4 ms·

The rental car situation is a great example. A friend of mine's wife used to work for Enterprise and told me a story where they got back a car where one of the

by jseifer 16y ago

The rental car situation is a great example. A friend of mine's wife used to work for Enterprise and told me a story where they got back a car where one of the interior panels had been taken off and some kind of drugs put in there.

jacquesm 16y ago
A story from a friend of a wife who used to work somewhere :) Must have been pretty sloppy smugglers to forget that much dope, someone was likely shot over that one! Here is a real life story: I rented a convertible in Ottawa for a visit to a number of places in the US, on a trip with final destination New York, mostly business. I'd gone over the car after picking it up, and found nothing but an empty coca cola can under the seat so the car looked good to me. The weather was hot, the top was down and all was good. We drove South for a bit, entering the US on highway 81, which is iirc a long bridge in a beautiful area of the country. The customs guys stopped us, (I was traveling with one of my employees, a guy called Nick), asked for our passports, mine is Dutch and Nick I believe was traveling on a British passport, so we got the tourist treatment. As we were driving away, suddenly the customs guy ran after us and yelled to stop. So I stopped the car, and asked what's up, and he said 'raise the top please'. It took a bit of fiddling because we had no idea how to do it yet (a Sebring, worst road handling ever by the way), finally the top started moving. And as it kept coming up further it proceeded to dump about 10 dirty diapers and half eaten mcDonalds meals all over the yard. Customs officer not amused. We showed him we had just rented the car and that that stuff was definitely not ours, they called some guys to clean it up. So far for me checking the car :) I do a better job of it since then.
- jseifer 16y ago
  Yes, used to work somewhere. She got laid off but I can see why that would seem funny from a random post on the internet. The point I was trying to make is: you really don't ever truly know what's in your car and that's reason enough for me to not consent to any searches. Since we're telling stories: I've been pulled over for a headlight being out and the cop was asking me routine questions for a stop. Cop: "Where are you going?" Me: "To the grocery store." Cop: "Did you know one of your head lights was out?" Me: "Are you serious?" (I actually didn't know my headlight was out) Cop: grin Me: "Yeah, I guess you're not just pulling me over for to be funny. No I didn't know it was out." Cop: "Are you carrying any drugs?" Me: "None that I'm aware of." Cop: "Can I search your car?" Me: "I do not consent to any searches." Then he goes back to his car for a couple of minutes, comes back, and tells me I'm free to go and to get the headlight fixed. I didn't get the feeling he really wanted to search my car, just that he was doing it to do it. Did I have anything in the car that was illegal? No. Why did I refuse? There was no point. There's no connection between a headlight and what ever might have been in the car. Cops sometimes have more respect for you when you exercise your rights. At least this one did.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    > I can see why that would seem funny from a random post on the internet. Yes, I figured pointing it out would make you smile, but I take your word for the story, just wonder how they explained the missing drugs to their boss, who must have assumed they had sold it on the side. That's a somewhat career limiting move in the drug trade. Nice interaction with the police officer, if all of them were like that it would be good. I don't envy them their jobs at all, first responders get to see a lot of bad stuff in their time.
    - billswift 16y ago
      Rereading the GP, it didn't actually say drugs were found in the door. They probably saw something had been put in there and the rumors embroidered on that.

by jseifer 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago

A story from a friend of a wife who used to work somewhere :) Must have been pretty sloppy smugglers to forget that much dope, someone was likely shot over that one! Here is a real life story: I rented a convertible in Ottawa for a visit to a number of places in the US, on a trip with final destination New York, mostly business. I'd gone over the car after picking it up, and found nothing but an empty coca cola can under the seat so the car looked good to me. The weather was hot, the top was down and all was good. We drove South for a bit, entering the US on highway 81, which is iirc a long bridge in a beautiful area of the country. The customs guys stopped us, (I was traveling with one of my employees, a guy called Nick), asked for our passports, mine is Dutch and Nick I believe was traveling on a British passport, so we got the tourist treatment. As we were driving away, suddenly the customs guy ran after us and yelled to stop. So I stopped the car, and asked what's up, and he said 'raise the top please'. It took a bit of fiddling because we had no idea how to do it yet (a Sebring, worst road handling ever by the way), finally the top started moving. And as it kept coming up further it proceeded to dump about 10 dirty diapers and half eaten mcDonalds meals all over the yard. Customs officer not amused. We showed him we had just rented the car and that that stuff was definitely not ours, they called some guys to clean it up. So far for me checking the car :) I do a better job of it since then.

jseifer 16y ago
Yes, used to work somewhere. She got laid off but I can see why that would seem funny from a random post on the internet. The point I was trying to make is: you really don't ever truly know what's in your car and that's reason enough for me to not consent to any searches. Since we're telling stories: I've been pulled over for a headlight being out and the cop was asking me routine questions for a stop. Cop: "Where are you going?" Me: "To the grocery store." Cop: "Did you know one of your head lights was out?" Me: "Are you serious?" (I actually didn't know my headlight was out) Cop: grin Me: "Yeah, I guess you're not just pulling me over for to be funny. No I didn't know it was out." Cop: "Are you carrying any drugs?" Me: "None that I'm aware of." Cop: "Can I search your car?" Me: "I do not consent to any searches." Then he goes back to his car for a couple of minutes, comes back, and tells me I'm free to go and to get the headlight fixed. I didn't get the feeling he really wanted to search my car, just that he was doing it to do it. Did I have anything in the car that was illegal? No. Why did I refuse? There was no point. There's no connection between a headlight and what ever might have been in the car. Cops sometimes have more respect for you when you exercise your rights. At least this one did.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  > I can see why that would seem funny from a random post on the internet. Yes, I figured pointing it out would make you smile, but I take your word for the story, just wonder how they explained the missing drugs to their boss, who must have assumed they had sold it on the side. That's a somewhat career limiting move in the drug trade. Nice interaction with the police officer, if all of them were like that it would be good. I don't envy them their jobs at all, first responders get to see a lot of bad stuff in their time.
  - billswift 16y ago
    Rereading the GP, it didn't actually say drugs were found in the door. They probably saw something had been put in there and the rumors embroidered on that.