Today I decided to head over to the Petit Palaise, where there is a free museum. I was heading across this bridge and a woman was walking towards me; a regular looking sort of woman, about my age, although dressed rather poorly. Just as she was passing me I heard a "tingle" and she said, in broken English: "Oh, madame, is yours?" and she was holding what I first thought was a button. I looked at my coat, and my buttons were intact so I shook my head and started to continue on. She held it up and said something like: "A ring? Your ring?" I looked at my hands (how silly, as if my ring could fall off without my knowing it) and then looked at her, and saw that it appeared to be a mans wedding ring and I made a comment about "some poor fellow has lost his ring in Paris, how sad." and she said: "Is gold?" and we looked inside the band where it appeared to say 14 carat. I said that "maybe it is gold" and continued on. She stopped me and said: "Here. A souviner of your time in Paris." I shook my head "no" and she thrust it towards me and said: "Is good luck maybe?" and pushed it into my hand. I shrugged and put it in my pocket, and we went our separate ways. As she was about 5 or 6 steps away from me, she turned and said: " You have a Euro for me? To eat?" (Ok. Can you see where this is going?) I heaved a sigh at my foolishness and handed her a few coins, probably 3 or 4 dollars. She actually looked put out that it was so little, but off she went. I wondered if I had really been scammed, or if she really did find this tacky ring and think it was mine and just decided to ask me for money while the timing seemed good. I sort of hoped that it wasn't a scam...I like to think I am a little smarter than that. But, let's jump to later this same day when I am on the other side of town on another bridge and a woman passes me by and I hear a tingle and a voice that says: "Madame...is yours?" and I look up to see woman holding a gold band. I laughed, put my hand in my pocket, pulled out the other ring and said: "Not mine, I already have one." I was scammed by a gypsy. Oh well, it's a good story to tell.
3 comments:
THIS IS TOO FUNNY MY COUSIN AND I WERE JUST IN PARIS FORM 7/10/08-7/18/08 AND THE FIRST TIME WE SAW THIS SCAM WAS SITTING ON A BENCH ALONG THE SEINE WE WERE APPROACHED BY A LADY WITH THE SAME TRICK AND THERE AFTER SAW AT LEAT A DOZEN OTHERS WITH THE SAME GOLD RING IN HAND AND APPROACHING OTHERS. ANOTHER, TRICK WAS A LADY APPROACHING US ASKING IF WE SPOKE ENGLISH AND THEN PULLING OUT A POST CARD WITH SOME ENGLISH WRITING IN THE BACK WE DIDN'T READ IT BUT ARE STILL CURIOUS TO KNOW WHAT IT SAID.
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one to get scammed!
The ring thing happened to us , too. We wanted nothing to do with it, but she wouldn't leave us alone. We finally gave her a euro to go away. 6 months later, I still have the ring here; now with a nice tarnished patina.
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