So... Never thought I end up having to go to court in LA, but low and behold... Here's the story.I'm gonna be honest, it's kind of embarrassing so I probably shouldn't say too much as the case is still pending.
I'll give you a hint though, it has to do with what appeared to be a really sad looking girl that I saw while driving and a really big misunderstanding that happened because of a really thick accent. It's literally impossible to be a nice person in LA.
So, you should know that I may not appear to be completely innocent on this one and there is some explaining to do. What happened was there was this poor looking girl walking down the street really late at night. I had been working late at a conference and when I saw this girl walking down the street she looked really sad and I, being the nice Minnesotan that I am, decided I would make sure she was ok. I mean, it's LA, late at night, and this girl is just walking down the street, so I pull over just to say
"Whats up" and ask her if she's ok and see if I could help. Well, rather than answer me in any way, she just walks up and gets in the car. Now, at this time, this didn't seem weird to me since the way I pictured this whole thing going down was I was just going to be a good sameritan and take her home like a good boy would do for a stranded girl.
So NEVER in my wildest dreams did I think that a prostitute was in my car and beyond that, I DEFINITELY did not think that she was a cop.
Again, Gonna be straight forward, the rest id kind of embarrassing, but I'll tell the story just so everyone else can learn from my misfortune.
I'll let a few more details out, but then you guys have to promise me you wont make fun of me because honestly, I was trying to be a good person.
So you know how I said she had a really thick accent? So I say hello and ask her whats going on and what she's doing out so late at night. She just replies with "nothing, just looking for a party". So I ask her if she knows where the party she's looking for is at because I'd be happy to take her there so she doesn't have to walk any more. She then told me that the party is anywhere and asked me if I wanted what I THOUGHT to be a "PBJ". Again, for the record, she had a VERY thick accent.
I'm down for PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY sandwiches 110 billion percent of the time. They are so delicious and I love putting chips in the middle to make them crunchy. I'm not a huge fan of chips, but that way I am.
Anyways, never one to say no to a "PBJ" I was like "Hell Yea!". In my defense, I had worked late and never had dinner, and I was just offered one of my favorite foods ever. In retrospect, should I have wondered why she didn't tell me where her party was? Yes. Should I have thought twice about figuring out where we were going to get a PBJ from when I'm sitting in a car late at night with a complete stranger? YES. But what happens next is almost too embarrassing to tell, obviously I hadn't done anything criminal at this point and maybe your imagination can take it from here but yeah...
I'm going to be honest, I almost can't type this but here goes...
I run though some quick calculations and figure that if this girl has some secret PBJ plan that it probably won't take that long or cost that much and I can probably get her home without it being too much of a hastle but while I'm thinking she tells me it will be $50. Now, I'm not stupid, there is no way I'm going to just pay $50 for a sandwich no matter how good it is and right now I'm really getting skeptical that she's of sound mind.
So around this time I'm like wait, this is LA, what if she knows of some incredible place that has fantastic food... I'd at least like to hear the story of a $50 PBJ. Being COMPLETELY skeptical of the $50 sandwich but wanting to play along because she was being so nice and flirtatious I said "Where can we go at this time of night for something like that?"
You and I know how crazy that sounds knowing the context of this thread, but you have to understand how completely logical it was for me to ask that question at that time. Anyways she giggles a bit and looks at me and says something like "Well we can go to my place and do it there." In my head I'm like, wait... A house or apartment or something? So now I'm trying to back track in my head and figure out where my logic went wrong but as I'm scrambling to figure this out I also am trying to sort out how a sandwich can cost so much money so I say (and no making fun of me) "$50 seems like a lot, I could see $20 at the MOST, but I'm used to paying like $3. What makes it so special that it's worth $50?"
She's hurt by that question, I can tell, but I have no idea why. She says "Look, my place is around the corner, I can take care of you for $10." So all of a sudden we're in the price range I was thinking for a sandwich, it's a bit on the high end sure, but again, it's late and I'm hungry. I'm thinking now that she's not needing a ride home but that she was probably ON her way home and is maybe a little bit poorer and is trying to be entrepreneurial and provide a service to someone who is looking to consume. So the next part is the really bad part.
So you know how all of this built up... I thought this girl was trying to be smart with what she had and turn a small profit off a service that I clearly wanted which I have no problem with. So I say, "$10 is fine but it literally better be the best one of my life." She immediately says "Oh, it will. Give me the $10 first." And while that did make me feel uncomfortable since I wasn't in a place of business, I just took out a $10 and gave it to her. Within SECONDS there were cops everywhere and I was in cuffs totally confused as all get out as to what happened. Which brings us to the moral of the story...
Read the SECOND word of ever paragraph

My absolute favorite time of the day is from just before dawn, until just after. Most folks will spend their entire lives in bed sleeping through that magical hour - Mean Gene