Dressing nice in the modern world can lead to trouble?

green papaya · Feb 29, 2016

people do judge by your appearance / style, if Im in a bad part of town sometimes I wear a Army wide brimmed boonie hat with sunglasses,old t-shirt & jeans, and the poor and the homeless are much friendlier and think Im one of them, some people even mistake me as a Vietnam vet, the panhandlers never bother me when Im dressed like them and try to blend in with the crowd.

I was walking past a panhandler a while back and he asked the group of people ahead of me if they could spare any change for food, and then when I walked past dressed in my poor man's outfit, he just said "Ohhh" and didnt try to ask me for money.

Benproof · Feb 29, 2016

My.

You guys make America sound like it has a society with profound ghetto formations. Is that not just the fringe of society, rather than the mainstream? When I've been to New York or San Francisco, it's always been a lovely experience with little danger (granted, I wasn't hanging out at Central Park at 2am ..). On the other hand, being without the protective cage of a car in Detroit would feel unnerving, especially since streets and streets of wide boulevards were boarded up with no sign of human life apart from small clusters of young kids loitering, eyeing any and everything up.

It's difficult enough trying to sort out genuine strangers in need from those who are likely to try and attack you. At the height of our recession, a lot of young adults were homeless and begging near the university areas; some displaced, others having run away from home for personal reasons. On the other hand, aggressive contingents of the "spare any change" brigade who are pestering, militant and assertively so, cluster in their gangs around church exits and public stations or outside cafes and petrol stations. When I crossed their paths on a motorcycle wearing biker gear, they invariably look elsewhere for easier targets. I guess they are probably worried that I might mug them lol.

Capesofwrath · Feb 29, 2016

Benproof said:
The only Springer Spaniel I ever had was so incredibly stoopid, in the dark he would run in the opposite direction away from strangers when we went out for our usual evening runs. He was even more terrified of Dolly Parton's hair do lol

Unfortunately the teenage brained adults around here tend to go around with at least two pit bull terriers, which they can barely restrain, and like to use the terror of the dogs chomping at the bit as they fight against their weedy selves for control, as a strong visual deterrent. They are less likely to get mugged and do the mugging

Not sure what to think of fake Rolexes. The symbol that it has become asking for trouble, not that I know anything about watches. I prefer inaccurate obscure hard-to-find-another-of handwound mechanical watches which offer the perfect alibi for arriving late

The thing about Staffies is that they are the most affectionate and loving dogs with humans. It’s other dogs that they fight with. The cross bred pit bull types are the ones to watch out for because the kind of people who have those sort of dogs usually abuse them to make them nasty. As well as usually having no idea of how to train dogs and to be consistent with them, so they confuse the hell out of them.

EliasRDA · Feb 29, 2016

Well, beside the fact that many areas here in the usa are banning Rottweilers, German, Shepards, Dobermans, etc I'd still go with what I had as a kid.. a lovely Siberian Husky. She was sweet as pie but one time when we were walking her in our village, on a choke chain with lease, a friend of my folks walked up. Must have spooked my dog as she lunged at him, near latched on his arm but he backpedelled fast enough to get away from her. LOL

Now a friend of mine had a mixed mutt, she looked like a shepard if I remember right. So, I had just come back from Disney World, was proud of my canary yellow sweatshirt & went to show it to my friend. Damn dog was up in years, near blind & I made the stupid mistake of not letting her get my scent, I called to her & reached out to pet her, she latched onto my arm, I still bear the scars of her few teeth 40 some years later. I'm luckily she got hung up in the shirt, ripped it to shreds but just badly gouged my arm.

Another friend got me a Tag watch ripoff, made the mistake of wearing it with her to NYC clubs, out walking on the streets at 2 am some jerk thought he was gonna take it. I was maybe 2 yrs out of the army during the 1st gulf war, was still thin & mightly pissed off, since I had been drinking & I do not make a nice drunk. He backed off when I war faced him, started howling at him & generally acting flipped out, that I was gonna rip his head off & eat his guts. My friend was smart enough to go along with me, he took off running. Now that was in the 90's, today the thief would probably shoot me instead. (shrugs) So I dont wear good watches, or any sort of expensive looking jewelry, just my paracord medical bracelet & I definitely watch the areas I go, packing pocket pistol if needed.

I've been approached by panhandlers in our area, I keep a bit of change in my pocket, never pull a wallet out to fish in it, they would grab it & run if they could.

LizzieMaine · Feb 29, 2016

We don't have panhandlers here, except for one sixtysomething-looking couple that hangs around downtown with a cardboard sign reading DESTITUTE. They don't actively solicit spare change, though, they just sit on one of the benches downtown and wait for people to toss some cash in their cup. Sometimes I'll give them the leftover popcorn after we close for the night.

If you go down to Portland, though, panhandling is rampant. Go where the money is, I guess.

As for intimidating dogs, when the NSKK, a local biker gang, was riding high here in the 70s and 80s, they would parade down the street with Dobermans, but I don't think I've seen a Doberman around here in at least fifteen years. Pit bulls are very popular, though, and every one I've encountered has been extremely meek, and kind of dumb.

Yeah, real scary. Watch out there, he's gonna cuddle you all to death.

The dogs you have to watch for around here are the little poochy poodly kinds of dogs -- the kind that do nothing all day long but yap, snap, and crap.

GHT · Feb 29, 2016

There was a news article going back some now, I've searched and searched for it, but to no avail. The gist of it was: Four young guys were going to some fancy dress ball, all dressed up as Disney characters. Three of the local hard men decided to have a little 'fun' with them. The fun turns to pushing, then slapping. The slapped lad suggested that they didn't do that. That was like a red flag to a bull. In charged the hard men. It took about thirty seconds for the Disney characters to lay low their assailants. Moral of the tale: When picking a fight with a stranger, don't pick on Olympic trained, martial arts experts, you could get seriously hurt.

Capesofwrath · Mar 1, 2016

GHT said:
There was a news article going back some now, I've searched and searched for it, but to no avail. The gist of it was: Four young guys were going to some fancy dress ball, all dressed up as Disney characters. Three of the local hard men decided to have a little 'fun' with them. The fun turns to pushing, then slapping. The slapped lad suggested that they didn't do that. That was like a red flag to a bull. In charged the hard men. It took about thirty seconds for the Disney characters to lay low their assailants. Moral of the tale: When picking a fight with a stranger, don't pick on Olympic trained, martial arts experts, you could get seriously hurt.

"There was a young man from Bengal,
Who went to a fancy dress ball,
He decided to risk it and went as a biscuit,
But the dog ate him up in the hall."

GHT · Mar 1, 2016

Capesofwrath said:
"There was a young man from Bengal,
Who went to a fancy dress ball,
He decided to risk it and went as a biscuit,
But the dog ate him up in the hall."

Capesofwrath · Mar 1, 2016

GHT said:
View attachment 45447

I take it you don’t want to hear the one about the young man from Ghent then?

GHT · Mar 1, 2016

Capesofwrath said:
I take it you don’t want to hear the one about the young man from Ghent then?

Is that one who had a large one that was exceedingly bent, so to save time and trouble..........................

Capesofwrath · Mar 1, 2016

You seemed to enjoy it anyway.

2jakes · Mar 1, 2016

I do believe we’re heading into unknown area or topic
& I’m not dressed properly!

I hope LM has a map!

GHT · Mar 1, 2016

2jakes said:
I do believe we’re heading into unknown area

You very possibly could be. That film clip is a left side drive, there's a solid white line on the far left and a long broken white line to the far right. The centre lane has broken white lane, lane markers each side. That is the markings on British motorways, the line markings are coupled with different coloured cats eyes so that when visibility is poor, you can still tell which lane you are in. Remember, although you may have had experience at driving on the left, in the UK you are not permitted to pass a vehicle on either side. Overtaking is strictly by passing with your left side to the overtaken car's right side. Still need that map?

2jakes · Mar 1, 2016

"Still need that map?"
Yesh!

stratcat · Mar 1, 2016

GHT said:
There was a news article going back some now, I've searched and searched for it, but to no avail. The gist of it was: Four young guys were going to some fancy dress ball, all dressed up as Disney characters. Three of the local hard men decided to have a little 'fun' with them. The fun turns to pushing, then slapping. The slapped lad suggested that they didn't do that. That was like a red flag to a bull. In charged the hard men. It took about thirty seconds for the Disney characters to lay low their assailants. Moral of the tale: When picking a fight with a stranger, don't pick on Olympic trained, martial arts experts, you could get seriously hurt.

I heard that story too.
It's a bit like the young lad that broke into the house of an old man to steal from him. It turned out that the old man was ex-para boxing champion and showed the young chap the error of his ways.
Karma can sometimes come around very quickly!

Edward · Mar 2, 2016

My favourite one in that vein was the lady in her eighties who chased a burglar out with her umbrella. The ferocity of her attack scared them off!

There was a greato ne bakc in the eighties: a bunch of local hardcases made fun of a male ballet dancer in a pub. Eventually one of them provoke him by calling the dancer a "poof", and the dancer proceeded to invite him outside, where said ballet dancer, being the better for years of physical training and muscle development, kicked seven bells out of the hardcase. I'm not one to approve of unnecessary violence, but all the same there's a certain pleasure in some folks being taken down a peg or two.

GHT · Mar 2, 2016

If you know East London, you will know Canning Town. There's a pub near Silvertown Way, (probably knocked down now,) where a dear lady we knew, worked there. Her name was Pat, as in Patricia. Mine host was openly gay, his name was Patsy, as in Patrick. One day some drunk took a liking to Pat's chesticles and decided to help himself. Patsy, seeing this, took him outside and punched his lights out. Coming back into the bar, he announced: "I may be a lady, act like a lady, but I fight like a bitch."

Panadora · Mar 2, 2016

You all know this - fake or karma - it's always a laugh. But youtube is full of these things.

Benproof said:
Maybe people used to dig the mods vs skinheads thing...

Damn I'm glad to live my life in the small town of Copenhagen.
I became a mod in the late 70s and my best friend and I were first buy 'big' vintage scooters (Labrettas) and this gave us so much street credit that we were spared by some groups of the skinheads

Wells · Mar 2, 2016

Today, it seems that dressing nice is no longer a statement of being wealthy. We are outnumbered by the conformists who buy the expensive brand name clothing.
Living in Canada, I've noticed a huge increase in the amount of expensive, brand name clothing people go crazy for. Mainly that of Canada Goose jackets, Blundstone boots and anything Underarmor.
I am a part time student and am starting to think there may be a school uniform, what with everyone sharing the same wardrobe.
So, to dress nice and stand out in a vintage way seems to make you look less wealthy and more 'weird', as is in my case.

Yesteryear · Mar 3, 2016

I found this awful incident posted here ~4 years ago, I'm glad metropd is OK after that!
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/what-are-you-wearing-today.13274/page-920#post-1486010

EliasRDA said:
I've been approached by panhandlers in our area, I keep a bit of change in my pocket, never pull a wallet out to fish in it, they would grab it & run if they could.

Good advice to keep some loose change in the pocket, allowing the wallet to remain secure.

Dressing nice in the modern world can lead to trouble?

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