Pruning my Moral Compass Rose

[loCAtek]

My good deed for the day, maybe wasn't.

I've told this story to a few friends already, and all of them thought that at first I did the right thing (all except for my BF who was angry/concerned that I'd get shot.) ..until the tale's end, where they realize what crime it was that I had prevented.
Shoot, I might not have done it, if I had know what was going on, but it was heat of the moment, which went like this;


Earlier this afternoon was a nice, crisp autumn day and I, La Loca, had decided to walk to the store rather than bike it, to enjoy the falling leaves a little better. I was nearly there without incident, not so much as a barking dog, when while passing some apartments the excitement erupted.
"MY iPad! MY iPad", Came the distressed cry.
So? Was my first thought, what about your iPad? This sounded like your average, everyday, kinda, inner city outburst that rises and falls, to leave you briefly wondering what the neighbors were fighting about this time, but it's really none of your business, no need to get involved. ..and Loca kept walking. In a few steps, I was passing the apartment complex gate and a Latino man was purposely striding out. The woman crying 'My iPad' couldn't follow him well, because she was fumbling into a dress, that she only had half-way on. Still, apparently the item in question was so important to her that she ran into the street after him, with her quite shapely ass mooning the neighborhood.
She finally answered my unspoken question, and yelled, "He's stealing my iPad!"

Registering her tone, that she wasn't angry with this guy, whoever he was; this wasn't a lover's spat. She was behaving genuinely distressed that she was being robbed by a stranger. As she saw him approaching me, she implored me to 'Stop him! Stop him! He's stealing my iPad!'
Ay chingo, my mom may have been psycho, but she didn't raise no fool; I wasn't going to physically contest a grown man. I let him pass but....
Again, she implored, "Help me! Help me!"

...I pulled out my cellphone and replied, "I'll call 911!"

"Okay!" This seemed to embolden her, and she launched herself at the Latino, trying to keep from him getting into his car; to keep from driving away. He got into the driver's seat, but she wouldn't let him close the door and threw herself on him, as he tried pulling away... The car went about twenty feet, before it stalled to a stop and she ran back to my position.
By this time, the 911 operator was finally talking to me; sh!t did you know the emergency line has that 'Apriete #2 para español' and 'Cho báo chí việt ba',
voice prompt too? I was afraid the guy would drive away before I could relay his license plate number to a dispatcher. What I didn't know was: he couldn't drive away.
In the scuffle, 'Rose' had pulled his car keys outta the ignition, and was holding them hostage. I got out the word 'robbery' and read his plates, before he got outta the now disabled vehicle. (yea, I don't babble under adversity)
Somehow he seemed to know this, and rather than threaten me [Thank Dog] and add an assault charge to injury, he began trying to implore me too, "Just tell her to give me my money! ... Just tell her to give me back my keys!"

This was a very disorienting moment, as I'm trying to give information to the operator; trying to stay alert to the situation and trying to keep this guy calm. All I could say was, it was up the cops now.

In the melee, I hadn't noticed Rose did indeed have her iPad back AND the guy's car keys; what she wanted was for this guy to get arrested. <gulp>
He tried talking to Rose, repeating, "Just give me my money!"
He tried to explain to me, "She took my money!"

Money? What money?

The astute observer is already aware of what transpired here and what La Loca had stumbled upon- Rose was an expensive hooker, hence her [lack of] attire, and she'd taken two Benjamins from this John, without handing back any expected change. His form of retaliation was to snatch her much-more expensive iPad, on his way out the door.

Rose had gotten her dress properly adjusted by the time, moments later, the cruiser arrived. I think the cop also thought this was a domestic disturbance call, until the John started explaining that Rose had took his money, well, too much of it, and that's why he'd taken the iPad. Mr. Poh-lease Man couldn't quite contain his smirk, the cops even have a code for this LOL; and boy was I embarrassed, but nobody seemed to be paying attention to little'ol Loca, so I silently made my exit... but, not before Rose thanked me.



I used to laff at stories like this on the radio, of dudes turning the tables on sneaky whores. It seemed kinda comeuppance, for- how dare she over-charge, or false advertise? However, hookers are people too, 'eh?

And so, I wonder- would I, or you, have let Rose get robbed of a very important personal item just because John didn't want to tip? Did she deserve revenge?




My buddy Red's take on this was; let this be a lesson to you:

If you gotta go to a prostitute, use exact change!

[Lord Jim]

If you gotta go to a prostitute, use exact change!

And never pay retail....

[Scooter]

You know of a way to get a wholesale rate, do you?

[Rick]

"Wholesale" in a thread about a prostitutes just doesn't seem right for some reason...

[loCAtek]

Kinda cheapens the sex trade doesn't it?

[Lord Jim]

Haven't you people ever heard of a volume discount?

[Lord Jim]

But seriously folks...

Seems to me the moral culpability here breaks down this way:

The guy is an idiot; but the woman is an evil bitch....

First she rips him off, (okay yes, he was stupid to have over paid a prostitute, who presumably he hadn't done "business" with before) then he takes something from her to get even. Then she gets back what he took, and she still wants to see the guy that she ripped off punished further....

I think she showed a lot of cheek (even more than what she was showing apparently when she ran out of the apartment complex) in even wanting to involve the cops, given what she was doing....

LoCa, it's not clear from your essay...

Did the cops actually arrest the guy?

[loCAtek]

[loCAtek]

Well Jim, most San Jo cops try to defuse the situation rather than exasperate it; and on my walk back home, I noticed yet another cop car leaving the scene with a wry grin.

...but whom arrested whom, I dunno; I didn't stay to find out. The dispatcher took my name and number, but I've not received any calls since then.

Did I save an iPad from kidnapping? Does the intrepid reader really want to know?

Or; do San Ho's deserve what's coming to them?

[Lord Jim]

ETA:

the " " was supposed to refer to the pictures that were posted...

[Lord Jim]

do San Ho's deserve what's coming to them?

I would certainly never take the position that prostitutes, just because they're prostitutes deserve anything that could happen to them.

But in this particular case, the bottom line is that if she hadn't ripped the guy off, none of the ensuing unpleasantness would have taken place.

My guess is, that since the iPad is more valuable, if it had appeared that he was actually going to be able to take off with it, she would have relented and returned the money she had kept that she didn't have a right to.

[Rick]

Wholesale prostitutes...Hmmmm

[dales]

Pay by the inch?

[loCAtek]

I'm watching the police reports for any more information on this, but the SJPD doesn't seem to have updated their site past 11/24 12:55. I will speculate though that unless Rose wanted to get taken downtown herself; (turning tricks is illegal in these here parts) she probably let the cop talk her into just accepting the iPad back.

[Gob]

Pay by the inch?

By the pound surely?

[Sean]

Pay by the inch?

So you can get a bargain by paying as you leave?

[Rick]

Pay by the inch?

So you can get a bargain by paying as you leave?

That's terrible...LOL

[loCAtek]

Nothing in the police blotter as yet, so I think we can call this case closed.

I've still been walking to that little market, every few days in the meantime. Heck, I wasn't sacred of running into that guy; everybody knows- you go outta your own neighborhood, where you won't be recognized, to find a hooker. He won't be back here again, after that altercation either.

...but I did run into Rose, I think, just earlier today at the marcadito. La Loca was already in the store, trying to choose which tinned cat food flavor the cats would like best, when she entered. No trashy dress nor thick make-up; I just thought I knew her face and I'm pretty sure that was Rose. Stands to reason, she lives right next door and a whore, isn't always a whore. She'll will turn into a real person to do average things like shop for groceries. Who knows, maybe she has a cat to feed too?
It seemed like the polite thing to do, to not stare, although I think she saw me too (I had the same jacket on, that I wore the day we 'met').
So, Rose is not in Jail, the Juan was not arrested; and the cats got 'Turkey with Gravy' and 'Tuna Feast'.

Thus, the Gods of Morality and Pussy have been appeased; everybody had a Happy Ending, at more than a fair price.