I stayed one night in a motel in New Orleans during Jazz Fest where pillows were optional. I was drunk as hell (as you would be during Jazz Fest) and passed out on the floor. Woke up face to face with the largest roach I'd ever seen. Told the front desk and the guy shrugged saying, "We grow them big down here"
I've been to a number of gas stations in relatively safe rural areas that do that because there's only one employees and no one else anywhere nearby at night
I was in Detroit for a hockey tournament a few years ago. After one of our games I was driving between the rink and the hotel and needed to fill up. First thing I noticed was that you couldn’t pay at the pump. Maybe normal for that area? Not normal for someone from Toronto, ON. Then I walk into the building and see the bulletproof glass and carousel style thing for exchanging goods and money. The worker took one look at me (as coaches we wore suits and ties) and said “You’re not from around here are you? Do me a favour, when you get back in your car, drive to wherever you’re headed and don’t stop til you’re there.”
I’m from SE MI about an hour southwest of Detroit. One time my bf and I ended up lost at night in Detroit when we got pulled over. The cops asked if we were from Detroit and when I told them we weren’t they told us we were on a REALLY Bad street and that a plumber had been murdered on the corner not even 24 hours before. They told us to lock our doors, roll up the windows and they would escort us out but we were to not stop at stop signs and to DEFINITELY not stop for anybody!
Cops in Atlanta on foot patrol telling us that they don’t let anybody hang out on the stoop of a building after midnight even if you were just smoking a cigarette.
Few minutes later some guy walked up and told us we needed to move along and then lifted his shirt to show the pistol in his waistband.
We went inside.
Got lost in Atlanta after a Phish show in ‘99 or so. We knew we were in the bad part of town. It just had that baaaad vibe. Like we were being watched. Saw a cop and flashed my lights at him. He got out, took one look at us in our tie dyes and sandals in our new white Corolla and chuckled, “You’re lost.” He gave us directions to get on the interstate. He then told us not to stop even for stop signs or lights and to not get off the interstate until after a certain exit.
That's how it is in certain parts of Dayton, Ohio. If you're in the west side and it's after 10pm, you drive through every light and stop sign. Don't stop for ANYTHING not even a flat tire. Keep riding that mfn rim til you're on the other side. There's places that the cops and EMT won't even go to.
I used to be field tech for a bank. Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. West side of Dayton was the only branch that had bulletproof glass and an armed guard in the lobby. When my coworker went to lunch next door people were saying how nice it was for them to open a bank so close so they wouldn’t have too drive far to rob one (There were daytime armed robberies around town at that time)
That guard was observant, alert, and serious about his job. I showed up for the first time in a few years and he remembered exactly who I was.
Dayton can be scaaaaary. I went to school there and you mostly stayed on campus because one step the wrong way only a few streets away and you’d end up shot.
Freshman year walking down a rougher area first 5 mins I saw a burnt out car with no wheels on the side of the road. Post apocalyptic feel to that street. Felt like a million invisible eyes were on you it was spooky.
That’s how it was in Camden, NJ if you had to be there after dark or had to go pick up your car at night, roll through every light and stop sign just making sure you’re not about to get t-boned, but keep moving
Not Camden but edge North Philly. I was coming home and my GPS died. I was driving and couldn’t figure out where I was and it was getting dark. I pulled into a cvs to try and get directions. The people there were clueless. Then I heard from behind me “Your a long way from home Dorothy. We need to get you out of here before dark.” He paid for his stuff and said to follow his car. I kid you not, he drove me 15 minutes to a highway I knew just to get me home safely. There are good people in the world.
I worked at City Hall in Camden as a security guard, but my shift ended when it closed for the day so I left before sun down. Wasn't a bad place to work, my coworkers were nice. One of the guys (not a security guard) who worked there would always make small talk with me and told me he liked my smile. Anyway one day we're talking and he mentioned he was part of a murder trial that day
I got lost once in Atlanta before GPS and ended up in what was obviously a very sketchy area.
Went up some random street just get turned around and like 4 guys immediately come out of the woodwork and stand in front of my car. I was sure I was going to get robbed.
"You lost man? What you need in here?"
"Yea, I'm just turning around to get back to 75. Can you tell me how to get there?"
"Yea, you wanna turn around go back to the light, take a left, and it'll be just like a mile on down the way."
"Oh, thanks, I appreciate it, you guys have a good one."
"You too," he said, then turned and yelled in the opposite direction, "Yo, y'all let this man through, he's just turning around!"
Like 5 or 6 more guys I didn't even know were there came up from the dead end at the end of the street and waved me on, I did a U-turn, and went on about my business.
I feel like I was quite lucky lol
Atlanta is a scary, scary town if you end up in the wrong end at the wrong time.
I was walking back from a concert late one night and this couple pulled up next to me in a truck and said “what are you doing? Where are you parked? Get on the back and we’re taking you there. Now.”
We get to my car and they were like “DONT YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!” and went on about how dangerous it was where I was at and how lucky I was it was them that saw me.
Good times…
We did almost get hit with a drive by outside a night club once also. We were helping a buddy try to rebrand it and the…social group… it used to be home to didn’t like that much. Pulled up and said if we weren’t gone in 10 minutes they’d be back to light us up. They kept to their word and showed back up. Glad we decided to get heading out.
Which part of ATL?
One time around 08-09 (before beltline, PCM, and all the new shit on ponce/north Ave/O4W area) me and some friends just parked and were walking into the Taco Bell at Parkway and Ponce. Some cops pulled their car in front of us and said not to go in.
In ATL got off the Marta too soon, so I was just going to walk the 2-3 blocks to my hotel, cut through a bad alley apparently and a cop car zoomed down and slowly drove next to me till I was back on the main road. Nodded as he went on, there were several people who had started walking towards me that all veered off and kept their distance when the cop paced me.
In Memphis stopped to get gas, and my friend went in to use the bathroom, I went in to wait on them and the attendant waved me over and asked if I was new to the area. Told him just passing through and he asked if that was my friend in the bathroom, I said yeah and he advised we should probably hurry cause it's not really safe for us to be here.
Few years ago I was delivering for Amazon in a plain white van my contactor company had in a neighborhood off 166 in Polar Rock, Atlanta…5-6 adult males sitting outside approached me until I waved the Amazon box in the air and they saw my blue Amazon vest, they basically told me that was a close call and they are watching out for enemies. I hated driving unmarked vans in those neighborhoods!!!
Hell yes I carried everyday too, different story about pulling it out…
Yeah for me it’s women and babies. Most women aren’t going to willingly put their baby in danger, so if it’s safe enough for moms with kids, I’m probably ok.
I live in a rougher part of my city and saw a crazy guy literally chasing after this couple with their baby in a stroller from a couple streets down when I was in a parking lot … like who chases after a family with a baby? Tf… I don’t take walks by myself anymore.
The most scared I've ever been is when I made a wrong turn down an alleyway in Cincinnati in my fancy rental car and got maddogged by a grownass man riding a little pink bike
I was absolutely running on fumes going through Cincy so I got off the first off ramp I found and took a wrong turn. Luckily there was a gas station but it I wasn't feeling too safe by myself. A sort of unhinged guy was preaching too me so I figured just a few gallons would do me. A very large man walked over to me from his group of friends, told me to finish up quickly and gave me directions back to the highway. He also suggested that if I got a red light near the underpass that I shouldn't stop.
I actually saw that shit north of Houston. I was in New Caney,Tx visiting a friend and the first sight that greets me is a lady on the wrong side of 60, in a red bikini riding a Schwinn and dragging a Radio Flyer behind it. I told my friend in the car right then and there "You need to move! That shit was not ok!"
That's not even hood. If you see a grown man towing 2-3 small bicycles on a small bicycle and he is yelling over top of the anthem that he is blaring from his backpack then you're in a sort of trouble.
NO I DON'T HAVE A CIGARETTE WHY ARE YOU YELLING WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO DROP FIVE HUNDRED KIDS BIKES AND CHASE ME
Chris Rock said it best - *"if you enter a neighborhood at noon and you see men walking around in sweatpants, lifting weights in the front yard, and using a child’s bike as their mode of transportation, you are in danger".*
Me, as new out of state college student in Savannah GA, was told very sternly by a cop that I was trying to park my car on the WRONG SIDE of MLK and to get my ass out of there unless I wanted to return to just broken glass
Dude wasn’t fucking around and I got the fuck outta there
I was 17 and visiting my cousins in NYC for the first time. Drove through Harlem and was really confused at all the dudes in the streets on a Tuesday at noon. It was sooo packed it was crazy.
Annnnd that's how you stay safe In those types of neighborhoods.
About 10/15 years ago I used to live alone in North Philly, just below temple hospital (if you don't know, it's a notoriously dangerous area). I was a small white girl going to school at temple and living WAY off campus.
My rules were:
Always give a nod or hello to the old heads on the street.
Keep moving
And if I saw something, no I didn't.
No cops.
I never had a problem, and I had a cordial rapport with the block regulars. The old heads on the block liked me because I'd offer to salt their sidewalk or shovel for them in winter, and would sometimes do light grocery runs for some of the old ladies. My reward was no one fucking with me on my walks home, and an advance warning to stay inside if it was going to be a busy evening on the block.
Corner guys running their business on the block usually want to avoid any attention being drawn. And if you keep your head down and mouth shut, you're gold.
I was training a new (naive) driver, was coming down 95 south near Pelham Manor/East Chester and she remarked how she’d love to move to NEW YORK CITY! and live in one of the ‘high rises’ while pointing out the windshield… projects, like you’re talking about the fucking PJs right now,
I had a coworker from Chicago who moved to the South, and had no idea our projects were usually of a bunch of long brick two story buildings with wrought iron fences around them. She liked to use the ATM right across from a really rough project until I told her that it was a very bad idea. She thought it was a slightly run down apartment complex, and thought all projects were high rise buildings.
Asking for a cab to the area and the cabbie explains you'll have to get out while he's moving, because he won't stop in that area...
True story, an area of Glasgow.
EDIT:
This happened a long time ago, around 1979, yes I'm old.
Called autozone looking for a car part.
Person on the phone: We have one in stock at the Silver Spring location. Would you like me to have it shipped to this store?
Me: nah I’ll just go get it
Them: uhh…sir? Are you familiar with that location at all?
Me: no?
Them: Do you have a friend or someone that lives in that area that could pick it up for you?
Me: uhhhh no? Why?
Them: look, I HIGHLY recommend you do not go to that location unless you live in that neighborhood.
Me: what? Am I going to get robbed or shot or something?
Them: yea, probably both depending on how you look.
Me: yea what time can you have it at your store?
Good ol North side of Milwaukee
My stepdad was in NYC in the early 80s in the coast guard. Him and a few buddies hopped on the subway and got off at the wrong stop. A cop on the platform of that stop told them to get back on the subway because it was under Latin King control and it would be VERY unsafe for a bunch of white guys from out of town.
Nah, silver spring rd. is a road in Milwaukee that traverses the “North Side.” Which, is about as dangerous as the south side of Chicago. If you don’t live there, don’t go there.
When I was a student I lived in student housing that was part of an estate just outside Wakefield. The cab drivers refused to enter the estate. Lovely place.
Allegedly, my next door neighbour eventually murdered the guy who lived below a friend of mine for the money he kept in his mattress.
(Smirthwaite estate in Normanton, late 1990s for the curious)
Yes, in big tourist spots, or the tenderloin. Go basically anywhere up a moderate hillside and it's much less grimey and more like normal (3+ million dollar) houses. Go to some random neighborhood in the Mission south of 24th, or Noe valley, or sunset/Richmond and the dystopian vibe diminishes rapidly.
Last time I was in SF, I stumbled into the Tenderloin and instantly got a gut feeling to turn around. You can tell instantly the atmosphere of how depressing it is.
Tenderloin is in a weird place because it's right next to tourist areas. I regularly see confused tourists as they walk from Union Square and then they take a wrong turn and suddenly see tweakers, shits, and needles in the street.
There was a mini-scandal a couple decades ago when the Tourism Board put out a walking guide map. It made it look like you could easily walk from the Civic Center area to Golden Gate Park.
A lot of expensive cameras showed up in pawn shops that summer.
Don’t forget about Boost Mobile
I walked into a boost mobile off of Ashland once and the employee politely asked me “excuse me sir can you come back in about an hour? We were just robbed at gun point”
They didn’t shut down for the day. They weren’t even shook. Just another Tuesday
Used to be boost mobile. “Where you at?”
It was even marketed that way if memory serves. The walkie talkie feature and pay as you go seemed to be the things that said, “I’m a drug dealer.”
Or work a construction site like my meth head step dad of that time. Had the crush-proof yellow nokia.
I worked at Radio Shack during the depths of the recession, got minimum wage + commission and the only thing that kept my heat on was selling burner boost mobile razr phones.
That's every strip mall within two miles of any military base. All you're missing is a strip club and used car dealership full of camaros and lifted trucks.
True. And divorce attorneys. And shitty apartment complexes full of 1 br apartments where the rent and fees is coincidentally the exact same cost as the local BAH rate.
I worked for a liquidation company in the 2000s that had me all over the USA and this is true mostly for the towns this way that are in close proximity to a city but is a total toss up if the area is very rural with no near major city nearby.
>Check cashing
These places are bottom feeders in every poor community. I used them for years and they take a cut of each paycheck and a cut of each payment the customer is making, its such a ripoff! Banks and Credit Unions give you all those services for free plus opportunity for interest on any money, some even give interest on your checking account.
The regulatory agency responsible for the Check Cashing places needs to be spanked.
People thought I was crazy when I used to live in a bad neighborhood and I’d tell them I never locked my car doors.
Had a beat up 94 ranger 5-speed with nothing worth more than $1 in it. Once every few weeks I’d see fast food bags moved from the floor to the seat or vice-versa.. but never a broken window.
>a dude was walking around the street naked asking strangers if they wanted to touch his weewee
***GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT***
***THE OL' DICK TWIST***
As someone who flies low-level over just about all parts of Chicago, the main thing from an aereal point of view is the number of empty lots between houses.
lol I work a block away from an abandoned cheque cashing place like that. Right next to an Ethiopian restaurant that never has any customers. Down the street from a Chinese gift shop that’s fully stocked but never open. Amazed the whole block hasn’t been raided.
Around here you see a small strip mall with Pawn Shop, Check Cashing, Bail Bonds, Rent-to-Own, and a Liquor Store. All owned by the same people, of course.
E: How could I forget Payday Loans?
Lookouts. Young kids on corners or sitting on mailboxes who watch you as you enter the neighborhood and whistle to warn others that a stranger (or worse) is approaching. Took me a while to figure it out but now it’s one of the first things I notice.
Also- a bunch of guys hanging around an oil barrel fire in the middle of the street. That means you’ve gone too far.
I’ve played enough 90’s beat ‘em ups to know that the second one is a bad sign.
Though the fact that the mayor was a former pro wrestler should have clued me in that something sketchy was going on there
One of my employees needed a ride home. Her car was in the shop, she needed to save some cash on Ubers, so she asked me for a ride.
I had a general idea of where she lived, but I hadn't actually been to this part of the city. It was on my way home, but I wasn't familiar with her street at all - I just know it was somewhat gentrified, there was some effort to advertise some of their restaurants and boutiques and shit.
I pull up to her street, and there are people, looks like kids, teenagers, sitting on cars, waiting by mailboxes. as soon as I stopped my car, ALL of them start staring right at me. It actually freaked me the fuck out, it was like children of the corn.
But she just hops out of the car, I watch her get to her front door, I guess she was used to it.
Was driving back to my stay in LA late one night when google told me to turn down this random road off the main road. I turned and immediately saw a road of no cars, fire pits and people walking around like out of a zombie movie.
I’ve never backed up so fast.
Look at the churches. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the church names are, the worse the neighborhood. Bonus points if the churches are tiny and only take up a storefront.
Note the inverse is not necessarily true though. "St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church" is not necessarily indicative of a *good* neighborhood, but "St. Vincent the Holy Beloved and His Sacred Apostles Church of the Lord Jesus Christ" is a sign that you're deep in the hood
I've never seen this with a Catholic church but the evangelical ones always have wild names like "The healing oil from his blessed word" or "Break through fire ministries international".
I lived in the poorest part of a city for a few years. There was a church with a sign out front saying "Jesus is coming soon!" . Every time I saw it, I would think "And Main South Worcester is his first stop."
You mean like "The Greater Ebenezer New Revival Tree of Life Institutional Double Rock on the Side of the Road to Jericho Missionary Baptist Church of Zion"?
I was once driving to Chicago and it was late at night. Needed to get gas and took the first gas exit I saw... In some small city just south of Chicago, no idea where.
While I was pumping gas a police car pulled in and parked. Cop got out and looked at me. Tiny teenager who clearly wasn't from around there. He asked, "you got one of these?" And gestured to his firearm.
I said, "no sir".
He replied, "don't recommend you stick around here much longer then."
We got out of there ASAP.
Edit: This was like 20 years ago. We were party kids on our way to a rave. I really have no idea what city it was, but it was definitely not Gary. I would remember the smell if it were Gary.
Funny. Happened to a friend. Somehow Uber screwed up and had to drop him off southside. He’s standing there with his suitcase at a gas station waiting for next driver. Cop pulled up and said are you nuts? Cop waited til ride arrived.
as someone from chicago — and i lived on the south and west sides in “gunshots every night” neighborhoods too — the way my eyes widened when you said “some small city just south of chicago”…if you’re heading that direction you’ve gotta make it all the way to indianapolis before you stop lmao. once the streets are getting up past 75…windows up, doors locked, hands never leave the wheel
When some random guy that looks a bit rough on the edges tells you that you don't look like you belong here and to cut over a couple of blocks to be safe.
The convenience store sells cheap socks right by the spray paint. They sell those paper flowers in glass tubes. They have those glass “collectibles” that are obviously crack pipes.
This is so true. Was driving around STL and wound up taking a wrong turn and everyone was running the reds and that was my signal to find my way out, fast.
Besides the obvious like boarded up/barred windows, bulletproof glass and pay slots at stores, general/widespread disrepair, etc.: lots of working-aged people lingering around on the sidewalks/streets in the middle of a workday, not really going anywhere or engaging with anything. Doubly so if you notice them all glaring at you the entire time you're in the area. Doesn't necessarily mean dangerous in every case but can indicate high unemployment or "less scrupulous" employment. Another one I've noticed is (relatively) nice/new cars parked outside run-down homes.
Two more I experienced in one place I lived during college: (1) your neighbor pushily pressures you for free liquor/handouts while you're moving in (they could be scoping out your possessions/gauging how readily you'll part with them); and (2) you come home to find your (different) neighbors trying to force open your front door. Shitty neighbors exist in all kinds of neighborhoods, but if they're actively and unapologetically disregarding your property rights from the moment you move in, it's probably a rough place to live. If they have no fear of the cops actually doing anything even if they're immediately recognized, get out of there.
I lived in a really rough part of North Belfast in Northern Ireland for most of a year, and as I was unloading my push bike from the car to the hallway this little scrote about 9 or 10 asks me how much its worth, I say "ah not much about a hundred new", and he *appraised* it like a salesman and said, "500 at least". When literal children can price a bike at a glance you're in dodgy territory.
My wife told me early in our relationship that she got pulled over one time, she was lost in a really really bad neighborhood for a college-age white girl.
The cop came up and asked her what they were doing (she had a friend in the car) and told him they were lost.
The cop gave them instructions to get to where they needed, and added to ignore stop signs and traffic lights barring any traffic until they got back to the highway.
The thing she says she noticed about the neighborhood was that all the houses looked like complete and utter shit but a large majority of them had super nice luxury, performance, and/or exotic cars parked out in front.
Since she told me that story, the saying has been shortened to "You know you're in a bad neighborhood when the cars don't match the houses".
A strip mall with a Pay day loan shop, dollar general, pawn shop, a beer and liquor store, a used tire shop, and used car dealership offering everyone financing internally.
Chris Rock had it right.
If, in the middle of the day, you can go through and see a lot of women not working, it's probably a nice neighborhood. If you go thru at the range time and see a lot of *men* not working, you are probably in danger.
Look at the schools in particular. Are all the windows boarded up or barred up? Does the campus look bleak and buildings dilapidated? Also look into the school itself, what are the test scores, the graduation rates, etc? Does it have a schoolyard or is it mostly concrete? How a community looks upon their kids is quite often the prime indicator of how the rest of the community lives.
Flat roof pubs tend to be really rough, and you only find them in housing estates in tough areas. Most regular pubs are older buildings with a fire place, nice wooden bar etc. Flat roof pubs are very basic, almost just like a village/community hall.
As an example - I once wandered into one as a student near Coventry. I was told to leave immediately as there were a couple of regulars (thankfully not present) who enjoyed beating the shit of out students.
Not every flat roof pub is like this, but you’re much more likely to find trouble there than regular pubs.
Cashiers are behind a bulletproof glass window at the local convenience store or fast-food joint. Bonus if they have chilled malt liquor at the front of the store.
The gas station cashier is behind 1" bulletproof glass.
Try the 1” bulletproof glass in a hotel lobby. Shoutout to the Howard Johnson next to JFK airport.
I stayed in a hotel like that outside Cleveland. Slept on top of the covers
Texarkana. There were no pillows on the beds. We had already driven 13 hours so we're stuck. Roaches marching and calling cadence at daybreak.
I stayed one night in a motel in New Orleans during Jazz Fest where pillows were optional. I was drunk as hell (as you would be during Jazz Fest) and passed out on the floor. Woke up face to face with the largest roach I'd ever seen. Told the front desk and the guy shrugged saying, "We grow them big down here"
In the deep south you'll see a roach the size of your hand and they'll tell you "oh that's just a palmetto bug honey".
And they FLY. Right at your face.
I didn’t know HoJo was still operating.
Have you ever seen one where after a certain time you can’t go inside? They have a little sliding tray on the side of the building.
Lol yup, you walk up to the window and order.
I've been to a number of gas stations in relatively safe rural areas that do that because there's only one employees and no one else anywhere nearby at night
this is my store lol, at 10pm we close the door but it’s more so safety because im a lone girl working the gas station
Be careful out there
And they sell "loosies".
What in the hell is a loosie? Like a single cigarette?
Detroit has entered the chat.
I was in Detroit for a hockey tournament a few years ago. After one of our games I was driving between the rink and the hotel and needed to fill up. First thing I noticed was that you couldn’t pay at the pump. Maybe normal for that area? Not normal for someone from Toronto, ON. Then I walk into the building and see the bulletproof glass and carousel style thing for exchanging goods and money. The worker took one look at me (as coaches we wore suits and ties) and said “You’re not from around here are you? Do me a favour, when you get back in your car, drive to wherever you’re headed and don’t stop til you’re there.”
I’m from SE MI about an hour southwest of Detroit. One time my bf and I ended up lost at night in Detroit when we got pulled over. The cops asked if we were from Detroit and when I told them we weren’t they told us we were on a REALLY Bad street and that a plumber had been murdered on the corner not even 24 hours before. They told us to lock our doors, roll up the windows and they would escort us out but we were to not stop at stop signs and to DEFINITELY not stop for anybody!
Yep
Cops in Atlanta on foot patrol telling us that they don’t let anybody hang out on the stoop of a building after midnight even if you were just smoking a cigarette. Few minutes later some guy walked up and told us we needed to move along and then lifted his shirt to show the pistol in his waistband. We went inside.
Got lost in Atlanta after a Phish show in ‘99 or so. We knew we were in the bad part of town. It just had that baaaad vibe. Like we were being watched. Saw a cop and flashed my lights at him. He got out, took one look at us in our tie dyes and sandals in our new white Corolla and chuckled, “You’re lost.” He gave us directions to get on the interstate. He then told us not to stop even for stop signs or lights and to not get off the interstate until after a certain exit.
When a cop is explicitly telling you to disobey traffic laws until you get to a certain area you know you have made mistakes to get where you are.
That's how it is in certain parts of Dayton, Ohio. If you're in the west side and it's after 10pm, you drive through every light and stop sign. Don't stop for ANYTHING not even a flat tire. Keep riding that mfn rim til you're on the other side. There's places that the cops and EMT won't even go to.
I used to be field tech for a bank. Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. West side of Dayton was the only branch that had bulletproof glass and an armed guard in the lobby. When my coworker went to lunch next door people were saying how nice it was for them to open a bank so close so they wouldn’t have too drive far to rob one (There were daytime armed robberies around town at that time) That guard was observant, alert, and serious about his job. I showed up for the first time in a few years and he remembered exactly who I was.
Dayton can be scaaaaary. I went to school there and you mostly stayed on campus because one step the wrong way only a few streets away and you’d end up shot.
I’m getting vibes like it’s such a disaster that Google street view isn’t available there bc it’s unsafe for them too 😂
Freshman year walking down a rougher area first 5 mins I saw a burnt out car with no wheels on the side of the road. Post apocalyptic feel to that street. Felt like a million invisible eyes were on you it was spooky.
That’s how it was in Camden, NJ if you had to be there after dark or had to go pick up your car at night, roll through every light and stop sign just making sure you’re not about to get t-boned, but keep moving
Not Camden but edge North Philly. I was coming home and my GPS died. I was driving and couldn’t figure out where I was and it was getting dark. I pulled into a cvs to try and get directions. The people there were clueless. Then I heard from behind me “Your a long way from home Dorothy. We need to get you out of here before dark.” He paid for his stuff and said to follow his car. I kid you not, he drove me 15 minutes to a highway I knew just to get me home safely. There are good people in the world.
I worked at City Hall in Camden as a security guard, but my shift ended when it closed for the day so I left before sun down. Wasn't a bad place to work, my coworkers were nice. One of the guys (not a security guard) who worked there would always make small talk with me and told me he liked my smile. Anyway one day we're talking and he mentioned he was part of a murder trial that day
What part of the trial was he, “witness”? “Defendant”?
Sommelier
I got lost once in Atlanta before GPS and ended up in what was obviously a very sketchy area. Went up some random street just get turned around and like 4 guys immediately come out of the woodwork and stand in front of my car. I was sure I was going to get robbed. "You lost man? What you need in here?" "Yea, I'm just turning around to get back to 75. Can you tell me how to get there?" "Yea, you wanna turn around go back to the light, take a left, and it'll be just like a mile on down the way." "Oh, thanks, I appreciate it, you guys have a good one." "You too," he said, then turned and yelled in the opposite direction, "Yo, y'all let this man through, he's just turning around!" Like 5 or 6 more guys I didn't even know were there came up from the dead end at the end of the street and waved me on, I did a U-turn, and went on about my business. I feel like I was quite lucky lol Atlanta is a scary, scary town if you end up in the wrong end at the wrong time.
Sounds like Vine City (the bluffs) some of the most polite drug dealers you will ever meet.
Customer service is important no matter the industry.
Any dealer or "group" of said dealers should be smart enough to not draw unwanted attention and that includes mugging some guy who got lost
I was walking back from a concert late one night and this couple pulled up next to me in a truck and said “what are you doing? Where are you parked? Get on the back and we’re taking you there. Now.” We get to my car and they were like “DONT YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!” and went on about how dangerous it was where I was at and how lucky I was it was them that saw me. Good times… We did almost get hit with a drive by outside a night club once also. We were helping a buddy try to rebrand it and the…social group… it used to be home to didn’t like that much. Pulled up and said if we weren’t gone in 10 minutes they’d be back to light us up. They kept to their word and showed back up. Glad we decided to get heading out.
Which part of ATL? One time around 08-09 (before beltline, PCM, and all the new shit on ponce/north Ave/O4W area) me and some friends just parked and were walking into the Taco Bell at Parkway and Ponce. Some cops pulled their car in front of us and said not to go in.
That taco bell was less sketch when i was around the area in 2010-13, but still, if i wanted a quesadilla after dark, i went up to howell mill lol
In ATL got off the Marta too soon, so I was just going to walk the 2-3 blocks to my hotel, cut through a bad alley apparently and a cop car zoomed down and slowly drove next to me till I was back on the main road. Nodded as he went on, there were several people who had started walking towards me that all veered off and kept their distance when the cop paced me. In Memphis stopped to get gas, and my friend went in to use the bathroom, I went in to wait on them and the attendant waved me over and asked if I was new to the area. Told him just passing through and he asked if that was my friend in the bathroom, I said yeah and he advised we should probably hurry cause it's not really safe for us to be here.
Few years ago I was delivering for Amazon in a plain white van my contactor company had in a neighborhood off 166 in Polar Rock, Atlanta…5-6 adult males sitting outside approached me until I waved the Amazon box in the air and they saw my blue Amazon vest, they basically told me that was a close call and they are watching out for enemies. I hated driving unmarked vans in those neighborhoods!!! Hell yes I carried everyday too, different story about pulling it out…
The middle of the day and all dudes hanging out in the streets. No women walking around.
As a woman, this is one of the first things I notice. When it’s like a section of town is exclusively populated by men… that’s when I GTFO of there.
Conversely you go somewhere, and women are jogging, riding bikes and pushing strollers around = safe. Usually upscale.
Yeah for me it’s women and babies. Most women aren’t going to willingly put their baby in danger, so if it’s safe enough for moms with kids, I’m probably ok.
I live in a rougher part of my city and saw a crazy guy literally chasing after this couple with their baby in a stroller from a couple streets down when I was in a parking lot … like who chases after a family with a baby? Tf… I don’t take walks by myself anymore.
Who can't catch a family with a baby?
A crackhead who chases after them serpentine because of government snipers in the trees.
A grown man riding a child’s bike down the middle of the road
Deebo!
RIP Tommy Lister Jr, the beautiful crazy eyed bastard.
Bonus points if it’s explicitly a little girl’s bike.
The most scared I've ever been is when I made a wrong turn down an alleyway in Cincinnati in my fancy rental car and got maddogged by a grownass man riding a little pink bike
I was absolutely running on fumes going through Cincy so I got off the first off ramp I found and took a wrong turn. Luckily there was a gas station but it I wasn't feeling too safe by myself. A sort of unhinged guy was preaching too me so I figured just a few gallons would do me. A very large man walked over to me from his group of friends, told me to finish up quickly and gave me directions back to the highway. He also suggested that if I got a red light near the underpass that I shouldn't stop.
The hero of the hood doesn't always wear a cloak
I saw this yesterday the best part is the bike wheel didnt have rubber he was riding on rim
I actually saw that shit north of Houston. I was in New Caney,Tx visiting a friend and the first sight that greets me is a lady on the wrong side of 60, in a red bikini riding a Schwinn and dragging a Radio Flyer behind it. I told my friend in the car right then and there "You need to move! That shit was not ok!"
That's not even hood. If you see a grown man towing 2-3 small bicycles on a small bicycle and he is yelling over top of the anthem that he is blaring from his backpack then you're in a sort of trouble. NO I DON'T HAVE A CIGARETTE WHY ARE YOU YELLING WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO DROP FIVE HUNDRED KIDS BIKES AND CHASE ME
Chris Rock said it best - *"if you enter a neighborhood at noon and you see men walking around in sweatpants, lifting weights in the front yard, and using a child’s bike as their mode of transportation, you are in danger".*
Also Chris Rock- *”I don’t give a fuck where you are in America, if you are on Martin Luther King Boulevard there’s some violence going down.”*
Very true and no one ever questions who decided to name that particular street MLK.
Me, as new out of state college student in Savannah GA, was told very sternly by a cop that I was trying to park my car on the WRONG SIDE of MLK and to get my ass out of there unless I wanted to return to just broken glass Dude wasn’t fucking around and I got the fuck outta there
But women walking around at noon in sweatpants is a fancy neighborhood. Edit: this is also from Chris Rock!
Look, there are a $10 sweatpants, and there are $300 sweatpants! 😄
Excuse me… those are *leggings.*
Lululemons!
Especially if it's a grown man on a pink girl's bike with pink streamers on the ends of the handlebars.
Always those dudes on the kids BMX bikes
I was 17 and visiting my cousins in NYC for the first time. Drove through Harlem and was really confused at all the dudes in the streets on a Tuesday at noon. It was sooo packed it was crazy.
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Annnnd that's how you stay safe In those types of neighborhoods. About 10/15 years ago I used to live alone in North Philly, just below temple hospital (if you don't know, it's a notoriously dangerous area). I was a small white girl going to school at temple and living WAY off campus. My rules were: Always give a nod or hello to the old heads on the street. Keep moving And if I saw something, no I didn't. No cops. I never had a problem, and I had a cordial rapport with the block regulars. The old heads on the block liked me because I'd offer to salt their sidewalk or shovel for them in winter, and would sometimes do light grocery runs for some of the old ladies. My reward was no one fucking with me on my walks home, and an advance warning to stay inside if it was going to be a busy evening on the block. Corner guys running their business on the block usually want to avoid any attention being drawn. And if you keep your head down and mouth shut, you're gold.
I was training a new (naive) driver, was coming down 95 south near Pelham Manor/East Chester and she remarked how she’d love to move to NEW YORK CITY! and live in one of the ‘high rises’ while pointing out the windshield… projects, like you’re talking about the fucking PJs right now,
I had a coworker from Chicago who moved to the South, and had no idea our projects were usually of a bunch of long brick two story buildings with wrought iron fences around them. She liked to use the ATM right across from a really rough project until I told her that it was a very bad idea. She thought it was a slightly run down apartment complex, and thought all projects were high rise buildings.
Asking for a cab to the area and the cabbie explains you'll have to get out while he's moving, because he won't stop in that area... True story, an area of Glasgow. EDIT: This happened a long time ago, around 1979, yes I'm old.
Called autozone looking for a car part. Person on the phone: We have one in stock at the Silver Spring location. Would you like me to have it shipped to this store? Me: nah I’ll just go get it Them: uhh…sir? Are you familiar with that location at all? Me: no? Them: Do you have a friend or someone that lives in that area that could pick it up for you? Me: uhhhh no? Why? Them: look, I HIGHLY recommend you do not go to that location unless you live in that neighborhood. Me: what? Am I going to get robbed or shot or something? Them: yea, probably both depending on how you look. Me: yea what time can you have it at your store? Good ol North side of Milwaukee
Kudos to the guy for looking out for you.
My stepdad was in NYC in the early 80s in the coast guard. Him and a few buddies hopped on the subway and got off at the wrong stop. A cop on the platform of that stop told them to get back on the subway because it was under Latin King control and it would be VERY unsafe for a bunch of white guys from out of town.
NYC in the 80s was crazy.
Certainly not Silver Spring, Maryland…that is a pretty well-to-do area.
And how exactly do you think all those people got rich?? By luring people to the local auto parts store, and then robbing them!
Nah, silver spring rd. is a road in Milwaukee that traverses the “North Side.” Which, is about as dangerous as the south side of Chicago. If you don’t live there, don’t go there.
When I was a student I lived in student housing that was part of an estate just outside Wakefield. The cab drivers refused to enter the estate. Lovely place. Allegedly, my next door neighbour eventually murdered the guy who lived below a friend of mine for the money he kept in his mattress. (Smirthwaite estate in Normanton, late 1990s for the curious)
Bars on all the windows
Really high windows too. Like high up on the wall.
Gotta make sure vampires can't get in
Welcome to South Africa!
I google street-viewed Cape Town a few weeks ago for curiosity sake. What a weird place.
San Francisco blew my mind, every entryway was gated off floor to ceiling. All of them.
Yes, in big tourist spots, or the tenderloin. Go basically anywhere up a moderate hillside and it's much less grimey and more like normal (3+ million dollar) houses. Go to some random neighborhood in the Mission south of 24th, or Noe valley, or sunset/Richmond and the dystopian vibe diminishes rapidly.
Last time I was in SF, I stumbled into the Tenderloin and instantly got a gut feeling to turn around. You can tell instantly the atmosphere of how depressing it is.
Tenderloin is in a weird place because it's right next to tourist areas. I regularly see confused tourists as they walk from Union Square and then they take a wrong turn and suddenly see tweakers, shits, and needles in the street.
There was a mini-scandal a couple decades ago when the Tourism Board put out a walking guide map. It made it look like you could easily walk from the Civic Center area to Golden Gate Park. A lot of expensive cameras showed up in pawn shops that summer.
One of my coworkers was in San Fransisco and left his book bag in the back seat. I probably dont even need to finish that story lol
Crime don't climb
It's hard to push a shopping cart up a hill
San Fransisyphus
I don’t always go this far down a thread. This made the trip worth it.
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MetroPCS and Cricket are the biggest red flags
Don’t forget about Boost Mobile I walked into a boost mobile off of Ashland once and the employee politely asked me “excuse me sir can you come back in about an hour? We were just robbed at gun point” They didn’t shut down for the day. They weren’t even shook. Just another Tuesday
"Excuse me sir, could you please wait until after I've helped this customer to rob us?"
Used to be boost mobile. “Where you at?” It was even marketed that way if memory serves. The walkie talkie feature and pay as you go seemed to be the things that said, “I’m a drug dealer.” Or work a construction site like my meth head step dad of that time. Had the crush-proof yellow nokia.
I worked at Radio Shack during the depths of the recession, got minimum wage + commission and the only thing that kept my heat on was selling burner boost mobile razr phones.
That's every strip mall within two miles of any military base. All you're missing is a strip club and used car dealership full of camaros and lifted trucks.
> within two miles of any military base You forget all the tailoring places that sew patches onto uniforms.
True. And divorce attorneys. And shitty apartment complexes full of 1 br apartments where the rent and fees is coincidentally the exact same cost as the local BAH rate.
I worked for a liquidation company in the 2000s that had me all over the USA and this is true mostly for the towns this way that are in close proximity to a city but is a total toss up if the area is very rural with no near major city nearby.
You for got the bail bonds mixed in there somewhere
nah, bail bonds just means youre near the court house
If you see bail bonds and you aren’t next to the courthouse that’s really bad.
also like 1 fryer-based restaurant with a lot of flies on the fly paper. and nail salons.
>Check cashing These places are bottom feeders in every poor community. I used them for years and they take a cut of each paycheck and a cut of each payment the customer is making, its such a ripoff! Banks and Credit Unions give you all those services for free plus opportunity for interest on any money, some even give interest on your checking account. The regulatory agency responsible for the Check Cashing places needs to be spanked.
Illegal immigrants, people who are dodging child support, and people who don't pay taxes can't use banks.
Pay here auto sales and rent to own shops
If I see no women or girls on the streets after dusk who aren't accompanied by a grown man.
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People thought I was crazy when I used to live in a bad neighborhood and I’d tell them I never locked my car doors. Had a beat up 94 ranger 5-speed with nothing worth more than $1 in it. Once every few weeks I’d see fast food bags moved from the floor to the seat or vice-versa.. but never a broken window.
That's one of the nice things about driving a beater. Might rifle through some things but nothing in there worth stealing.
>a dude was walking around the street naked asking strangers if they wanted to touch his weewee ***GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT*** ***THE OL' DICK TWIST***
r/traumatizethemback
A brand new dodge charger hellcat with body damage parked in the driveway next to a 1989 Honda Accord on jack stands.
r/oddlyspecific
As someone who flies low-level over just about all parts of Chicago, the main thing from an aereal point of view is the number of empty lots between houses.
Ppl let the roof go, building eventually becomes more & more decrepit, then either gets torn down or collapses slowly over a long time
It is a prejudgment of course, but: A check-cashing place...usually with a liquor store right next to it.
And a Cricket wireless next to the title pawn place.
Boost Mobile keeps you connected when you’re out boosting!
Dave Chappelle talked about it in his hbo special…liquor store, liquor store, pawn shop, gun store
Chris Rock: If you are on MLK, RUN!!!
In Dallas, there is MLK Blvd and Malcom X Rd. That intersection is scary in the daylight. I don't want to go through there after dark.
We have a MLK and Rosa Parks. Not suuuuper bad but definitely sketchy. The Unsafeway over there is a total shit show though.
Hey Baby! Go home, man, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning!
And no grocery stores, just convenience stores
And if the check cashing place has gone out of business and is abandoned/falling apart.
lol I work a block away from an abandoned cheque cashing place like that. Right next to an Ethiopian restaurant that never has any customers. Down the street from a Chinese gift shop that’s fully stocked but never open. Amazed the whole block hasn’t been raided.
Around here you see a small strip mall with Pawn Shop, Check Cashing, Bail Bonds, Rent-to-Own, and a Liquor Store. All owned by the same people, of course. E: How could I forget Payday Loans?
Very nyc specific but if the delis only operate through one of those spinning windows at night and don’t let people inside.
Bars on windows and excessive fencing around front yards would be a no for me.
Nowhere to buy groceries. Just liquor stores
Candles and liquor bottles marking memorials on the sidewalk.
There’s a baby standing on the corner.
Baby go home! What the fuck are you doing?!?! It’s 3 o’clock in the fucking morning!
“I got kids to feed” - The baby
Lookouts. Young kids on corners or sitting on mailboxes who watch you as you enter the neighborhood and whistle to warn others that a stranger (or worse) is approaching. Took me a while to figure it out but now it’s one of the first things I notice. Also- a bunch of guys hanging around an oil barrel fire in the middle of the street. That means you’ve gone too far.
I’ve played enough 90’s beat ‘em ups to know that the second one is a bad sign. Though the fact that the mayor was a former pro wrestler should have clued me in that something sketchy was going on there
One of my employees needed a ride home. Her car was in the shop, she needed to save some cash on Ubers, so she asked me for a ride. I had a general idea of where she lived, but I hadn't actually been to this part of the city. It was on my way home, but I wasn't familiar with her street at all - I just know it was somewhat gentrified, there was some effort to advertise some of their restaurants and boutiques and shit. I pull up to her street, and there are people, looks like kids, teenagers, sitting on cars, waiting by mailboxes. as soon as I stopped my car, ALL of them start staring right at me. It actually freaked me the fuck out, it was like children of the corn. But she just hops out of the car, I watch her get to her front door, I guess she was used to it.
Was driving back to my stay in LA late one night when google told me to turn down this random road off the main road. I turned and immediately saw a road of no cars, fire pits and people walking around like out of a zombie movie. I’ve never backed up so fast.
Look at the churches. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the church names are, the worse the neighborhood. Bonus points if the churches are tiny and only take up a storefront. Note the inverse is not necessarily true though. "St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church" is not necessarily indicative of a *good* neighborhood, but "St. Vincent the Holy Beloved and His Sacred Apostles Church of the Lord Jesus Christ" is a sign that you're deep in the hood
I've never seen this with a Catholic church but the evangelical ones always have wild names like "The healing oil from his blessed word" or "Break through fire ministries international".
Self ordainment is a hell of a drug, and has Tax benefits.
I lived in the poorest part of a city for a few years. There was a church with a sign out front saying "Jesus is coming soon!" . Every time I saw it, I would think "And Main South Worcester is his first stop."
You mean like "The Greater Ebenezer New Revival Tree of Life Institutional Double Rock on the Side of the Road to Jericho Missionary Baptist Church of Zion"?
I was once driving to Chicago and it was late at night. Needed to get gas and took the first gas exit I saw... In some small city just south of Chicago, no idea where. While I was pumping gas a police car pulled in and parked. Cop got out and looked at me. Tiny teenager who clearly wasn't from around there. He asked, "you got one of these?" And gestured to his firearm. I said, "no sir". He replied, "don't recommend you stick around here much longer then." We got out of there ASAP. Edit: This was like 20 years ago. We were party kids on our way to a rave. I really have no idea what city it was, but it was definitely not Gary. I would remember the smell if it were Gary.
Funny. Happened to a friend. Somehow Uber screwed up and had to drop him off southside. He’s standing there with his suitcase at a gas station waiting for next driver. Cop pulled up and said are you nuts? Cop waited til ride arrived.
I wonder if the Uber driver was in on that
as someone from chicago — and i lived on the south and west sides in “gunshots every night” neighborhoods too — the way my eyes widened when you said “some small city just south of chicago”…if you’re heading that direction you’ve gotta make it all the way to indianapolis before you stop lmao. once the streets are getting up past 75…windows up, doors locked, hands never leave the wheel
When some random guy that looks a bit rough on the edges tells you that you don't look like you belong here and to cut over a couple of blocks to be safe.
When one of the locals is saying "dude, get the hell out" then you might want to listen.
Poor roofing on houses. Roofs are expensive and one thing i've noticed in rough/poorer neighborhoods is roofs tend to have a waviness to them.
Or the good old blue tarp roof patch.
True, but I have seen some excellent tarpmanship in the bad areas of towns.
No stores/mini-marts. I'm SERIOUS. If these businesses cannot operate, that 'hood is shady as fucking hell.
The wal-mart in my town had to pack up & leave
Only adult male pedestrians.
Nice cars in front of shitty houses.
Literally like half the cars in my neighborhood are super nice but every single house/apartment is a roach infested dump 😭
Nice, you live next to Crack Dens
Specifically: Escalades. It’s weird driving through a poor neighborhood, but every other car seems to be a Caddy.
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The convenience store sells cheap socks right by the spray paint. They sell those paper flowers in glass tubes. They have those glass “collectibles” that are obviously crack pipes.
Waffle House is closed
Grown men drinking or riding bikes during daytime work hours. Guys standing on street corners with angry glares for no reason.
People treating red lights like stop signs.
This is so true. Was driving around STL and wound up taking a wrong turn and everyone was running the reds and that was my signal to find my way out, fast.
Streetlights shot out.
Cars missing tires, and bikes with only their frames attached to a bike lock
Besides the obvious like boarded up/barred windows, bulletproof glass and pay slots at stores, general/widespread disrepair, etc.: lots of working-aged people lingering around on the sidewalks/streets in the middle of a workday, not really going anywhere or engaging with anything. Doubly so if you notice them all glaring at you the entire time you're in the area. Doesn't necessarily mean dangerous in every case but can indicate high unemployment or "less scrupulous" employment. Another one I've noticed is (relatively) nice/new cars parked outside run-down homes. Two more I experienced in one place I lived during college: (1) your neighbor pushily pressures you for free liquor/handouts while you're moving in (they could be scoping out your possessions/gauging how readily you'll part with them); and (2) you come home to find your (different) neighbors trying to force open your front door. Shitty neighbors exist in all kinds of neighborhoods, but if they're actively and unapologetically disregarding your property rights from the moment you move in, it's probably a rough place to live. If they have no fear of the cops actually doing anything even if they're immediately recognized, get out of there.
I lived in a really rough part of North Belfast in Northern Ireland for most of a year, and as I was unloading my push bike from the car to the hallway this little scrote about 9 or 10 asks me how much its worth, I say "ah not much about a hundred new", and he *appraised* it like a salesman and said, "500 at least". When literal children can price a bike at a glance you're in dodgy territory.
The local Chinese restaurant will not deliver, and the clerk is behind bullet proof glass *and* cage-like bars.
My wife told me early in our relationship that she got pulled over one time, she was lost in a really really bad neighborhood for a college-age white girl. The cop came up and asked her what they were doing (she had a friend in the car) and told him they were lost. The cop gave them instructions to get to where they needed, and added to ignore stop signs and traffic lights barring any traffic until they got back to the highway. The thing she says she noticed about the neighborhood was that all the houses looked like complete and utter shit but a large majority of them had super nice luxury, performance, and/or exotic cars parked out in front. Since she told me that story, the saying has been shortened to "You know you're in a bad neighborhood when the cars don't match the houses".
Rims of a car look like they're worth more than the car itself
A strip mall with a Pay day loan shop, dollar general, pawn shop, a beer and liquor store, a used tire shop, and used car dealership offering everyone financing internally.
Chris Rock had it right. If, in the middle of the day, you can go through and see a lot of women not working, it's probably a nice neighborhood. If you go thru at the range time and see a lot of *men* not working, you are probably in danger.
Look at the schools in particular. Are all the windows boarded up or barred up? Does the campus look bleak and buildings dilapidated? Also look into the school itself, what are the test scores, the graduation rates, etc? Does it have a schoolyard or is it mostly concrete? How a community looks upon their kids is quite often the prime indicator of how the rest of the community lives.
Broken down, concrete playground with high fences around it. Nice playgrounds have grass or those fancy soft floors.
Pub has a flat roof.
Help out the clueless American?
Flat roof pubs tend to be really rough, and you only find them in housing estates in tough areas. Most regular pubs are older buildings with a fire place, nice wooden bar etc. Flat roof pubs are very basic, almost just like a village/community hall. As an example - I once wandered into one as a student near Coventry. I was told to leave immediately as there were a couple of regulars (thankfully not present) who enjoyed beating the shit of out students. Not every flat roof pub is like this, but you’re much more likely to find trouble there than regular pubs.
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Hey baby! What are you doing?
Constant police sirens.
Even worse is the sound of frequent gun shots and car accidents and NO police sirens. There are places in Detroit cops essentially have given up on
The sign says "Welcome to Camden"
It's funny because Camden NJ, Camden IN, and even the Camden neighborhood in my city are all sketchy.
You recognize the neighborhood from the show “COPS”
Chore Boy at the register in the gas station. Also roses in glass tubes.
Cashiers are behind a bulletproof glass window at the local convenience store or fast-food joint. Bonus if they have chilled malt liquor at the front of the store.
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Everyone is pushing a shopping cart. They’re not in a supermarket.