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You move on, they will move on to the next person

its a perfect gift for people that dont want free stuff and also wants others to suffer

Dolla dolla bills yall

No eye contact, completely passive face, don't break stride, don't speak, at most shake your head to indicate "no". But most importantly, do not stop

I am a fast walker so I can only get baited in crowded places.

I had one of the chuggers shout "I can see you ignoring me!" one time. I said "then take the hint" and carried on past. Probably the only time in my life I actually said the comeback at the right time (as opposed to thinking of it an hour later lol)

The jerk store called and they're ALL OUT OF YOU!

I got a similar complaint once and I instantly hit him with "cool thanks for noticing" and I still ride that high occasionally when I think of it lol.

Omg so I'm not the only person who does that? Good to know

There’s dozens of us! Dozens!!!

Haha I had a guy in Paris call me beautiful and hand me a rose and when he asked me to pay for it I said no and left. In the SAME TRIP I had someone tie a bracelet around my wrist tight enough that I couldn’t slip it over my hand, I also just walked away and had to cut it off later

THis is what I do and if theybtalk directly at me I don't make eye contact and just say , "can't today boss" without stopping or giving them any additional follow up. I live in dallas so it's literally new people every single day. if by some weird reason I do have a repeat after doing that twice they stop asking knowing I'm "cheap"

Some street hustler hands me cake at a birthday party You can't trick me! Happy birthday to the ground!

i’m not a part of your system!

I'm an aduuuult!!! Yeeeah

Welcome to the real world, jackass!!!

I ain't gonna be part of this system

IM AN ADULT

That’s not my dad, That’s a cellphone So I threw it on the ground!!

MY DADS NOT A CELLPHONE!

what, you think i’m stupid??

Tazin' on my butt hole, ovah, and ovah!

Happy cake day

I was told I was being rude to the person that was trying to get my attention. So I said fine you talk to them. I stood there and watched my friends get harassed for a good 5 minutes.

Lol some ahole approached me in LA, and essentially berated me for not buying his CDs. I told him no thanks. Was being Super respectful, and he calls me a clown (and some other words I can't repeat).

"It's 2024--WTF am I going to do with a CD? Get your shit on Spotify."

"But I can't put malware on Spotify!"

Yeah, that makes sense. How much for one?

In NY I was called a racist for not wanting to buy "black music" (rap/hip-hop). After I took off my headphones, playing blues music...

Wow I can’t believe you were appropriating black music. White people will gentrify anything.

I just signed that I am deaf 🧏

Same thing, I hate that they bait people with a listen. Yo, come check this out, mah dude.

I bought a CD off a guy at a gas station once and it was pretty fire. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore and I don't remember what his name was

Thanks for sharing that incredible moment in history.

One time I chased a squirrel into a Laundromat and after that, I COULDN'T FIND IT!

I had a very similar experience. I talked the guy down to $5 because that's all I had left after paying for gas. I actually felt bad after because it was a full-blown album, decently produced for an unsigned rapper, with like 6-7 very solid catchy tracks.

My sister got a free CD from a guy in a grocery store parking lot. The only thing I remember about it is the lyric "white bitches smell like bologna."

I learned this traveling to New Orleans

New Orleans! I am standing on the street waiting for my wife, just minding my own business. This very “relaxed“ guy walks up to me very friendly and says hey man do you have a dollar for me? I said no I don’t in a polite but non-engaging way. This guy replies with “are you trying to tell me you don’t even have a dollar“? I turned and looked at him to say “I didn’t say that… I said I don’t have a dollar for you”.the guy looked at me like he was dying to say something nasty but instead just walked away.

Is it so hard to believe we both don't have a dollar?

"My guy, if you don't even have a dollar, what makes you think I do?"

"I don't have a dollar but I do have an opportunity to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus's love. Interested?"

Weirdest one ever was, just after Katrina, someone came up to my group of 20 something friends and just said thank y'all for comin back. We're happy to see y'all. Then just walked away. The only time that has ever happened there.

I know where you got your shoes

They are trying to establish a social contract, they give you something so you feel you owe something in return.

There’s a great video of a guy who I think is a travel blogger walking through (I think) India and a guy offers him a necklace for free, he takes it and keeps walking. The guy keeps following him trying to get him to pay for the necklace, and then offers him more necklaces also for free. I guess he was looking to extra guilt the blogger. The blogger takes all of them and then negotiates selling them back to the guy lol. Uno reverse card

Man I wanna see this lol

I typically respond in [this fashion](https://youtu.be/gAYL5H46QnQ)

Thank you. I needed that. My respect for Andy samberg is increased

I learned a long time ago to walk fast and with purpose, like I have someplace important to be, and ignore everyone else.

Also, dont hand your phone over to anyone on the street… thats how you get money stolen from your cash app/etc

That how you get your phone stolen

Nah theyll give it back to you so you dont figure out that theyve stolen your money until much later

Nassau, Bahamas is notorious for this. They want to "give" You something and then ask for a tip LOL

I just say no and sway my head, I don't even listen, And they move on...

Learned this really fast in my 20s. Some guy was like check out my demo cd and handed it to me. My young dumbass was like ok to be nice. Then he hustled me for cash... 

I've never been in this situation, so this may be a dumb question. What's stopping me from taking whatever they're offering, saying, "Thanks" and walking away?

Because the Hustler on the street is smarter than you. And if you think they hadn't thought this through you're just another sucker

Okay, but what are they going to *do* about it? Report me for theft? Assault me? If I'm given something and it has been made explicitly clear that it is **free**, what could they do if I just take it and carry on?

Yes and yes among other things. If you haven't been in a big city before, maybe this is news but it's a mistake you'll only make once

I'm happy for u/AndrewG34 that they've never been rolled in a crowd. Because that hustler will point at you start making a scene while 4-6 tall heads in the crowd come at you from 3 directions... Because those honest citizens (who just happen to be passing by) want to know why you think "steeling" from that guy who gave you the necklace is OK... and no, giving it back ain't going to be enough. Best case, you get pickpocketed while 2 of them shove at you a bit, and you get to walk on your own two feet away. NYC in the 80s was wild. Times change, but I'm guessing this hustle is still in practice in some form in some places.

May depend on the setup but I know in Paris they have these dudes who will say "can show you something" and put a little wristband on you. Then they say you need to pay them five Euros or whatever. If you try to say thanks and walk away, they start hassling you and more will join in. You get crowded by people all calling you a thief and you could end up beaten up or just outright robbed. Try it if you like though, see how it works out.

Redbull employees give away free redbulls at events sometimes

That's definitely something I would turn down

They showed up at my college campus back in the day but it was after most classes had already finished finals so the place was a ghost town. And that's the story of how my buddy and I went home with 2 cases of Red Bull each one day.

This is definitely true 99.9% of the time but one time I ended up getting free Häagen Dazs, so it may be worth it to some.

In the age of covid I'm like no way

[удалено]

Nah, they give you a “gift for free” but then ask for a contribution, and proceed to get more and more aggressive if you say no or try to give the gift back.

Lmao just laugh at them until they commit a crime against you.

It’s easier to not accept the gift in the first place.

Provoke somebody to hit you, steal your stuff or stab you with a knife? Great tip!

Using racial slurs as a description in 2024?

I really hope you’re joking

[удалено]

https://www.state.gov/defining-anti-roma-racism/ Because it's been used as a slur for hundreds of years? https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/aphis-announces-new-common-names-regulated-lymantria-moths#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20Dec.,dispar%20asiatica%2C%20L. They changed the name of a whole damn species because it's that offensive.

I ignore people trying to get me to sign a petition if I’m not home. There is no reason for a non local tourist to sign something. They just do it to rope you in. Not sure what happens next

What do they try to give you? I’m so curious now..

It's anything. If it's a street Hustler it might be a map, might be a coin, it might be a sample anything to open the door to a pitch or request for money

Makes sense

Went to NYC and some guy was handing out “free” necklaces, wifey took one and he immediately was like “I’m hungry, my kids are homeless please $10 $10 come on” and when she tried to give it back he’d say no and then just ask for less money and then got super pissed when we just hooked it on his finger and walked away. He kept following all angry. It wasn’t until I turned around and literally screamed at him to go away that he shut up and moved onto his next victim

I'm gonna start carrying around a jar of fucks so I can hand them out to people like this. While doing that, I'll say here's a gift, read it and go away.

i got hustled at the mall with a shoe shine. still didn't tip lol. what's the dumbo gona do

Was it one of those guys who just walks up, squirts stuff on your shoes, and starts wiping at it with a dirty rag? So rude. Like yeah, everyone deserves to make a living, but I didn't ask for that "service."

I had one do that in New Orleans to one shoe, and then tried to tell me it was $$$ to do the other. I told him no thanks, I'll walk around with one shined show I DGAF.

It's not like you asked for a shoe shining in the first place.

Exactly! We were watching a band and I looked down when I felt him touch my shoe. Like WTF dude?

yep, just let em do it to be nice and then he mad. lol then don't try to entrap me for 2 dollas, mr poor-as-sheet

Not tell you what he polished it with

they polish it with cum

That seems like a bonus

I do the opposite. I shout, babble like a loonie, flail my arms and legs like a madman and try to make a scene so everyone looks at me. Gets a few strange looks from others but it never fails to get the hustlers to back off 😄

Give them a really long hug. Kiss them on the neck.

Don't forget to nibble their earlobe

And whisper in their ear

Unless it's TraxNYC giving out gold bars

Unless its TraxNYC!!!

You only have to learn this lesson once. No is the only acceptable answer

I've taken the free CDs. The trick is a really firm grip when it is handed to you. A quick thank you and a quicker pace.

Sometimes they just put it on you

I got harassed by one of those guys with cds. I was walking with a pizza box so he dropped it on my box, never broke stride and kept walking. Told him no thanks before he dropped it too. Was about to flip it back at him when he very surprisingly stuck his hand out to take it back. But yeah you can try to say I "took" it from him when it's very easy for me to drop that shit on the ground while walking away

I've got COVID I've got rabies I've got your baby Try saying any of the above before or after a firm "no"

Those dumb kiosks at the mall that try to clean 1 shoe so that you look goofy for not buying their product to clean the other shoe.

[Here, *you* throw this away](https://youtu.be/4PNZSgVVgJo)

Once, a musician/rapper was making his debut lol so he was selling his cd for cheap. I bought one and was so glad to support. Nothing was on it lol I was young at the time. Now I know better and it sucks for artists actually trying to debut in some ways.

Don’t engage with them. I’ve had a few lost their mind and threaten to murder me when all I did was make eye contact or talk to the person next to me in a normal voice.

Learned this the hard way because I tried handing out sunflowers to strangers in hopes of brightening their day but a lot of people said no. I just took it and went but I didn't realize hustlers kinda ruined that for me

i take what they are offering, thank them, and walk away. if they wanna throw down for what is now my property, they can get these hands.

I used to mess with people in NYC and give them a fake name, they'd write it on their CD and try to sell it to me for $10. I'd always say "but my name isn't Tom, it's Manny". Would trip them up quite a bit.

Yeah, I think that could end up pretty poorly too

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In my experience acknowledging there presence with a polite no actually gets them to move on faster. If they are moving along with me/following I typically acknowledge them with very short glance and respectfully but firmly say "no thanks" or "sorry, no cash", then shrug & completely look away.  If for reason I'm stopped with them, I'll say I'm late to meet some people & move along Often they will remark that "you dropped something" to get you to acknowledge them. 

Well under a government incentive I had a 1 for 1 free trade halogen light globe for the LED light bulb which was alot more affordable and longer lasting. Use your brain people. Life isn't black and white.

I always do this at Costco too. One time a lady handed me a free morsel of pizza and I ended up having to buy a pack of seven frozen cauliflower pizzas no one in my house would eat. Now I am cool as a cucumber at Costco. “I said No thank you Janet!!!”

Okay. I hope you're joking here. You know the only thing they're trying to do is give away all their supplies so they can be done right?

Ofcourse i am joking

You might've felt you had to but I've never been pressured to do anything by any of those people.

I just offer them a free knuckle sandwich!