James Altucher has a pretty insane column up today (deep but insane), but in part of it he explains how he got pulled over by a cop and the cop let him go, despite the fact that he was going the wrong way on a one way street, that he was in a car not registered to him and he did not have a driver's license.
Given that I think we are surrounded and that the cops could be harassing us big time real soon, it is important to understand what got Altucher through without serious police harassment.
My guess is that it is his innocent--non-gangster look.
Cops, and similar "authorities", are willing to give you a pass, if A. you don't look like a gangster and B. really don't give them a difficult time. In other words, when dealing with these characters, it's really not a time to have major league attitude.
I can remember once when I was travelling, I had a shirt, tie and sport jacket on. The tie had these tiny tomatoes on it.
In going through the airport, I was pulled over for a secondary inspection. The woman doing the inspection was super thorough with the two people in front of me, going through all their carry-ons in detail. I dreaded having to go through this nonsense. I put my garment bag on her table and she had trouble unzipping it. Finally, she just smiled at me and said, "It's okay. You can go."
I looked at her in puzzlement, given the way she was so thorough with the others. She pointed to my tie and explained, "Your a teacher."
Having no clue as to what she was talking about, I finally boarded the plane and looked at my tie and realized that those weren't tiny little tomato designs on my tie, but rather apples. Of course, apples=teacher!
If you don't look like James Altucher when confronted by the police, the best thing to look like, I now believe, is like a teacher. I really think that teachers are the one group that police will give a reflexive pass to. To a cop, which is being all about authority, a teacher is the ultimate mother/father authority figure.
Here's Altucher's deep but insane piece.
Teacher works, but so does nurse. My wife is a nurse and has been pulled over a half dozen times while wearing her scrubs, either on the way to or from work. She has yet to receive a traffic ticket.
ReplyDeleteI have to seriously question your style if you are buying ties with "tomatoes" on it!
ReplyDeleteonly kidding!
Anyways, simple rule is just be polite. Whenever I am pulled over I turn the car off, take the keys out of the ignition, have my license and paperwork ready and place my hands on the steering wheel so he knows I'm not a threat. It works every time.
Also helps to pull over as far as possible away from traffic. They will appreciate your concern for their safety.
Deep is not the word I would use.
ReplyDeleteHe relays the story about his father and ruminates on assisted suicide, except here it would be compulsory murder, a distinction apparently not worthy of mentioning. And he really just recalls his emotional feelings and provides nothing in the way of principles, rules or measures. Or insight.
And then we read Altucher express un-insightful melancholy about his broken ex-family. My take-away is to feel sorry for his kids and Altucher's inability to manage his situation and keep his marriage. And his comment about his kids' "trying to understand the world" comes off as self-absorbed. How can one not wince when Altucher relays that he slumped off upstairs upon coming home, with neither he nor his kids taking much notice of one another; a 3 and a 6 year old simply mesmerized by the TV. Not fatherly behavior in my view. Sick actually.
His latest post is a good example of why I remain ambivalent about Altucher. He does have occasionally good insights, but it is often paired with uninformed stream of consciousness speculation. On economics and politics, he has good intuition, but I wonder whether he stumbled into some of the right answers only because of his cynicism. On family and life issues, he appears to be a fairly unremarkable boomer.
In most cases, it's all about the power struggle. Most people (including cops) want to feel superior. They want to be respected. And that's the card I usually play. I make them feel all powerful, and that's when they tend to just let me go with a warning. One might say that I make them feel as if it makes no sense to kick me, since I'm already down.
ReplyDeleteEven if they won't let you go, it still works (i.e. you'll end up with a lower fine). A few years ago I was caught speeding in a 30 mile zone. I was going over 115 miles per hour (although I was able to slow down a bit, so the police radar only showed 104 miles per hour. I wasn't being stupid (I was actually being chased by some drunk foreigners). And to make things worse, I wasn't 100% sober. I was within the allowed limit, but still.. it didn't look good while sitting in a police car. I thought I was going to lose my license and get a maximum fine (which was about $2000). But I let them have it. I manipulated them in numerous ways, so all I got was a $250 fine. The drunk foreigners were all handcuffed, arrested and their cars were impounded. I could have ended up the same way, if I had acted arrogant, confident, successful, or something like that. Instead I let them think I folded; surrendered.
I've found that generally saying "yes sir" a lot in a non sarcastic way is the best approach. Mostly, they want you to respect their auuuuthooriiittiiiiiii.
ReplyDeleteWell, duh. Adopting a decent attitude is the first step in confronting someone with a gun on their hip and the blessing of the state to use it.
ReplyDeleteDamn, the apple tie bomber has eluded us again!!!
ReplyDeleteTSA
Robert, good post!
ReplyDeleteBut, I feel you are mistaken about one little point...
It's an unusual for someone who writes about economics to use psychology in order to explain why teachers would get away with having to pay the fines...
I mean, there must be a deeper economic reason for it, rather than some shady "father figure" idea...right?
C'mon man! You're not getting away with that one!
You have to dig deeper...
The clue, I believe, is in what Anonymous wrote: "nurses"..
I come from Poland. And have heard from several doctors that whenever they get caught by police for speeding, they avoid paying the fine.
And,
What do doctors, nurses and teachers all have in common???
Answer: Most of them work in the PUBLIC SECTOR...
(well, that's 99% true for Europe...in the US it might be a little bit different...)
There must be an incentive for Police not to charge their own kind (i.e. salarymen who receive their pay from taxpayers' money)...