From here
This man is a genius. If I was a girl, I’d want to marry him. Sheer brilliance, and funny to boot.
Well, I suppose what he did is unethical and dangerous also… but hell that’s half of why it’s so funny.
That made my day.
Fantastic. 
Tom Mabe is hilarious. If you ever get a chance to hear is “revenge on the telemarketers” do it. It’s great. They’re actual calls that he records.
Why not just buy the guys some lunch? Does he think the food is somehow free to the sandwich shop, or that the labor involved in making the food is meaningless? I fail to see any humor at all, and not even a hint of brilliance.
I had a job delivering sandwiches while I was in college. The shop was owned by two friends of mine who depended upon it for their livelihood. I assure you that this would not have been funny to them. It’s one thing to pull a prank on someone who deserves it. What did the deli owners do to anyone? What an ass.
I am not sure, I might’ve simply not caught it, but it’s not obvious from the call to me that he’s implying that somebody would pay for them eventually. If the sandwich shop is willing to give free food to some undercover cops just because they’re hanging out outside, they’re not going to suddenly suffer all that much if giving to the homeless.
Yeah, I’m not laughing either. I hate practical jokes done at someones else’s expense, which is most of them. What’s the point here, does this guy think this makes him look clever or cute. I’d like to see the cops ID this guy and charge him, bet he wouldn’t find that too funny.
The link is blocked for me, can someone please give me a nutshell of the “prank”?
There’s a guy sitting in a car outside a fast food place, and there’s a couple of homeless guys sitting on the curb near the trash cans outside the restaurant. The guy in the car calls the restaurant and says he’s a cop, and they’ve got undercover officers outside disguised as homeless people, and can someone please give them something to eat without blowing their cover? An employee of the restaurant emerges a few minutes later and sets two bags of food and two sodas on the walk by the two homeless guys, who look surprised, but then grab the bags and start eating.
Contrapuntal - thanks for your comment. I couldn’t find anything funny in that clip, but thought perhaps I was just lacking a sense of humor. I’m glad it’s not just me. On the one hand, it’s nice to see someone give food out to someone who needs it; on the other hand, I feel like the caller was taking advantage of the plight of the homeless for his own gain.
ISTM that this guy is ‘impersonating a police officer’, which is a crime. And he’s doing it to con a business out of property. That would be fraud and/or theft. I think from previous posts I’ve made concerning social services that it’s clear I have some compassion for people without means; but this just seems ‘wrong’ to me.
The nutshell is a guy calls a sandwich shop claiming to be a policeman and telling him that two people on the curb outside their shop are undercover cops disguised as homeless people, and they need food for a long stakeout, but they can’t blow their cover by actually buying the food. The sandwich shop owner/manager/whatever agrees to slip some food to them.
In fact, they really are homeless people.
I don’t find it funny either. Charity with other people’s money isn’t charity.
Thanks **LifeonWry ** and cmkeller. From the two descriptions, I have to agree. This was just fraud. Taking advantage of someone’s willingness to support the police or fear of not pleasing them is not a good act. It is nice that a pair of homeless got a meal, but there are better ways to accomplish this.
Jim
Well, I saw the humor from one perspective, but…what really hit me about the whole incident is that basically, Tom Mabe just taught those two homeless guys that this particular sandwich shop will take pity on them (because they would be unable to ascribe any other motive for it, not knowing about the phone call), and will give them free food. It’s like when you’re in the kitchen cooking something, and your dog is there watching, and you drop a piece of food and Pup scarfs it up. And from then on, you can betcha she’ll be in the kitchen underfoot every time you start cooking something in the kitchen.
So these two homeless guys will be camping out there every day from now on, and will eventually bring their friends.
So it’s funny, but it’s unfunny, too.
So they can afford to feed undercover cops but feeding homeless folks would ruin them financially? :dubious:
Obviously they have some grounds for being irritated: they might voluntarily choose to feed undercover cops at their own expense (and in fact, they did so volunteer), whereas they might not choose to extend the same largesse to those homeless folk.
Big deal. It’s no more “theft” than someone successfully conning a persnickety dance club doorman at one of those velvet-rope places that you’re a celebrity and thereby getting admitted free of charge and in front of other people who are being held back.
[hijack]
I have no problem with people wanting to treat hardworking cops to freebies such as a cup of coffee or a meal or whatever, but I have a real problem with any cop who accepts it. It’s seriously fucking inappropriate. Without any officer intending it, it rapidly conveys the message that every business should provide services to police officers for free — who the heck wants to be the small business owner who doesn’t do so once it’s been seen that some do? And once it’s been done a few times by one person voluntarily at such an establishment, it gets easily converted into an obligation, an entitlement. What, you wanna piss off the cop by not bringing him his on-the-house? He’ll hold a grudge if you do that!
It really should be rigid departmental policy that no officer accepts freebies that aren’t offered regulalry and predictably to people who aren’t on the force. You don’t accept them just as you don’t accept bribes, etc. Apologies in advance if such is actually almost universally the policy, but I’ve sure seen the practice, so it’s flouted often enough if it is policy.
[/hijack]
Not funny, the guys a fucking dick.
You raise a good and fair point but there are a couple of differences that I see. Many storeowners feel pressure to make extra accommodations for the police. It could be a carry over if they are immigrants from their old country’s police force. It could also be a simple case of a storeowner feeling like he wants the police to think kindly of them. Maybe the storeowners like to have cops frequent his place. It could give them a feeling of extra security.
Jim
Yeah, that makes sense… ref. the hijack portion of my post. In light of the fact that it does occur, and in accordance with my own objections to the policy, in retrospect I have to agree it’s not funny not because the deli owner got conned into feeding homeless folks but because telling him it was for the police made it coercive.
Sorry not to find this funny.
I rank it with ordering food from a takeway, then not turning up and lurking by the dustbins hoping they throw the food out.
As others have said, it’s pressure on the shop, gives the cops a bad name (they can’t arrange their own lunch?!) and it is certainly not a solution to the homeless.
It’s just a irritating stunt by a TV presenter.
Pulling a prank on someone who is pompous, or arrogant, abusively annoying, or whatever, may be funny or even appropriate. Who was the jerk here? The two guys for being homeless? The deli guys for bowing to police pressure? BF Deal. Mabe convinced some guys to give a freebie to the cops. Brilliant!
Hey! I’ve eaten at that White Castle!
Matter of fact, I’ve eaten there a bunch of times.
Sorry to disagree from the current tide of opinions, but I do see the irony inherent in feeding police personnel for free, yet watching daily homeless folks go hungry. I think his method was wrong, as well as his target perhaps, but the only thing I really take issue with is his gleeful delight. And I’m not even sure what that’s over. Did he find himself immensely clever? Does that particular White Castle deserve some retribution or something? Regardless, I doubt those men ever feel like anything can be counted on to sustain them. So consistently hanging out there in hopes of more than a one-off is something I doubt they’d do.
Finally, I hope Mabe did reimburse the company and come clean. But most importantly, I’m glad a couple of people got to eat when otherwise they’d go hungry or have another tiny bit of dignity treaded upon by begging or dumpster diving.