On Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in my friend’s restaurant waiting to take a couple of his family members to the airport. I looked outside and noticed two 20ish kids getting out of an unusual-looking car: a purple Lexus, with two small ‘naked-lady’ silhouette emblems (truck-flap girls) flanking the trunk keyhole.
I exchanged glances and a nod with one of them and went back to reading my book.
About five minutes later, they came running pretty damn fast, got in the car, and left going the wrong way on a one-way street.
Two minutes later, the owner of an Asian grocery store down the block came walking past, looking like he was searching for someone. I went outside and asked him if he was. When he said yes, I described the ones I’d seen leave, and he nodded eagerly. These two kids had stolen money from his cash register two weeks ago, and either had tried to do so again, or had just been walking past when the grocer recognized them (I wasn’t sure which, due to the grocer’s English).
I told him what I had witnessed. Then I smiled and added, "And the tag number of the car was “-’” He smiled too.
We went to his store and I wrote the information down for him, along with my phone number should police need to talk to me.
Note to stupid rich-kid thieves: get a less flamboyant second vehicle for daytime jobs.
There had been some enmity over parking issues (the grocer’s family owns a banquet hall next to the grocery that sometimes has huge crowds at times that coincide with my friend’s restaurant’s busiest times).
The grocer is Korean, and my friend is Thai, so communication over who could park where and when, already strained, was made even more so by language. But this may enable it a little bit. I made sure the grocer knew that I actually worked at my friend’s restaurant (as opposed to being a customer), and that he could reach me there most nights.
