I mean... I guess. Most people don't call people begging for money scammers though. I don't see how this is any different.

oh, I gave this dude a ride a month or two ago. He gave me exactly the spiel you described. He was friendly enough, seemed down on his luck, and seemed generally harmless. I would have given him cash if I had some. Still would.

I don't think it's fair calling this a scam. He's asking for help. Does he need it? Maybe not. Is he taking advantage of people who are nice? Maybe. But like... okay? I don't mind giving someone a ride or a few bucks. If I did I wouldn't have said yes.

I had my car stolen (while parked, not while I was in it) almost two months ago. I filed the police report and cops told me "why didn't you call insurance first?" Insurance said "it usually takes 3 weeks, if the cops don't talk to us by then we'll cut you a check." 2 weeks and 6 days later the car turned up in a city impound lot. 3 weeks and a ton of paperwork and headache later, the car was out of impound and insurance called it a total loss anyways.

So...

I hope your story goes better than mine, but I recommend starting to figure out an alternative transportation solution now. I got the distinct impression that my story is the "normal" one.

Edit: oh, and we had two carseats in our car. We didn't get either of them back because the amount of drug shit in the car (i.e. needles) was ridiculous. If you need a carseat, KISS might be able to help.

I went in for jury duty this summer and ended up getting dismissed. Still spent like 5 hours waiting around. The free wifi was mediocre but I didn't have any issues with blocked websites. Maybe they changed it?

The real pro strat is... bring a book.

Yep, agreed on JBGB. I was hoping for top tier pizza given their pricing, but it's just... medium.