Mideastern woman in Target parking lot

cubiczirconia

cubiczirconia

New member
There is this well dressed woman in her late thirties that comes begging every time I am in the parking lot. Today she was troubling a few other people also. DH was also approached by her once.

Anything we can do about it? She looks harmless, but you never know. Complain to the police or to the people at Target?
 
My family was approached by a woman who fits this description in the Lucille's BBQ parking lot in Lake Forest, over Thanksgiving weekend. I was saying my good byes and didn't see her. When my bf mentioned it to me in the car, I made him drive around the parking lot to look for her. There was a discussion late last year on the Ladera intranet about gypsies in the Ladera and Santa Margarita shopping centers, and I wanted to see if they were the same people. I haven't seen any gypsies since the one sighting.
 
Saw one in the Irvine Spectrum Costco.

She was holding up a piece of cardboard to read but I ignored it... based on practice from Europe.

I don't mind giving change to those people who are "legally" set up outside of Target or grocery stores but I am wary of people approaching me in the parking lot. I saw her get a few people to "donate" though.
 
Gypsies in OC? Do they threaten a curse on your family if you don't pay? I've seen aggressive homeless all over OC but gypsies is a term not used in some time.

The worst for me are the people dressed in white medical looking uniforms soliciting for charity aid of some sort. Pass on them as well.
 
[quote author="Soylent Green Is People"]Gypsies in OC? Do they threaten a curse on your family if you don't pay? I've seen aggressive homeless all over OC but gypsies is a term not used in some time.

The worst for me are the people dressed in white medical looking uniforms soliciting for charity aid of some sort. Pass on them as well.

[/quote]

I saw a woman at Quail Hill Plaza several years ago who looked like the gypsy women in Italy. She was asking for money for something. I thought it was really odd.

SGIP, are we not calling gypsies "gypsies" anymore? What term are we using...Romany? I believe that is the term they use for themselves.
 
We were at the albertsons on Culver/Irvine yesterday and a middle eastern woman in the parking lot was asking for money to feed her baby. She had some sort of blanket over the baby so you could not tell if she actually had a baby or not. I didnt give her anything since i didnt know if she had a baby or not, she seemed late twenties to early thirties. She was dressed ok, which made me even more curious.
 
Gypsies is a pretty old world term, like ragamuffin, or rapscallion. They used to be called "hobo's", then "homeless" or vagrants, now Gypsies. Just an odd term you don't hear that often.

Yes, I know a homeless person isn't always a gypsie, but in the general sense of word association they run in the same pack.
 
[quote author="qwerty"]We were at the albertsons on Culver/Irvine yesterday and a middle eastern woman in the parking lot was asking for money to feed her baby. She had some sort of blanket over the baby so you could not tell if she actually had a baby or not. I didnt give her anything since i didnt know if she had a baby or not, she seemed late twenties to early thirties. She was dressed ok, which made me even more curious.[/quote]

Did we see the same woman? I was stopped by a middle eastern woman in the Trader Joes' parking lot on Saturday. She was holding a board, and carry a baby in a front baby carrier.

I saw another one on the same day in the District Costco parking lot.
 
[quote author="Soylent Green Is People"]Gypsies is a pretty old world term, like ragamuffin, or rapscallion. They used to be called "hobo's", then "homeless" or vagrants, now Gypsies. Just an odd term you don't hear that often.

Yes, I know a homeless person isn't always a gypsie, but in the general sense of word association they run in the same pack. [/quote]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Sunshine was using the term "gypsy" to refer to a random homeless person, but rather to the nomadic group known in Europe and elsewhere.
 
[quote author="Blueberry East"]
[quote author="traceimage"]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Sunshine was using the term "gypsy" to refer to a random homeless person, but rather to the nomadic group known in Europe and elsewhere.[/quote]

The correct term would be sinti or sinti-roma for that nomadic group.[/quote]

See above where I used the term "Romany." K thanks.

Had a rough night and really not in the mood to be corrected. I use terms like "gypsy" because more people understand them. If you want to take our discussion to the next anthropological level, that's ok. I have an anthropology degree from Berkeley so I think I can keep up.
 
This vaguely reminds me of why middle easterners are caucasians.

Hehe.

I think the gypsy thing comes from the fact that she is a woman, she's not asian or cauc--errr--white and she wears a covering over her head like a shawl.

Is that the same description you guys have?

(I guess I could get more stereotypical and say she had big earrings and was barefoot (neither of which were true in my case))
 
When I think of gypsies, I think of the little kids in the Paris subway. They would bunch of together and pick peoples pockets and then jump out of the subway car right before it closes.

Little ****ers almost got my wallet...It's kind of strange shoving an 8 year old away from you.
 
[quote author="Cubic Zirconia"]There is this well dressed woman in her late thirties that comes begging every time I am in the parking lot. Today she was troubling a few other people also. DH was also approached by her once.

Anything we can do about it? She looks harmless, but you never know. Complain to the police or to the people at Target?

[/quote]

I figure you could either do 1 of 2 things...

1. Treat her with some respect and give her some spare change
2. Treat her with some respect and say "Sorry..."

Now if she chases you across the parking lot screaming in tongues, then I'd be inclined to take more drastic measures. Other than that help her or leave her be.

But that's just me... <!-- s;) -->;)<!-- s;) -->

Drew
 
[quote author="traceimage"]
[quote author="Blueberry East"]

The correct term would be sinti or sinti-roma for that nomadic group.[/quote]

See above where I used the term "Romany." K thanks.

Had a rough night and really not in the mood to be corrected. I use terms like "gypsy" because more people understand them. If you want to take our discussion to the next anthropological level, that's ok. I have an anthropology degree from Berkeley so I think I can keep up.[/quote]

TI correctly summarized my anthropologically incorrect usage <!-- s;) -->;)<!-- s;) -->.

I searched for the thread on the Ladera site and couldn't find it. Somebody posted POC information for a local (Anaheim?) police task force focused on recent gypsy activity. I'll look again and post it if I find it. The search function didn't work well the first time around.

I have a big heart and I'm a giver, but not to gypsies. I saw more than my fair share of gypsy activity whilst living in Europe. I slapped one on the Paris metro, but that's a story for another time and place <!-- s;) -->;)<!-- s;) -->

EDIT: Success is mine!

Here's an excerpt from the thread:

"The Sheriffs department and Anaheim PD have a small task force that is working on cases involving the Gypsies. There has been an investigation regarding Gypsy crime rings like these going on for years and the task force is always looking for information about what type of scams and where the gypsies are being sighted."
 
Haha, Sunshine, I don't think you're anthropologically incorrect. If you want to be highbrow or pc, then you can use Romany, or Sinti, according to Blueberry East (although I personally haven't heard of the term Sinti). But I think if you're just speaking colloquially and you want people to know what you're talking about, the word "gypsy" is just fine.

Hopefully I am not going to be banned for offending the Talk Irvine gypsy/Romany/Sinti community...

Speaking of gypsy activity in Europe...I just remembered something I was warned about when I was in Italy. Apparently sometimes women will throw babies at you so that you'll catch the baby and let go/forget about your wallet, purse, etc so they can steal it. That sounds too crazy to be true. Maybe it's an urban legend.
 
It seems like I have been hearing about gypsies on the news a lot.

Late last year there was a group of gypsies in West Covina that were caught breaking into elderly peoples' homes.

http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/2008/11/gypsies-tramps-and-thieves.html

In Orange County, Florida the same thing happened.

http://wdbo.com/localnews/2009/03/criminal-gypsies-targeting-the.html

On Christmas day, a group of "east european" kids were caught stealing from a store's cash register with the direction of their parents. This sounds like something the roma are known for in places like Hungary and Romania.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/20....stmas-day.ht ml.
 
[quote author="traceimage"] Speaking of gypsy activity in Europe...I just remembered something I was warned about when I was in Italy. Apparently sometimes women will throw babies at you so that you'll catch the baby and let go/forget about your wallet, purse, etc so they can steal it. That sounds too crazy to be true. Maybe it's an urban legend.[/quote]

I was told the exact same story/urban legend. My personal experiences with them entailed a would be pickpocket that I prevented (when I slapped the guy on the metro), a pulled fire alarm (with the hope that people run and leave their belongings behind) and parents who distracted tourists while their kids/cohorts attempted to steal from such tourists.
 
There are people out to scam tourists everywhere. When I was in Singapore, an Indian "fortune teller" tried to scam me for some money. In Malaysia 2 Chinese ladies tried to scam me at the airport. In both cases I followed my old mentor's advice to hand them a small bill in foreign currency and quickly walk away. It keeps their hand busy and occupied as they try to figure out "WTF is this worth". Funny thing is Mexican 20 peso bill looks just like Malaysian ringgit. By the time that I reached the security desk, they were running away at full speed. Now if only the Royal Malaysian Police would be less laid-back and actually get off their butt to do something about it...

In the Philippines, the dregs of society don't even bother trying to scam you, they just expect a hand-out from anyone wealthy enough to have a car or van.

In Taiwan, people would randomly call your phone to claim that they had kidnapped your children, and you must withdraw $$$ immediately and deliver it in a bag somewhere or they'd toss your kids out of a boat. I have several family members who received such phone calls, much to their amusement. Um, sure you kidnapped my... "young" children, when they're attending college in the US.
 
same people?
http://www.ocregister.com/news/police-500180-stores-suspects.html

Chicago family held in commercial thefts

Torrance police suspect four people to be linked to $3 million in stolen goods from Los Angeles and Orange Counties.


By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Four relatives from Chicago have been linked to more than 17 commercial burglaries and $3 million in stolen electronics, including merchandise stolen from several Orange County stores, police officials said.

The individual incidents might have seemed like shoplifting cases, but police described the group as "an organized theft ring" that systematically targeted retail stores throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties, then attempted to mail the property to out-of-state locations. The suspects are believed to have targeted Apple and Microsoft stores in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Mission Viejo, said Sgt. Robert Watt of the Torrance Police Department.
 
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