OMG. I'm having a hard time shaking an interaction with a deplorable. Long story.

[MontanaMama]

So this guy shows up at our business a few weeks ago. It was after we put the signs up stating that we were closed due to COVID-19. Our sign said that if you had business with us, to call our shop phone number, we would take payments over the phone and then we will meet you at the gate with their product rather than have folks come into our buildings. The guy in question blew past three of the signs and entered our business anyway. I had gone home for the day and my husband was the only person on site. He was so surprised when this guy, a total stranger, walked to the door having ignored all the signs that he didn’t quite know what what to do. This guy said he had driven from Longview, Washington to purchase our product. My husband was definitely thrown off his center and decided at the last minute to sell him what he wanted and get them the hell out of our shop.

The guy chose several items and my husband loaded them in his vehicle. At the last minute the guy added one more thing to his order which my husband loaded into his car. Then the customer and his girlfriend followed my husband into my office where he wrote up an invoice charged his credit card and sent him on his way.

That evening, my husband realized that he didn’t charge this the guy for the last item that he added at the end of the transaction. He called the customer, who answered the phone, and told him about his error, apologized and asked the customer to pay for the item. The guy said he would double check what he bought and call back since he was driving. Of course he didn’t call back.

We’ve called a couple more times. No answer of course. I sent a statement to the guy last week with a note asking him for the courtesy of paying for the item he added...again apologizing for our error...but since we took care of him when we were closed for the virus, would he please reciprocate? I will say here that it isn’t a ton of money...only $130...but, the principle, you know?

Last night, at 9pm...we get a call at the business from who we believe to be this guy’s girlfriend (the phone number on the caller ID is one number off of the customer’s #) stating that we can fuck off and they will take their business elsewhere because they don’t do business with liberals and make America great again and they aren’t paying for shit. The only thing I can think of where they might know my political leanings is when they went into my office with my husband...My personal bulletin board has my Kamala bumper sticker hung there next to my 2017 Women’s March flyer. That’s it. AND, it’s my office. Not my husband’s office. Whatever.

This whole thing has left me shaken. I know I shouldn’t feel that way. These are horrible people and we all know some of them in our personal lives and this is small compared to what many deal with daily. I am trying to blow it off but having a hard time doing it....turning the other cheek is getting old. I want to lash out and I know that won’t help and it might invite more of their ugliness.

On a whim...I googled the guy. Turns out he’s a sexual offender...put a camera in his girlfriend’s bedroom without her knowledge and was convicted for it in 2016. The peeping Tom is also a gun nut. Of course he is. I’m so tired and it isn’t even noon yet.

Thanks for listening.

ETA: Removed link to the newspaper article about the MAGAperv and fellow DUer suggestion.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. THey want you dead, they want me dead. I have said this for years, people are

finally realizing it.

I hope they are, anyway.

[cilla4progress]

6. Sarah Kendzior points this out

in the introduction to her new book, Hiding in Plain Sight. The oligarchs want to depopulate the earth and scoop up all the resources for themselves!

[NBachers]

52. The banks & lenders got away with wholesale theft of property during the mortgate crisis. This is

the same thing, only now they're doing it with human lives instead of property. What happens to the abandoned assets of the mountain of corpses?

The only thing that's missing, so far, is the guys with pliers, moving from corpse to corpse and pulling out the gold teeth.

[Eliot Rosewater]

68. Abandoned assets makes me think of Amazon prime or any online streaming source

where you BUY movies and TV shows.

I buy a bunch of this, I pay the same as if they were DVD but that is old and this is new and better if you have a good internet so that is what most of us do now.

But when I die unless I leave the access info to someone and they pretend to be me, it all goes away, it is lost and Amazon no longer has to provide this product I paid for.

[OMGWTF]

56. MAGAts are "Good Germans"

[paleotn]

58. Hate to say it, but I've come to wish the same for them.

4 years of Donnie and the Jackasses has that affect. I figure every one of them that crashes and croaks from CvD-19 is one less magat we have to live with and one less rethug voter in Nov. Fuck them. Fuck them all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Like my dear departed grandmother used to say....

"No wonder we have wars."

That was her standard remark whenever she heard about somebody doing something stupid or evil. This incident qualifies for both.

[Kali]

3. I would be careful linking to the guy's name here

lot of whacky stalkers watch DU

[MontanaMama]

8. You're right.

I edited and removed the link. I was feeling helpless. I’m just so stinking mad.

[Kali]

17. clearly an asshole that ripped you off, it comes with the territory

I have no doubt he will end up in prison or dead soon. write him off, financially and emotionally. beware of holding grudges, especially if you are in a rural area. he will get what he deserves.

[Aristus]

4. I'm sorry you had to go through that, MontanaMama.

Thirty years of Rush Limbaugh and his screeching howler-monkey spew-alikes polluting the airwaves have caused irreparable damage to America's body politic.

[Roland99]

5. Hillary was DEAD ON ACCURATE

Deplorables.

[lagomorph777]

14. Despicable Disposable Deplorables.

May they die first in the plague they are causing.

[CurtEastPoint]

7. I concur. Remove that link. And chalk that up as a loss for your own sanity and protection.

[MontanaMama]

9. I did.

Thanks. Lost my head for a minute.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. I know you must be upset. I would be, too.

[SWBTATTReg]

10. I will bet this guy's neighbors wouldn't be too happy w/ him living in their neighborhood...I

wouldn't be. Maybe I'm wrong, but if its happened before, it'll happen again (the crime). I'd make sure that all of my kids (and the neighbors too) knew to avoid the guy. Perhaps he's under probation still, I wonder how he would feel if you threatened to go and file a complaint w/ the police authorities. It wouldn't help his probation any.

[cilla4progress]

12. Sending virtual hug.

I had an interaction with a deplorable right after the 2016 election.

I felt crazy for about 48 hours after.

Ever since, I avoid them like the plague they are. When I can. At least never discuss "it".

[jberryhill]

13. Let it go

[Maraya1969]

15. I keep thinking this guy has a business. If he does you can always write

a well thought out Google review, (and Yelp, Facebook etc) sharing your experiences with this person.

I actually got immediate help from a landscaping company that left a ton of lawn debris next to the road by explaining what happened on Google and FB. I texted them that I would update the reviews once they removed the debris - which they did the next day.

[MontanaMama]

16. I thought about that.

And I’m afraid he will do the same to us. I don’t think he’s a reasonable person. I’m not worried about the money.

[Disaffected]

50. I would not do that.

It might backfire and make you unable to release yourself from it.

The world is full of aholes - let it go & forget as best you can would be my advice.

[gristy]

18. well, this is all 20:20 hindsight, but I'm can't help but wonder why your gate wasn't locked.

I mean, I even keep the doors to my house locked. I don't put signs up that say please don't enter my house.

But it does sound like the last door was locked and your husband had to open it to let him in. But again, SOP is once a store's door is closed and locked for the day (or for the pandemic, in this case), it DOES NOT GET OPENED for any customer to come in.

My advice now is to drop it completely. Put your records of the whole business in a folder somewhere and put that folder in the back of a file cabinet somewhere. Then move on. Block his calls and send his email to a junk folder and don't peak in the junk folder for any reason. And vow to never again let anyone into your business unless you are open for business.

[MontanaMama]

21. Our gate is locked 99% of the time.

It was open because my husband had just loaded a few pallets of our product onto a truck with the forklift. He had driven the forklift to the back building to park it for the night and that’s when this guy came in.

[gristy]

41. Ah, ok.

That would explain the initial fluster of your husband when he sees this guy on his lot. "How did you get in here," I imagine he was wondering...

From now on maybe do this: pull up to the gate, check up and down the street that there's nobody hanging around, unlock the gate, pull the truck in just past the gate, put the truck in park, get out and close and lock the gate, and only then go about business. Maybe even take down the "no entry" signs, as they may contribute to a false sense of security which then leads to the gate being unlocked 1% of the time.

[Beringia]

19. Sorry you had to go through this, how horrible

[MLAA]

20. We know what the deplorable are like

However when we are forced to actually interact face to face with them and experience their ignorant, greedy, disgusting behavior it is jarring and unsettling.

Sending you calm, soothing thoughts as an antidote to their awfulness!

💕💕💕🌿💖🌷🌷🌸🌿

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. I have a little business and once in a blue moon

I get scammed.

Those people may really be dangerous. I would just write them off. Block their phone numberl. Don't open your door to any stranger.

It's not worth being so upset. They are obviously scum.

People like that are not worth messing with. Sounds like the best thing is to stay as far away as you can.

I had something similar happen and I got so upset. It wasn't so much the money as the way I was treated.
One of my customers is an attorney. She told me just to figure that will happen once in a while. Just to assume that it will. It's not worth the mental aggravation to fight with them. Just cut them off, take a deep breath and go on.

If it's a lot of money that's different. I would let an attorney handle it.

[MissB]

24. Best advice!

[albacore]

23. You know who this is....

Sounds like you know where he lives.

Just sayin'..

You can't get your money, but you can....well....make things more interesting at their house.

If I'm being too opaque, message me.

[eShirl]

47. no need to be evil

[genxlib]

25. I know this is easy for me to say..

But sounds like the best $130 you ever spent.

Good riddance.

[MontanaMama]

27. I don't care about the money.

interactions with these types of people leave me feeling puny and exhausted. And angry. Obviously we wouldn’t do business with them again.

[genxlib]

32. I lost a deplorable client way back in the Obama years

He would send out these mass emails with ludicrous shit in them. I would mostly just bite my tongue or provide very mild fact checking.

Then one day my fact checking set him off and he accused me of being a liberal and part of the problem. Then, I will never forget he said that it didn't matter if it were true because...reasons.

We parted ways and I have never regretted it. He is just an asshole and I don't want his money.

[Lars39]

26. Probably lucky they didn't actually rob your husband.

might want to look on the $130 as a write off.

[MontanaMama]

28. Of course we will write off $130.

I don’t want anything to do with the jerk. Clearly he’s capable of a lot… A convicted sex offender and a gun nut.

[Lars39]

31. Prize material

fwiw, they still make those gas station hoses that ding. You could put one near the gate.

[Solomon]

29. What's really maddening is the assholes trying to use politics as

a justification for theft. Oh, it's okay to steal from you because they think you're a liberal.

Pathetic.

[MontanaMama]

30. THIS!

and laugh about it with their deplorable friends no doubt.

[BComplex]

33. If he paid with a credit card, can't you just charge the other item to the same credit card?

You can get the info off the invoice, or the register, or the bank.

[mnhtnbb]

45. Yes, why didn't your husband just do this right away when he discovered that he hadn't charged for

the added item? Hotels do it all the time. You check out and they haven't added the charges for the mini bar. Or breakfast. Or parking. Or something. They put the additional charge on after you've checked out and there is no interaction with the customer.

[MontanaMama]

66. He didn't realize he'd neglected to add the item to the invoice until it until later in the evening.

It was a cluster with us being closed and all. I usually handle the paperwork and money...I had left for the day and this guy showed up after 5. My husband swiped the guy's card and gave it back to him. Our credit card processor doesn't give us access to customer credit card #'s retroactively. Hotels keep credit card numbers and have lots of liability insurance in place to do so. We're a really small business and keeping customer card #'s is a nightmare in terms of security. We made the mistake and wrote the $ off as bad debt.

[MontanaMama]

65. No. We swiped the card.

Credit card processors companies don't give us retroactive access to the whole # unfortunately.

[panader0]

34. I'm a liberal, quite liberal. A few months ago I went to the local feed store

for a few items. When I got home I looked at the receipt and realized that
they had not charged me for a 50 lb bag of bird seed. I built that feed store
years ago. The owners and most of the people who go there are Rs.
I have long hair. I drove back to the store and showed them their error
and paid for the seed. They love me there.

[MontanaMama]

36. I recently received an order from Chewy.com

they had sent me twice the amount of a prescription medication for my dog then I had requested and paid for. I will use the medication, that’s not a problem. But I called them to tell them what happened and offered to pay for the extra medication. They thanked me profusely but declined to charge my credit card. Good people do the right thing.

[mnhtnbb]

46. Chewy.com is a terrific company.

I had been ordering my dog's prescription diet from them for over two years. She got very sick last January--ended up at the emergency vet because emergencies always happen on Friday night, right?--and eventually the vet changed her diet again. I still had an entire case of her canned prescription food--worth about $80--and I contacted Chewy to see if I could return it. They e-mailed me back right away and said no, just donate it to a shelter or someplace and they gave me credit!!!! I took it to the emergency vet and gave it to them.

They are terrific.

[MontanaMama]

61. They sure are.

Been so good to me with my dog also on a prescription diet that I can't purchase in my city. Thanks for the warm fuzzy. I need it today.

[NBachers]

55. Funny you mention Chewy- Couple days ago, I got a credit card charge to Chewy- I've never used them.

I called Chewy the next day, told them about the problem, and they immediately wrote it off and sent the money back to my bank. I live in California, and the charge was from Minneapolis. I called my bank and shut down the card. Chewy's refund cleared the next day.

I have good things to say about Chewy.com, and it's funny that I just heard about them the first time a couple of days ago, and here you are mentioning them today. I acknowledge coincidences.

So here's a bright little angel star to always stay by your side and protect you.

[MontanaMama]

62. I always acknowledge coincidences too.

[NBachers]

63. It's your little angel star reminding you, just to let you know she's always there with you . . .

[Duppers]

67. Same here.

Expensive meds too. They told me to donate them to our local animal shelter. Not far from us either.

Chewy is the best company ever! We order everything for the doggies from them now.

[Tetrachloride]

35. Report to police and file in small claims court.

I believe there are multiple violation of law or spirit of law

1. phone harassment

2. non-payment

3. parole violation

and ask the police

One more thing -- if Marsy's Law is active in your area, assert your rights.

[LakeArenal]

37. I'm guessing you have no video surveillance.

But I think I would file a complaint as suggested.

[MontanaMama]

38. We probably did have surveillance.

This was 3 weeks ago and I’m not sure how long our system keeps video. My husband loves to go through our vids. We caught a thief who took a generator from our next door neighbors. Our cams got the thief in action and also caught him stashing the generator where he probably intended to come back and get it.

[LakeArenal]

39. Let's hope you can find him loading that extra item in

If so. File a complaint.

[LuckyCharms]

40. I'm not familiar with police procedure, but if it is possible to

file a police report without actually pressing charges, I would do that just to get the incident on record.

Then I would let it go.

They sound dangerous. Chalk it up to experience and live your life.

I'm so sorry this happened, and I understand how infuriating it is.

[Peacetrain]

42. Watch your back!!!

This person sounds like they are not dealing with a full deck. I would be tempted just to talk to someone at the police station.. just getting some advice on how they think you should handle this if they ever come back (they probably will not,) .. but that way they could keep an extra eye on your business

[MontanaMama]

43. Yes.

Thankfully this person lives two states away so seeing him again is not likely. I blocked his phone number and his deplorable girlfriends phone number from our business phone.

[Vinca]

44. Given he's a gun nut, I'd try to figure out a way to take the $130 as a business loss and let it go.

I don't understand how people can be such assholes, but that's a hallmark of the MAGA crowd.

[RT Atlanta]

48. File a police report

theft by conversion

and swear out an arrest warrant for them

[Chellee]

49. Honestly,

for a mere $130 he's promised to take his business elsewhere, and I think that's a pretty good deal. He thinks he "won" because he cheated you. Let him think that. You're both safe, and he's gone, and that's all that matters.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

53. +1. . . nt

[the_sly_pig]

51. Trespass the guy....

Let him know he’s no longer welcome and can be arrested if he shows up.

[IronLionZion]

54. It's theft. You can report it to the police

Sounds like you have records of him acknowledging receipt of the goods and refusing to pay for it.

And you probably don't want a customer like that returning and causing problems. So it's worth losing his business.

[NBachers]

57. I agree-to be safe- bundle up all your information and get it on paper at the police department.

If it ever goes any further, you've got an established record on file. Protect yourself.

[sagetea]

59. If you can...

Donate (the amount) in his name to a 'Liberal' charity. Something similar was done to me, and I donated to Planned Parenthood in their name. Made me feel better, knowing that they got mail from them!!

In any case, don't hold on to grudges. I'm saying this as a Taurus! lol!

sage

[degage]

60. If you have the CC # charge him.

If you still have the credit card number, run it for the cost of the item. There's nothing at all wrong, nor illegal with charging a person for merchandise they received. Sure, he can dispute the charge but since he actually got merchandise he has not returned I don't think he can get a credit for that.

[MontanaMama]

69. Unfortunately we don't keep credit cards on file.

The liability is too great. Once they're swiped and the customer leaves...their info goes with them. It's okay. $130 isn't the end of the world. I guess the principle of them thinking that it's okay to steal from us because we might be liberals is what gets me. Thanks for the thought though.

[Doremus]

64. If that happened to me at our shop

after I asked politely for them to pay I would run the charge through using the card they used before.

If they do a chargeback you can dispute it. Worth a try, imo.

[Hortensis]

70. Sorry, but turn it into an anecdote for your friends and

get these people out of your lives. Or go to war and take action to compel payment. This sort routinely screws and hurts for personal satisfaction every time they can on some excuse, and those in your company include almost anyone they consider vulnerable, including conservatives. I guarantee it. But what they want is the bill canceled. Do that, and you'll never hear of them again, 99.9% probable since you're no longer a good potential victim.

[MontanaMama]

71. Of course I will write off the $130.

That wasn't the big issue....it was the principle of them thinking they can steal from us because we're liberals. Shouldn't surprise me I know...Neither this guy or his girlfriend are stable people. I will not invite trouble to my door step.

[Hortensis]

72. Yes. But what I'm saying is they steal from everyone

when the opportunity arises. Your politics is just a happy excuse to sneer at you about. But having walked off without paying for the product, they wouldn't pay you after if you'd had a poster of Trump waving a sword on a white stallion behind your desk. They very likely knew they hadn't paid.
And you'd be almost as angry at whatever abuse they they used the opportunity to dish.