Swindled

Tonight, as I was working, a man came up to the bar and asked for a pen and paper. Actually to be precise, the man was talking on a mobile phone as he came up to the bar and told the person on the other hand to hang on while he got a pen and paper -- and I found some before he had to ask. He wandered off with them, and I thought no more about it. A few minutes later he came back, and I was a little disturbed that he seemed to be telling me nothing more than he would bring the pen back in a minute -- and he stood in the open hatchway to walk behind the bar. He wasn't behind the bar, but he was almost somewhere he shouldn't have been. I would have asked him to move, had he not walked off again. He returned once more a short time later to return the pen and say thanks, and again I felt uncomfortable with him. But he walked away and I forgot all about him.

I can't remember how much later it was when a customer came up to the bar, looking slightly irritated. I asked how could I help -- after all, that's my job -- and he said something like he wanted to see the bartender who had borrowed the money. I was confused. I told him I was the only bar tender working, when had he lent someone money? The customer then got natually irate when it became clear that whoever he had given money to wasn't a member of staff. It seems that some random man had approached him and his friends, and asked to borrow some money -- 10s and 20s he said. They were under the impression this man was staff, that the money was needed for the till or something. I don't know if he told them he was staff, or if they just presumed it. Either way, they gave him 70 quid and never saw him again.

I told the customer I was sorry to hear about it, but unfortunately there was nothing I could do. I let him look around the bar and the restaurant -- just in case the guy was still around, which he obviously wouldn't be. And wasn't. He went to the pub over the road and checked in there for him, too, with the same success. I explained that I could call the police for him, but that there really wasn't anything I could do. I got the duty manager, explained to her what had happened, and she more or less told him the same thing.

Clearly the man with the pen and paper who I felt uncomfortable with had also been the man they thought was staff. Apparently he was dressed in dark clothes like I was -- although I thought I recalled him in a shirt and tie, a business type -- and obviously was carrying a pen and paper, like he'd been taking orders. Maybe what he'd been writing down was the odds on a horse. Maybe there never was anyone on the other end of the phone. They had also seen him hanging about the bar, probably even talking to me -- so when I was feeling uncomfortable, they were thinking he was a coworker.

We called other pubs locally to warn them, and the customer did call the police -- though how much interest they showed I don't know. He and his friends were upset they'd been conned like that, naturally enough -- though you have to wonder what exactly the guy said to them to encourage them to part with £70 so readily. I like to think if someone came up to me in the pub I wouldn't so much as give them a tenner without some kind of surety.

But it does remind me of several years ago when I was in New York City, alone. One day on the street a dodgy character asked me if I was interested in a fake ID. You can imagine the lightbulb above my head, I was 20 and had just recently bought tickets to see Duncan Sheik, for Angela's birthday. I knew we'd need ID to get in, and I wanted her to be impressed at my foresight in sorting out my own. So I went along with him. I forget now how much he said it would be, $50 or something. Almost as soon as I went anywhere with the guy I was regretting it, I felt intimidated and was hoping for a chance to escape him. The chance didn't come, he took me to a cash machine -- but watched from a safe distance for him while I got the cash out. $100 he had me get out, just in case. He took me to McDonalds or something to check I wasn't a cop. And then we went to wherever it was we were going. He said it was just over the road, and he had to go and sort it all out first. To wait where I was. I did as I was told -- and yes, now I wonder why I did, but maybe I thought at this point I really was going to get the ID. He went off to arrange it, came back a few minutes later and asked for the money. I hesitated slightly before handing it over, he reassured me he wasn't going to steal it or anything. So easily reassured, or just scared of what he might do if I didn't hand it over. I felt at this point I didn't really have a choice.

He told me to pretend to be making a phone call, and he'd return in a minute. I don't know how long I stood there for. And how long it was before I started to think he wasn't coming back. Even when I eventually gave up, I still worried that he might be coming out and looking for me and I'd be gone. I think I noticed a betting shop over the road, just before I walked off.

I found a deli, bought a sandwich, and went to the cinema on my own. I put my feet up on the seats in front and ate my corned beef sandwich in the dark.

I was annoyed with myself, it was such an obvious con -- but I upheld that I probably felt intimidated for a good reason, and going along with it and giving him the money was possibly a wise decision. Once it's gone, it's gone and nothing was bringing it back. This was five years ago, and I don't doubt now that in the same situation I'd tell the guy to go fuck himself when he offered me anything. But just the same, I can't be too hard on what was probably a group of students in the pub for an evening out and thought they were doing someone a favour.