Similarities In Interview Techniques Panhandlers V. Muggers

There has been a woman hanging around the Apartment complex I live in for the last week or so. I don’t know who she is or who she’s staying with or anything about her but I can tell she is bad news.

The woman is essentially a panhandler and watching her operate has been educational. She exhibits the same interview techniques that muggers do to get inside people’s boundaries. It’s pretty apparent that she views everyone she comes in contact with as at least a potential mark same as muggers (and Amway “distributors”) do.

The first words she ever spoke to me were “Do you have an extra cigarette?” My response, “I don’t smoke” and I kept right on moving. Last night I walk out of my building and she was sitting on the steps yelling at something and she got up and walked away when I walked out the door, then turned around and I watched her turn on the interview.

She came walking right up to me and asked if I knew how to get to Wal Mart (Wal Mart is less than 3 blocks from my home you can see it from the end of the parking lot.). Again my response was given while I kept right on moving “It’s right across the street.”

The point of this thread is I’m trying to get a discussion started about various interview techniques that muggers and panhandlers use and the similarity between the two (they’re both trying to get inside your bubble to take something from you) and what works for you when you find yourself in that type of situation.

For me depending on the circumstances I don’t stop moving and I don’t engage, sometimes I don’t even answer but that can be iffy too because it can just escalate things

bikerdoc said:

TM, Cant the property manger tell her to knock it off?

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She may well have I haven't seen the girl today.

That said, getting rid of the girl isn’t my issue I couldn’t care less what she does as long as she stays away from me or my wife, my point is recognizing the interview technique.

One thing I’ve noticed about this woman and other panhandlers especially the more aggressive one is that they act like there is no such thing as boundaries or at least like you don’t have any. They try to move right into your space and they try to take control of the interaction from the start.

As someone has already pointed out this girl is a piss poor mooch, I’ve seen some of these guys downtown whose tactics border on strong arm robbery. this girl is just a mooch.

lemaymiami said:

but it works over and over again....

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Until it doesn't

Let’s take the panhandling thing out of the equation for a second and focus on the fact that you really don’t know who this person that’s trying to close the gap on you and trying to get into your bubble is.

Regardless of the person’s end goal the purpose of the interview is the same. They want you to lower your guard and let them in your space.

I’ve told this story before but I was attacked at work one night by a guy who walked up to me asking directions to a local bar. He acted completely normal (if a little tipsy) right up to the point he went for my throat. Had my partner not been right there things might have gone much worse.

Now granted I was at somewhat of a disadvantage at work because customer service (like giving people directions) was part of my job description so I couldn’t “blade up” on the guy and tell him to [back] off but I could have been a lot more aware of him and a lot more mentally prepared.

After that incident I tend to be a lot more aware of people that are trying to enter my space and a lot more cognizant of when they’ve singled me out and are trying to close the gap (not that it’s a daily occurrence). I know you can’t prove a negative but I think a lot of times the fact that I am paying attention stops the interview before it starts.