number for the corporate office so he could lodge a formal complaint against...the store? The computer system? Time?
I couldn't get over how greedy this man was. Between the lottery winnings and the never-been-used gift cards, he walked out with hundreds of dollars but, like many do, he wanted more.
Anyways, he finally left...and waited for his bus.
The employee looks at me and calls me, "Ma'am". Ugh. I tell my story about how I found the gift cards and hand them over and, almost guilty, asked him to check the balance on them. Of course, they all had a balance of $0.00. I also asked him to exchange my $10 for a roll of quarters and he denied me. "You'd need to go to the bank for that...but it's Sunday and they're closed. Sorry."
I took the rejection well...and I thought I was bad. Hardly!