34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman) (06/20/91)
Index Number: 16249 Let me relate a little story from the dim, dark, dead and distant past. I used to work in a retail establishment years ago. Frequently we would be approached by someone claiming to be "deaf/mute" - that was the term they used. They would hand us a little printed card or a book of matches with that information and a pitch for money. We usually gave them money. However, there was always a suspicion that we were being taken. I came up with a way by which we caused several of these guys to give themselves away as frauds. To understand how and why this worked, you need to understand that, due to the nature of the business we all dressed more or less in "costume" that made us look rather like the last of the Clanton Gang, or maybe Hell's Angels. We simply waited until one of these guys (seemed to be only males doing this) came in, made his pitch, got his money and was on his way out. At that point, I turned my back to the departing "deaf/mute" and addresses my colleagues something like this: "Jeez! Did you see the wad of bills that guy is carrying? Let's follow him around the corner and roll him. We can sneak up on him easy. He's deaf, so he'll never hear us coming." Whereupon my partners in put-on would respond with something like: "Yeah!" "Right!" "Man, we can drink for a week on the money he's carrying!" OK, so far, so good. At this point the panhandlers who were either truly hearing/speech impaired (or VERY good actors) would keep right on going without so much as a twitch or hesitation. Just to make things more believable we always started to stroll toward the exit with greatly exaggerated casual- ness at this point. The FAKES, however, would react quite differently. Usually they would whirl around before I finished speaking, a look of guilty terror on their face. At that point they realized they had given the game away and usually departed not only our store but the town as well. One guy managed to keep it together until he was out the door, then bolted and ran. I do not think we even frightened a truly disABLED person. We merely uncovered a summertime scam that some wandering con artists were trying to put over on the "townies". So what is my point? Consider the impression that these fakes might leave behind in the minds of people who very seldom encountered a hearing/speech impaired individual. Does that justify the abuse handed out to HI persons by some clods? NO! Absolutely not. But it may help us to understand it, if we care to. Sez me, W. K. (Bill) Gorman Fair Warning: flame in private, roast in public.