5am in Penn Station, waiting to board the early Acela. I've been in NYC 20 years at this point and have become tolerably good at deflecting our local street sca

5am in Penn Station, waiting to board the early Acela. I've been in NYC 20 years at this point and have become tolerably good at deflecting our local street scammers, for the most part. I'm printing my ticket out and a construction worker comes up to me, wiry dude with a hi-vis jacket carrying a hard hat. $5 to get home to NJ, his truck got broken into and wallet stolen, blah boo hoo. He got the $5, and it didn't take him much talking to get it. The hard hat sold me. Soon as he turned I realized I'd been scammed.