a bit of a novel:
everyone knows i am absolutely in love with the place i work. i cant wait to spend the rest of my career here. in fact, i love it so much, i wanted to share this thanksgiving story with you.
i used to have AT&T cell service. but, it has horrible reception at my spot on the beach. so, i experimented and discovered that sprint has the best service at this location (shocking, i know). i always buy a phone and bring it to a carrier to try out the service before getting into an agreement, so i looked on craigslist for a phone. i ended up responding to "Taz," and he wanted to meet me at a gas station for the exchange. having sold/bought things for years on craigslist, i knew that wasnt a bright idea in case the phone was shi!t, so i told him to meet met either at a sprint store or i would come to his house (sprint store didnt open for another few hours). he gave me his address. when i arrived, the address he gave me didnt exist (he gave me house number 635, yet the houses went from 633 and jumped to 637). i called him, he came out of the house, looked at the phone, and made the exchange after questioning him on a few things. the next day, i went to sprint to register it and sign up for service.
the guys at sprint told me that the phone had been reported as lost/stolen, thus, prohibiting it from being activated. i called taz back. his GF answered. quick run-down of the convo:
me: "i need to talk to taz."
slvt: "he isnt here, who is this."
me: "he sold me a phone yesterday. it doesnt work."
slvt: "he had no idea it was stolen."
me: "who said anything about it being stolen? you need to get ahold of him immediately and tell him to call me back before this becomes a big problem for him."
five minutes later, taz calls me back. he plays dumb about the status of the phone. i told him i was coming over to get my money back. he said it was sold "as is." i told him i was coming over.
i drove back over (this neighborhood isnt much different than marcum terrace). as i got out of my car, taz and his homeboy were sitting on their front porch. their yard has a flimsy gate around it. knowing the florida law, i didnt come through the gate. as soon as i got out of the car, taz said "the police are right around the corner, you better not do anything stupid." i told him i needed my money back. he said he spent it on shoes, and i was just mad that i got shook for $200. words were exchanged for about ten minutes. he kept telling his friend "im about to do it" and pretending to rack a handgun behind the three foot wall they were sitting behind. i didnt flinch. he then started yelling, so his neighbors would hear, "im not selling you any more crack you fvcking phiend." i didnt flinch. he said he would have shot me already if not for the group of kids playing in the yard across the street behind me. he kept threatening to kill me while referring to me as "white boy" and "cracker." he became agitated and started yelling. i stayed mellow and told him that he was a pussy for not shooting me since i was shaking his fence, spitting in his yard, refusing to leave, and disrespecting him in front of his whole block. i told him that if i didnt get my money by the following day, i would be coming back with others and taking care of it that way. i told his buddy to make sure he wasnt in the house the following night and to make sure taz's GF wasnt there, as well.
the kid was pretty street-smart. spending my early years in brooklyn and living in DC for eight years, i have seen it all. he definitely wasnt a fraud.
i left and called my connects with daytona police. they ran the address and sent me a mugshot of the guy they had registered living there. it was confirmed. the guy had an extensive police record. shockingly, they told me he used to be a student at the school i work at and that he still may be. i said there was no chance he was a student. they ended up confirming he was. i called him the next day and used his real name which fvcked with him. i told him i needed the money that night or else he would have some visitors.
he called me later that evening with a completely different demeanor. his voice and attitude was different. he said he was just a college student struggling to make a better life for his girlfriend and their kids. he said he bought the phone for $300, it didnt work, so selling it for $200 still left him out $100. i explained that doing that to somebody else was wrong. he said he would call later that night when he had the money.
later that night, he told me to come over to get the money. i saw about a half-dozen police cars parked around the neighborhood on my way there. i pulled over and asked one of them if i was good to go back to the guy's house, knowing he could be setting me up as a mad-man trying to break in his house. the police officer said he would go over with me, but all of the available patrolmen were on duty staking out the neighborhood for a suspect in a murder who they were tipped off would be there that night. so, i went to taz's solo. i called from outside, and he changed back to the thug personality. there were about five cars parked in front of his house. he kept telling me, in a threatening tone, to come inside and get what was mine. he said he had my money right here (in the house) and to just come get it if i wanted it. i told him to meet me outside, but he wouldnt. i left and let my police girl know about the situation.
police girl said their investigator would call me, then they would end up passing it to the university police since they work hand-in-hand. i ended up having to write a report at the university police station. more than a month later, i left a voicemail asking the sergeant about the status of the case. he said that he had given it to student judicial affairs more than a month earlier. i called and emailed the head of judicial affairs. within two days, i received notification of a hearing i had to attend (amazing that it took them more than a month to act on it, but two days after me calling and emailing, they immediately set a hearing date). taz and i both told our sides of the story to the judicial board. of course, he had an entirely different look; preppy clothes, groomed hair, different voice, etc. But, he couldnt hide a lot, as he kept losing his temper and having to be scolded.
his version had me being psychotic. he said that the night i went back, he and five of his friends were inside his house all with guns ready to be used because they were scared of me because I "am a bigger guy" and because of the way i was talking. this kid is about 6'4. he said two other friends were in their cars at each end of the street being look-outs in case i came because they were scared. taz said he had his girlfriend and kids stay elsewhere that night. he changed parts of his story multiple times. i called him out on it, as did the board. his witness, the kid who was there the first day, also had completely contradictory parts of his story from taz's. the board called him out on it. taz admitted to calling me a "white boy" and "cracker" when he was mad. when questioned why taz didnt call the police if he was scared enough to have his friends in his house all with guns ready to be used, he claimed he did call them. yet, of course, they didnt come over, didnt file a report, etc. In other words, he was full of sh!t.
the board met privately and ruled in his favor. they said we should both not contact each other. i questioned how they felt it was appropriate for a student to knowingly sell stolen property. i asked them how they felt it was appropriate for a student to use racial slurs towards a different race to anyone, let alone a staff member. i asked them how they felt it was appropriate for a student to make multiple comments about killing and murdering a staff member, while also stating that he knew where i worked. i told them that, as a coach, i am extremely concerned that a student with that record and who admitted to those things would be allowed on campus. i asked if they would feel comfortable if their children were on campus with a kid like this.
the director of the board told me they didnt have access to his criminal record. i told them that was absurd, as it was public record, and those searches should be done on any student/employee of the university. one of the board members said she was more concerned that a staff member would make threats toward a student. i inquired as to what threats. she said by me saying "i will have others come back and let them handle it" it was a threat. i told her that it clearly referred to the police, as that was the subject of the discussion at the time.
the hearing was about three weeks ago. last week, the front page of the local paper had the story below. this place blows my mind. it really does. as a i said in an email to the director of the judicial board after reading the article, can you imagine what would have happened had these victims been on campus or students? what would have happened had a white student called a black staff member racial slurs? threatened to murder them? admitting to being armed and ready to use them? pretending (or not) to racking a gun and saying they were about to use? saying they knew where somebody worked and would make them pay?
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20141121/NEWS/141129878/0/search
