Okay, here's one for the positive column -

[kyburg]

While leaving a Torrance bank with an envelope stuffed with several thousand dollars cash in hand, the 70-year-old stumbled, sending 200 or so bills into a strong wind and all over a Sepulveda Boulevard parking lot, he said.

"It was gone in no time," Geier said. "I had flip-flops on and couldn't run that fast."

But almost immediately, about a dozen bystanders rushed to the Rancho Palos Verdes resident - not to pocket the wafting cash, but instead to help Geier retrieve it.

"People ran around and helped collect the money," he said. "They were very good. Kids and blacks and whites - you name it."

With their help, the machine shop owner managed to salvage about 96 percent of the money, he said.

Now, you know why the fella had that much cash on him, right?

But - what an opportunity to find out what the people he lives next to every day are REALLY like, neh?

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

No, why did he have that much cash?

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

That was my question too. (Along with my question about why a 70-year-old guy was wearing flip-flops...)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Check the age - Depression Era baby. All that talk of bank failures has him pretty scared, so he went down and removed a LOT of money from his account.

Even though the FDIC insures everything up to $100,000 - and his bank likely isn't one in danger.

Fear is a pretty dangerous thing, neh? And didn't he get a good lesson on why he SHOULDN'T be so scared?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

That's my neighborhood, toots. Beach bums aplenty!

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

OHH, I see.

I thought you meant he probably had cancer and wanted to buy serious amounts of medical dope to mask the pain.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Even though the FDIC insures everything up to $100,000 - and his bank likely isn't one in danger.

...and it's behaviour like his which *causes* banks to collapse.

[sekl.livejournal.com]

Man, I hope he isn't sleeping on that much cash.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Would it surprise you overmuch to discover people doing it? It wouldn't me. Not at all.

Scared people do pretty strange things. I'll leave it at that.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Word UP.

[sekl.livejournal.com]

No, but my aunt was a crim professor and found that OC teens were stalking people in this age group for that reason.

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

You never know. If he owns a small machine shop, he might pay some of his guys in cash, so it could have been payroll.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they learned it at home watching their parents (and grandparents). I'm sure of it. Opportunists aren't stupid - they're going to know who has the money, and the easiest way to get it for themselves.

Those folks - are called predators for a reason, neh?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Anything is possible - but I love the fact he got such an elegant object lesson about people. "Doesn't happen much" is a misnomer - having been the beneficiary of a lot of the 'kindness of strangers' on more occasions than the reverse, I'm a firm believer that people don't suck. There's a number of object lessons that like to make people crazy on the subject, but the average Joe is a pretty neat guy, all told. You just never hear about him/them.

[sekl.livejournal.com]

Very true. I prefer mine in zoos where they won't eat me or those.

Anyway cute story for Torrance and a resident of PV no less. People paying attention to others and being kind. Who'da thunk it?

[sekl.livejournal.com]

*or those I care about.*

Yeesh.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point-- or if he employed a number of people without visas who had to be paid under the table.

[dawnspring.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Who knows the real reason why he pulled out that much cash? Only one who knows is him.

Still is an awesome story anyway :)

[violet-tigress1.livejournal.com]

"It was gone in no time," Geier said. "I had flip-flops on and couldn't run that fast."

The Southern California uniform shorts or cargo pants, and flip flops.

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. How sad.

[djdig.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my grandfather is losing his cognitive ability as he gets older. He recently took thousands of dollars out of his bank with the intent to transfer it to another account with a better rate. It made the clerk give him cash because he didn't understand that the bank check was as good as cash. :-(

The guy can barely walk, and he hobbled away with his money.

I thank god daily that no one tried to rob him. (He lives in an area of MA where sadly there is a high crime rate.)

[bitpig.livejournal.com]

Faith in humanity restored until further notice. Thanks.

[singingpatient.livejournal.com]

there is a culture within oursociety of... koreans? i'm sorry i forget which immmigrants, but from Asia, who all keep money in their mattresses, and are often robbed by their own offspring/ nephews/ cousins.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The, the money's in Jim's house, and it's in Tony's house, and it's in Bert's house...