So a few months ago the wife and I were going to see Angel's and Demons down at Newport on the Levee. While we were parking out in front we encountered a guy about our age (30ish) and he asked if we lived anywhere near Sparta, KY. We replied no since we live down in the Covington but he was fairly desperate to get to Sparta. The guy, who we'll now call Mike, said he was an Army ranger who travelled around to different Army bases and trained troops on one thing or another. He said his Mustang Cobra had broken down on the other side of the river and he didn't know anyone in the area and didn't have any way of paying his way there because they didn't take credit cards. The whole time I could see where this was going of course... asking for money in one way or another. But this guy looked pretty normal; dressed a lot better than me, smelled a lot better than me and looked a lot better than me.
We found out how much money it would cost to get him to Sparta via Taxi; about 60 bucks. We exchanged numbers and he even gave us a key to hold onto until we got our money back. We gave him the cash and saw him to the Taxi and he was off.
I checked the phone number as soon as we got inside... no dice. Dead number. I decided not to worry about it and to enjoy the movie. I tried doing some research on the guy when I got home, detecting the bullshit, and couldn't find out anything. As far as I could tell there wasn't a military base in Sparta. His name was fairly common so it was hard to track a specific person down without details. I even contacted the Military Police via email to see if they had any records of this guy. a criminal intelligence specialist from Fort Campbell confirmed that he didn't have any record of Mike. Of course I wasn't sure what kind of records I'd need to find his name so this was good enough for me to finalize his story's bullshit level.
I continued to do some research but without any success. I marked it up as a 'lesson learned' experience... until this past Friday.
I was in line, waiting for a table at Don Pablo's near Newport on the Levee with the wife when in walks none other than Mr. Mike with another bro and two women. I looked at the wife and asked for a confirmation and she said something like "Oh fuck that's him all right." My adrenaline pumped hard and I was suddenly super excited to be alive. Mike went to the bar while the rest of his posse waited in line for a table. I asked his bro "What's that guy's name?" and he replied "Mike." I quickly followed Mike to the bar and tapped him on the shoulder. He was trying to brush me off but I gave him the low down right quick. In so many words I told him he owed me 60 bucks. He said it was a case of mistaken identity. I wasn't falling for his bullshit this time. I listed everything he had said before and he produced a sweet business card with his name, another confirmation, and his number. Not wanting to fall for his shit again I called it right there to make sure it was in fact a real number. Sure enough it was. He said to call him tomorrow to work something out. I could detect most of the bar area looking at the two of us expecting a fist fight but I was keeping my cool pretty well. I went to sit down and was pretty livid.
A few minutes later he calls ME and says he recalls the situation and had just forgotten about it... more bullshit. Long story shortened, I have his assumed 'real' name and his 'real' phone number. Hopefully we get to meet up soon and I can claim my 60 dollars. He felt so bad about it apparently that he wants to give me some Funny Bone tickets... If he stiffs me again I will pay to find this douche's home address.
