  Urbanpioneer Member Username: Urbanpioneer Post Number: 60 Registered: 10-2007 |
Today our weekly pilgrimage to Eastern Market was short and sweet. The snowstorm was causing most of the vendors to have packed up by 2:30 p.m. but we got what we wanted. As we were headed out, we noticed a pile of old discarded produce dumped outside a Dumpster by the now-closed Rafal's Spice Co. We are also urban chicken farmers and figured what's not good for human consumption is probably great for our hens and saw beets, broccoli other delights. Cool. I am not making this up. As we pull up there is some dude saying every box is $1. We go: This is the trash, this isn't a stand. He goes: It is a stand they just took away my pallets. Amazing. Not wanting to deal with the hassle _ he found some fools paying him the $1 finders feed _ we went to Rocky's for our coldcuts. When we came back the dude was gone and we loaded up a couple boxes and were on our way. I am just amazed. I know Eastern Market has been trying to crack down on the renegade vendors on the side streets trying to sell spoiled, discarded produce as new, but this took the cake. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1879 Registered: 11-2006 |
You gotta applaud his entreprenurial(sp)spirit! | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 3931 Registered: 01-2005 |
It's the American way! | ||
Sludgedaddy Member Username: Sludgedaddy Post Number: 293 Registered: 01-2008 |
Those hit and run vendors are called Beet-niks and belong to the new Beet Generation. Crazy,man! | ||
Jerrytimes Member Username: Jerrytimes Post Number: 178 Registered: 04-2007 |
Not that it's the same, but I remember some years ago I went to Motor in Hamtramck and got a parking spot right in front of the club, and this guy (obviously not security) demanded that I pay him $20 to park there. I moved and when I walked to the club from my new farther away spot I observed security dragging him away for trying to get people to pay him for a free spot. | ||
Sludgedaddy Member Username: Sludgedaddy Post Number: 295 Registered: 01-2008 |
Gee Whiz, Jerry, you sound like fresh Suburban fruit just ripe for the picking. Next time you're in Hamtown, I can give you a great little deal on a nice little ski chalet near the slopes of Mt. Elliot! | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 565 Registered: 08-2007 |
http://books.google.com/books? id=5CO2Vz16O_MC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA 80&dq=robert+williams+beet+gen eration&source=bl&ots=2XQV-9su f9&sig=OXOkvfwgHFg0lyLfwqjAsuQ H96U&hl=en&ei=l9ygSZuMMYSTngfB vMn8DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&res num=1&ct=result#PPA81,M1 Ain't capitalism grand? Did the varmints look like this?^^^^^ | ||
Bosch Member Username: Bosch Post Number: 62 Registered: 11-2008 |
You should have punched him and said "thats MY dumpster!" | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 6167 Registered: 08-2004 |
No Sludgedaddy, Jerrytimes is from an eastern suburb like myself, where we're not accustomed to being incessantly bothered by panhandlers coming up asking for money. I used to tank up for gas at one of the 4 corner Cadieux/Harper gas stations (next to I-94 freeway), until I got fed up with the hassle of constantly folks coming up to me asking for spare money. So now I still get my gas in Detroit, but at the Kirby/Mack gas station that is panhandler free... I remember last summer during the Preservation Wayne theatre tours, where I was giving tours of the State (Filmore) Theatre. Afterwards, I was walking over to the Opera House fur lunch. I decided to go thru East Grand Circus Park since I hadn't strolled thru there in quite a few years. I plotted my way thru via all the twists and turns in the paths just so I wouldn't encounter a panhandler on the way (with some fast footwork at times, since I felt like a magnet with panhandlers coming towards me from multiple directions). It was like going thru the maze in the PACMAN game trying to not get hit up. So Sludgedaddy, many of us suburbanites are panhandler savy. But in the case of Jerrytimes... he was smart enough to know that his insurance isn't gonna cover the deductible on a broken side mirror or antenna on his car! Wise move Jerry! | ||
Diehard Member Username: Diehard Post Number: 674 Registered: 03-2005 |
Gistok, I can't help but think of the scene from "Sean of the Dead" where they're dodging zombies on the way to the bar! | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 4035 Registered: 11-2007 |
Back in 71' the Eastowne theater parking lot was the same way. You had to pay for some kids to "watch" your car. No pay, no tailights. And the cops weren't much better. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 2022 Registered: 08-2006 |
I've encountered the bogus parking attendants working closed parking lots myself. The last one I faked out after he came up to the truck wanting a parking fee. I pretended that I had an important call on my cell phone and I held up my index finger. Sure enough some one else pulled in and he went to hassle them for cash. That's when I locked up the truck and hustled off on foot. Two minutes later I heard this giant "HEYYYYY!" being yelled in my direction. | ||
Panda Member Username: Panda Post Number: 15 Registered: 05-2008 |
I heard a story a few years back during the Auto Show ('05?). Apparently, Dodge brought in a herd (pack? murder?) of live rams for their Ram Tough promotion. They needed a large lot to hold them in overnight before the opening of the show and picked a gated surface lot near Cobo. Early in the evening that night security or police cleared all of the cars out the lot for the arrival of the rams late in the night. Story goes, they did not properly lock the gate and when evening rolled around a house-less citizen decided to open it, let people park in the lot and collect from the bar goers needing parking spots. When he filled the lot (wouldn't take too long on a Friday evening) he went on his merry way with a fistful of dollars. Enter representatives from Dodge who arrive with trailers loaded with the rams only to discover their lot completely filled. Calls were made to towing yards, the lot was emptied and the rams were stored in the now gated and locked lot. Around 2:00 AM, drunk and weary, bargoers stumbled back to where they parked and... True or not (can you make this up?) good night for the guy collecting money and for Boulevard Trumbull Towing. Not to mention a story for the ages for anyone visiting who parked there that night. "One time I was in Detroit..." | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 1659 Registered: 10-2003 |
Panda, I don't know about your eastern market story, however this routinely happens in the grass lots in brush park near the new stadiums. Homeless guy tears down no parking signs on the grass lots. He then charges people to park cars on the city owned lots. City tows all the cars for parking in no parking zones. The TV stations run the story every spring. |
