Took off from work a bit early, that means around suppertime and headed into town to put my check in the bank and grab a burger at Wendy's.
I went to the ATM deposited my check and withdrew my weekly 'walkin around' money as Jed used to call it. Now I'm flush with cash because I had a little of last week's cash left over.
Between me and Wendy's is the car wash and it has a newsbox so I planned a stop to pick up the Trib to read while I ate. I like to stop there because it's easy to grab a paper since the box is on the left side of the entrance and it's quick to get back out. Wendy's is just up the road.
I was just wearing shorts and didnt have my regular piece with me, a Kimber Ultra CDP. I did, however, have my car pistol, a Taurus .357, on the seat under a hat.
As I pull in the lot I'm checking a few things:
Is there a paper in the box?
Are the bays full and with who? If the bays are empty I can do the 'circle' and get back on the road. If they're full, I have to reverse a short bit to leave. I also like to no who's around me when I leave my vehicle.
Today the bays are full and so is the newsbox. I'm reversing out I guess.
As I exit the vehicle (remember the pistol is on the seat, it's broad daylight and there are lots of people around) an African American gentleman in bay #2 starts shouting at me and waving his arms. I cant hear what he's saying, the car wash is noisy and my ears are still a little blocked from work. I stop, remaining covered by the car door and look at the dread-locked gentleman moving towards me gesticulating and yelling but I cant understand him still.
Now understand, there is no real reason for him to move my way at all, I am at the entrance, past all the machines he might need to use.
He is quickly approaching the magic '21 foot' circle's edge.
Being the avid ARFCOM reader I know how these car wash things can turn bad quick like. My pistol is on the car seat a few feet away...do I make a dive for it so I can "draw down" on him????!!!!

Nope.

He's a customer from work.
I dont remember him but shot his sister's video when they came out for their jump a while back. We chatted for a bit, he said they all loved the video I shot and they play it all the time at home for their friends.
Nice guy.

Better yet, ask yourself why your carry piece wasn't being carried & was still in the car???  

WTF?

Quoted: WTF?

Sorry, I hung back with the punchline for effect.

Deja Vous.

I would have offered him a Heiniken.

I never go to carwashes.. You can get killed there.

I posted this just to show how two incidents, identical in appearance, can have two totally different outcomes depending on the response.

And dont draw down on everyone you see at a car wash.

Where is your AR?  Aren't you carrying it at all times?    Next your going to tell me that you didn' have your ALICE pack either.  

Was he pissed or animated?

Black people don't bother me. Psychotics and sociopaths do. A Rastaman can be a good friend, indeed.

Back in '86 I pulled into a coin carwash with my POS 79 mustang to get the obligatory annual wash. Four squads were parked in the back. The bay had been hastily abandoned by four hispanics in a taurus.

I deposited my coins and looked on top of the coin machine and there was a magnificent spliff untouched and unlit.  

So I naturally dialled the police on 911 and they sent a helicopter and nine squad cars to dispose of the evil thing.

You had me believing it  



so did you wash your car ?

Quoted: Took off from work a bit early, that means around suppertime and headed into town to put my check in the bank and grab a burger at Wendy's. I went to the ATM deposited my check and withdrew my weekly 'walkin around' money as Jed used to call it. Now I'm flush with cash because I had a little of last week's cash left over. Between me and Wendy's is the car wash and it has a newsbox so I planned a stop to pick up the Trib to read while I ate. I like to stop there because it's easy to grab a paper since the box is on the left side of the entrance and it's quick to get back out. Wendy's is just up the road. I was just wearing shorts and didnt have my regular piece with me, a Kimber Ultra CDP. I did, however, have my car pistol, a Taurus .357, on the seat under a hat. As I pull in the lot I'm checking a few things: Is there a paper in the box? Are the bays full and with who? If the bays are empty I can do the 'circle' and get back on the road. If they're full, I have to reverse a short bit to leave. I also like to no who's around me when I leave my vehicle. Today the bays are full and so is the newsbox. I'm reversing out I guess. As I exit the vehicle (remember the pistol is on the seat, it's broad daylight and there are lots of people around) an African American gentleman in bay #2 starts shouting at me and waving his arms. I cant hear what he's saying, the car wash is noisy and my ears are still a little blocked from work. I stop, remaining covered by the car door and look at the dread-locked gentleman moving towards me gesticulating and yelling but I cant understand him still. Now understand, there is no real reason for him to move my way at all, I am at the entrance, past all the machines he might need to use. He is quickly approaching the magic '21 foot' circle's edge. Being the avid ARFCOM reader I know how these car wash things can turn bad quick like. My pistol is on the car seat a few feet away...do I make a dive for it so I can "draw down" on him????!!!! Nope. He's a customer from work. I dont remember him but shot his sister's video when they came out for their jump a while back. We chatted for a bit, he said they all loved the video I shot and they play it all the time at home for their friends. Nice guy.

An Afro who skydives?#$%  WTF

I call BS

It was easy from my viewpoint.
I was not a threat and if he meant harm to anyone there were far better victims closer to him than I. His actions, while unusual, weren't what I'd call threatening. Not every black man walking towards you at a carwash is threat.

And to tell the whole story? The truth? I heard my name called, that's why I looked over in the first place. I just couldnt understand what he was saying besides my name.

I just thought it was kinda funny that I lived through the draw down scenario without drawing down.

Quoted: An Afro who skydives?#$%  WTF I call BS

It happens. Pretty rare though, you got that.

It's like hockey I guess, not a very urban sport.

3 out of 5 for effort, but sadly. It still lacks teh funnies.

Quoted: 3 out of 5 for effort, but sadly. It still lacks teh funnies.

Ya. I tried.

Out of 15,795 post you're bound to have a couple crappers.

Quoted: I posted this just to show how two incidents, identical in appearance, can have two totally different outcomes depending on the response. And dont draw down on everyone you see at a car wash.

Watched Crash yet?    

Ah... I liked it Cap... dont listen to the naysayers!!

Good on ya

Dram

Quoted: And dont draw down on everyone you see at a car wash.

How about at Wendy's?

DUPE!   nevermind, you didn't draw down.

Quoted: Quoted: And dont draw down on everyone you see at a car wash. How about at Wendy's?

With the snowbird influx just beginning Wendy's will become again the geriatric restaurant of choice in this town. Dont know why that is, it just is.
You could use a bowling ball for self defense there...and roll it.

It's because they can eat for $0.99 and get free refills of coffee all day long.

They told a similar story in my CCW class a few years ago....van full of scruffy looking black dudes approach a car with a couple of well-dressed white gentlemen in it..female onlooker draws down on the black dudes...Fortunately for her the cops she drew down on were patient and didn't waste her ass.

A little short on content and character development.  Ending lacked pzazz....savoir fa-ire/gravitas.  Cliff notes would have been more effective.  E for effort though.  

Quoted: He is quickly approaching the magic '21 foot' circle's edge. Being the avid ARFCOM reader I know how these car wash things can turn bad quick like. My pistol is on the car seat a few feet away...do I make a dive for it so I can "draw down" on him????!!!!

Heck yeah! And when you come out of the car, you have to make a John Woo dive while shooting both pistols!

Quoted: Quoted: He is quickly approaching the magic '21 foot' circle's edge. Being the avid ARFCOM reader I know how these car wash things can turn bad quick like. My pistol is on the car seat a few feet away...do I make a dive for it so I can "draw down" on him????!!!! Heck yeah! And when you come out of the car, you have to make a John Woo dive while shooting both pistols! www.hkfilm.net/hrdboil.gif

Dude. I was so picturing me doing that but I only had one wheelgun.

Man, you were lucky THIS time.  You know how those car washes are.  

Quoted: Man, you were lucky THIS time.  You know how those car washes are.

Car washes are great for cleaning your car but teh suck for social intercourse.

A more serious version happened to me back when I was in college.  I stopped one night after a fraternity meeting to wash my car at the "Totem Pole" car wash on Johnson street in Jonesboro.  Not a real good part of town but right by our fraternity house.  I had opened the driver's side door when 3 BOYZ-N-THA-HOOD types walked up and asked me for change.  Then money.  Then any money I had.  I reached down between the driver's seat and the center console and got my Llama 9mm and slapped it up on the dashboard in front of me.  The yoots vanished.

Don't make fun of my Llama.  It was all I could afford back then and it might have saved my bootie that night.

It's amazing how these people can just seem to appear out of thin air and they're gone just as quickly.  Same thing happened once in Memphis at the parking lot right next to the old Rock 103 studios on Beale Street (right across from Handy Park).  There was nobody in the parking lot when we pulled up, by the time my wife, myself, and my sister got out of the car there was a scary lookin' dude right on us begging for money.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: And dont draw down on everyone you see at a car wash. How about at Wendy's? With the snowbird influx just beginning Wendy's will become again the geriatric restaurant of choice in this town. Dont know why that is, it just is. You could use a bowling ball for self defense there...and roll it.

Shit Poobie, I forgot all about the snowbirds until you mentioned them.
Well at least they don't loot

Quoted: Dude. I was so picturing me doing that but I only had one wheelgun.

If you're down to one handgun, then you grab a woman with your other hand. Like so...

Quoted: I would have offered him a Heiniken.

I was thinking Red Stripe but to each their own......