“Hi, I’m from the government. I see you have money in your pocket. Give it to me.”
Soon they won’t even ask..................
“Hi, I’m from the government. I see you have money in your pocket. Give it to me.”
That actually happened to a neighbor in New Orleans. True story.
He owned rental property, and was painting and repairing damage done by an evicted tenant—holes punched in walls, doors yanked off hinges, etc.
He was accosted by an inspector from the notoriously corrupt Code Enforcement, who told him, falsely, that he needed a $100 permit to do routine maintenance.
The inspector offered to “take care of it” for him if the landlord handed over the $100. The landlord said he didn’t have it right then, and would go downtown later.
The inspector says, “well, how much you got on you right now?”
Landlord says, “I believe I got about $40 in my wallet.”
Inspector says, “I’ll take that.”
Landlord balked, saying that didn’t sound right. So inspector, bluffing, says, “well, ok, I’ll just cite you, and that’ll cost you $100 downtown. I’m tryin’ to work with you here.” So the landlord hands over his $40.
This stuff was commonplace in NOLA.