Two weeks ago, a young guy approached me on Sainte-Catherine Street near the corner of Peel. He said:
Aurais-tu cinq piasses? Je me suis fait voler mon portefeuille. C’est pour prendre le métro et l’autobus. J’habite à Laval.
I didn’t give the guy his cinq piasses — I was pretty sure his story was fake.
Yesterday, I was again approached by a young guy. This time it happened near the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Guy. I thought the guy looked familiar but couldn’t remember from where. When he asked me for cinq piasses because his wallet had been stolen and that he lives in Laval, I had my answer…
I confronted him by telling him that was the same story he told me two weeks ago. He got nervous, smiled, and said that his wallet got stolen again yesterday. Of course, at this point he was just saying nonsense because he knew that he’d just been called out.
Today’s entry serves two purposes:
a) review of the informal French word piasse, which means dollar
b) don’t fall for the boulechite on Sainte-Catherine Street
I’ve been approached three times by a lady collecting money for needy children (in East Asia, I think). She’s dressed in regular clothes and carries a black sort of clipboard that opens and closes. I think she pockets the money — I can’t say for sure that it’s a scam, but it just looks fake and I think my bullshit detector is good. She’s always alone. She’s approached me twice downtown and once in metro Lionel-Groulx.
Have you seen the crying boy on Sainte-Catherine? The one who has a sign that says he needs money to get home to Toronto? I’m not 100% sure about that one either, but it looks really suspect. I’ve seen him crying with his sign three different times over the space of about two months, in slightly different spots. Always crying with the same intense chagrin.
He makes a lot of money. I saw a woman give him vingt piasses. A crying boy with a sign that uses the word “home” is very effective, it seems. I’m sure he made the amount he supposedly needed to go to Toronto really quickly. So if I’ve seen him three times over the space of two months, crying intensely each time, I think I’m gonna have to call boulechite.
Ahhh, so the ‘lost Laval guy’ was a scam-artist – came across him a couple of days ago on de Maisonneuve and University…Cinq piasses pour aller à Laval…hmmm. I think I have seen the ‘crying boy’ too…
Hello, I really like your french tips and I must say that if you were in Brazil this would be peace of cake for you. We have A LOT of people doing thoses things around the donwtown of São Paulo city, it’s sad to know that this is becoming popular at Montreal.
Have a nice day.