Spotting a scam and learning a life lesson 

I had already been warned to be wary of grifters on the streets of New Orleans, but I wasn’t prepared for the number of them I would encounter. 

At almost every street corner and alleyway there were people offering wagers, shoe shines and who-knows-what-all else to rob tourists of their time, and more importantly, their money. My favorite, that someone tried to pull over on me and I later overheard, was the compliment-turned-bet of: I like those shoes, I bet I can tell you where you got them. 

The answer, of course, is the name of the street you happen to be walking along. The answer is followed by a stern “You owe me $5.” I first set foot in the Crescent City over 20 years ago, so with inflation, it is probably more like $40 now. 

The world is filled with methods of cheating others out of their valuables, and there is never a shortage of people willing to do it. From midway games at fairs and carnivals to telephone and email scams, a fool and his money are soon parted. It is a lesson we all must learn, and sometimes we learn it the hard way. 

In the grocery store I visit frequently there is one of those coin-operated crane machines, which we all know are rigged, filled with toys. The machine is situated between the pharmacy and restrooms, surely perfectly scoped out to catch the attention of children, who will willingly feed it dollar bills in hopeful exchange for a stuffed animal. Guess whose attention this machine grabbed recently? That’s right, my children, more specifically, my 9-year-old daughter, my precious girl-child who still has the world by the collar, shaking it down for what she wants and often coming out on top. 

She believes you can never have too many stuffed animals, and one called out to her. Three dollars later I was walking an angry little girl out of the grocery store. Her anger, though, was misplaced. At first, she blamed the store, then, the owner of the machine, who I explained was most likely renting space on the sales floor, for enticing people to spend money for a chance to win something they surely can’t. 

A teaching moment ensued. She had no one to blame but herself, I explained. She fell for the scam. I warned her not to feed the machine, but she lacked the self-control to carefully assess the situation. I think she learned something about life that afternoon. But the joke was ultimately on me because it was my three dollars. 

So, if you or someone you know are one of those gaming whizzes with a knack for those machines, give me a call. I have a plan for revenge that involves meeting at a certain grocery store and racking up on cheap stuffed animals. 

It will make at least one little girl happy.