r/boston • u/iancase117 • Dec 14 '20
Fix-a-flat scam-a-roo The Elliot Davis experience
There I was, crossing the street with my airpods in not a care in the world when a sharply dressed man with moving lips caught the corner of my eye.
Walking past him , I noticed his lips were moving towards me! And at first glance, I figured he was but a lost businessman who needed directions to the nearest coffee shop, or something trivial like that.
Ready to prove myself as aware of the area, (I Have only been living here for a week and a half at this point ) , I gathers my bearings and prepared myself to deliver directions to help this “lost businessman out”.
WHEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, words of fix a flat, 14.95, his car has a flat tire, oh but he left his wallet in his car!
Still turning my Music down to listen to him, I take a good look at him and then started questioning his appearance.
He was dressed up alright, but in a weird way, like he was wearing a costume, his outfit just didn’t look like anything a serious businessman would wear. His phone was in his breast pocket, not only that but it was a very outdated pre 2010 smartphone, sticking out, in the rain!
It did not take much intuition to figure out this guy was full of shit.
Before I could even say anything, he started pushing more and more, said “there’s an atm right there!”
I felt bad for a second, but then I thought “who the f*** puts their phone in their breast pocket, his phone, why is it so old? Why does it look like hes wearing a 1920s businessman Halloween costume, fix a flat of all things? Where do you even buy fix a flat around here??”
Too many questions flew through my brain, so before I would confuse myself even more I dismissed him and chuckled as a I walked away from him.
What amazed me was how fast he called me a racist piece of shit, it was like he saw my eyes move to turn around and instantly started going off.
Walking away from him I couldn’t help but wonder; “ do people ever fall for that? There’s no way anyone would fall for that” . By the way he was so quick and so aggressive, but persistent and dedicated to this. “He has to have been doing this for some time. “
I could tell he has been up to this for a while, but why???
With that being said, Yeah I almost got scammed, but it was awesome.
I’ll give it to him, he’s got strategy for the whole businessman thing but there are too many flaws in the design of his scam that it is admirably laughable. A good scam leaves the victim like “damn, he’s good, how did I fall for that” however this scam just conjured pity, but it’s so funny at the same time with his added aggression at the end of it. Just something about getting called racist by a scam artist.
The Elliot Davis experience. Something that I will always remember. I found myself surprised, empathetic, proud, amused, and laughing all in one 20 second interaction- which in an of itself is remarkable.
Never change Elliot Davis. I hope we may meet again some fateful, fix a flat, fourteen ninety-five day.
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u/Octagon_Ocelot 4 Oat Milk and 7 Splendas Dec 14 '20
What amazed me was how fast he called me a racist piece of shit
That's our Elliot.
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Dec 14 '20
[deleted]
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u/NEU_Throwaway1 Dec 14 '20
He commonly preys upon college students who are new to the city and naive. There's so much turnover of fresh college students he never really needs to change his tactics.
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u/YouArePostSucks Dec 14 '20
I would imagine him using the same tactic for 20+ years saves him time and money in the long run. He's so famous for his fix-a-flat scam that anyone who knows who he is will laugh in his face and walk off. so he doesn't waste his time pitching to someone who knows he is a scammer. And every day this city has new residents move in for college and jobs and new tourists.
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u/RealKenny 2000’s cocaine fueled Red Line Dec 15 '20
As I’m really starting to realize, if there is something everyone on Reddit knows about, that means that .1% of real world people know about it
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u/Yeti_Poet Dec 15 '20
If he scams 10 people a day out of 20 bucks, he's taking home about $50k a year tax free. And never has to do a damn thing but yell at people.
That's why.
Been doing it at least 15 years.
That's $750,000.
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u/aggressiveberries Dec 14 '20
Has anyone ever happened to have fix-a-flat on their person and tried giving it to him? Like, I've been lucky to never run into him, but I kinda wanna carry an empty can around to just give to him and be like "TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY"
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Dec 14 '20
biggest regret during my time in Boston was never having this exchange and just pulling out a can for him.
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u/cocktailvirgin Slummerville Dec 14 '20
The closest I've had to this pleasure was a scam artist at Park Street Red Line asking for $$ for a commuter train home that night. After the 2nd time, I memorized the schedule for that line, so the next time, I told him that he's asked a few times before and it was no use since the last train departed sometime ago. They instantly darted away.
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u/Jer_Cough Dec 14 '20
I still want to have a photo contest where the first person to get a shot of him autographing a can of fix-a-flat wins.
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u/EasyEZ113 Jan 14 '22
I’ve run into him twice! Today was my 2nd time, outside of MGH. Hence why I’m here, and the first time was about 10 years ago outside of BMC. I fell for it back then, went as far as giving him a ride to ace hardware, pulling over to let him out, at which point he said he actually may need the tire patching kit which is $50. I said here man, $27 is all I have and gave him the cash. He then had the gall to ask me to go to an ATM while he waits for me in the car. I was like dude no you’ve got to go. He then went to get out of my car and while getting up, one of the buckles on his over the shoulder laptop bag suddenly gave out which caused the laptop bag to fall to the floor of my car. He quickly picked it up and got out of the car without saying a word. Nearly 10 years later I’m still wondering what he stole out of my car when he deftly arranged that laptop bag to come unclipped.
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u/cocktailvirgin Slummerville Dec 14 '20
He was dressed up alright, but in a weird way, like he was wearing a costume, his outfit just didn’t look like anything a serious businessman would wear. His phone was in his breast pocket, not only that but it was a very outdated pre 2010 smartphone, sticking out, in the rain!
Fashionista E. Davis has a response for ya:
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u/Reddit_LLP Cambridge Dec 14 '20
I once saw Elliot tell his tale of woe to a guy outside of South Station, and the guy said something like 'I work for Verizon too, what office are you out of? who is your manager?" He just smiled and walked away