CacheMonkeez Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I was searching for a micro today under a park bench and a homeless dude was sitting on the bench and pacing around the area muttering to himself. I decided to have a seat on an adjacent bench and wait until he left. Unfortunately he outwaited me and I gave up and went home. What would you have done? Offered him a bribe to walk away? Sat down beside him grabbed the cache and explained gc while he talked to the flowers? Quote Link to comment
+Smitherington Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I think I would have handled it the same way you did. Just go back another time. I once went for a cache in a busy park during the day. I had to go back in the evening. By then it wasn't families but teens that I had to wait out. Quote Link to comment
+hoys Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Particularly with an urban micro, discretion is key. Otherwise, the cache container will vanish. There have been a number of caches where I have had to simply go away and come back later if someone is around. If you think you know where it is, and are a pretty decent actor, then dropping your car keys into brush gives you one chance to get the cache. Repeatedly dropping your car keys, however, just becomes obvious. Quote Link to comment
+vamelungeon Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 You probably did the right thing. Quite often, though not always, people are homeless because of a mental illness that may or may not make them aggressive, or sometimes they are just plain anti-social, or maybe they are the kind of person who just doesn't want to live like society expects them to live. In any event, even if he was the nicest transient in the world, why risk finding out which flavor he is unless he approaches you? He might just want to be left alone and take it badly. I just try to not be confrontational with someone who may be an untreated delusional parinoid scizaphrenic (however it is spelled). I don't mean to be offensive, I often work with the mentally ill and with homeless folks in the court system, which is why I advise to just leave them alone. They can be like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. Quote Link to comment
dave and jaime Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 man-o-man do you have any ides what youve started? have a look at this. it will be interesting if people change their opinion based on who asks and/or how the question is worded. 'Get to the point---speak English!!!!' Quote Link to comment
+TEAM 360 Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Accidently drop $1 without noticing it, and watch how fast he grabs it and splits the area. Quote Link to comment
+Sam & Kim Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I had the same thing happen to me on a micro in savannah. I wish i would have thought of dropping a dollar.It took 3 trips to get the little rascal. [This message was edited by SAM & KIM on July 08, 2003 at 05:39 PM.] Quote Link to comment
+flask Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 schizophrenics seem to like me, for reasons i do not understand. i would be comfortable sitting on the bench with one, and maybe even sharing my sandwich. i would not engage in a confrontation,and i would not give the guy my home phone number. it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six. Quote Link to comment
+tozainamboku Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I didn't have problem with homeless people who wouldn't leave, but with a young couple who were getting amorous on a secluded park bench here. I came back later. 東西南北 -- I found it in the last place I looked. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 quote:Originally posted by hammack:I was searching for a micro today under a park bench and a homeless dude was sitting on the bench and pacing around the area muttering to himself. I decided to have a seat on an adjacent bench and wait until he left. Unfortunately he outwaited me and I gave up and went home. What would you have done? Offered him a bribe to walk away? Sat down beside him grabbed the cache and explained gc while he talked to the flowers? Exactly what you did. Most people I can outwait, plus my presence for no good reason that they can see tends to unerve people and they move on. Then I met my match. This guy was just sitting and smoking and would not leave. Turns out I work with the guy and I cornered him later. "That's MY spot" was his answer to my question. No way I was going to out wait him. Someone else snuke up when he wasn't claiming his spot and got a cache planted (which was what I was trying to do). In the end move on and come back later. The guy's gotta eat. Quote Link to comment
The Big Kid Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Actually, I believe that the problem is not that he was muttering to himself, but that you were not. Things must be put in perspective. The trick is to make people think you are the odd one and they will leave. I could wager a guess that the person was muttering about -when is this guy who keeps looking at his cell phone going to leave so I can get on with caching. There have been many threads about how people disguise thier caching activities, this could be one individuals attempt. Remember, behavior defined as abnormal is based on your definition of normal. Food for thought. Quote Link to comment
+walkietalkie Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 The guy was muttering "Not another geocacher" To himself thinking "I hope these peeps arn't staying long". Quote Link to comment
+Sissy-n-CR Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 If they're right on top of it there's not much of a way to grab the cache right from under his nose. I like the dropped dollar bit. Maybe, a sob story of lost Mother/Spouse/Best friend and you would like to have the spot alone for a little while. Maybe, a sob story and a buck. CR Quote Link to comment
SuperAlpha Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Take a piece of paper and tape and sign the "new log" and tape it to his back! The Homeless Dude cache!!! Quote Link to comment
+sbell111 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I would probably had tried to wait it out for a couple of minutes and then given up to return later. Interestingly, I recall The Lil Otter posted that she bribed the locals with cigs in order to log this cache. Quote Link to comment
+MountainMudbug Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 We tried to wait-out some people last night while hunting an urban micro near a fountain. The longer we waited, the more people started milling around, including a bicycle cop. We opted to come back another time so as not to jeopardize the cache location (though I think it has already gone missing and been replaced a couple times...) Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 We too have not had problems with homeless people, but others who seemed to either: 1) Use the parking lot as a very cheap hotel room over the lunch hour. 2) We too busy watching us instead of keeping up with what their kids were doing. Quote Link to comment
+CharlieP Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I would suggest you put the GPS to your ear and talk into it as if it were a cellphone. Talk in a loud and arrogant manner so that everyone in the area will hear, and know how important you are. I know that kind of obnoxious behaviour always causes me to want to leave. If that doesn't work, don't risk the cache, just come back later. FWIW, CharlieP Quote Link to comment
CacheMonkeez Posted July 9, 2003 Author Share Posted July 9, 2003 Thanks for all your helpful advice. The general consensus was to "come back later". That's what I did, twice more. The only problem was, it was a long drive. So I ended up using a lot of gas and time for nothing. Finally got the @#$%^& micro on the 3rd try. The micro was part of a multi so when I got to the 2nd location (after a 15 minute drive) guess what? Yea, somebody sitting on it. Oh well. Keep trying. Quote Link to comment
+Criminal Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I'm thinking of something with fishing line and a five dollar bill.... http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/ Quote Link to comment
+MaxEntropy Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 My GPS guided be to a cache once where a guy was doing Tai-Chi right in front of the cache hiding spot. My brother and I just stood there staring at him until he left. Apparently tai-Chi isn't a spectator sport. Rude, yes but it did work. Mickey Max Entropy More than just a name, a lifestyle. Quote Link to comment
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