There's always a way out... if you know what to offer.
Redditor PancakeSam_ asked today's burning question: "Police of Reddit, what bribes do you get offered most often? And for what offences?"
Turns out there's a variety, but are you surprised?
"We kept asserting that we were not arresting him..."
I worked as an EMT in my younger days and we came across this very drunk gentleman one day and put him in the back. (In my state it's legal to take custody of patients who are not alert and oriented) the patient in question thought we were cops because our uniforms were similar and he thought he was getting arrested for drunk and disorderly so he tried offering us the rest of his booze and $12 to let him go. We kept asserting that we were not arresting him and we were taking him to the hospital to sober up so he didn't walk into traffic like he was about to do.
"Stopped a car late one night..."
Stopped a car late one night for failure to maintain lane. Given the time, etc, I had expected to find a DUI.
Approached the passenger side window, talked briefly, and discovered they were indeed all on the way home from a club, with a stop at a conveniece store for food on the way.
The driver, though, was their DD, and not impaired at all. She was just distracted by the party atmosphere in the car.
In the lap of the front seat passenger was their convenience store bag. She started trying to make me a sandwich out of bologna, mustard, and a loaf of white bread.
"News flash..."
"You can keep it if you just let me go!"
"It" referring to various narcotics - baggie of heroin, little crack rock, jar of bud.
News flash: I'm keeping it as evidence and you're going to county.
"Everyone knows those..."
Cash for speeding offences. Everyone knows those soft plastic holders for your ownership and insurance? Well, people like to hand those over with cash stuck in them. I always make people take their documentation out of the plastic holder and hand it to me so this doesn't happen. Never have I, nor would I ever take it. It pisses me off when people do this. Do you really think I am going to abandon all my morals and job for $50? It is usually people that have come from outside of North American who do this. It might be acceptable there, but not here. Also for those that are about to ask why I don't charge them for trying to offering me a bribe, reasonable doubt is a b!tch.
"Most bizarre one..."
GiphySomeone already mentioned the most common one for me, which would be "you can keep the drugs/cash".
Most bizarre one would be from an offender who owned a taco shop and offered me free tacos for life if I looked the other way.
"But the one I've had a few times..."
Honestly there are waaaay more threats than there are bribes. But the one I've had a few times is money in lieu of DUI stuff.
"I had three stages of dealing with bribes..."
Never had any bribes offered when I was a cop. Got plenty of offers as a correctional officer. Mostly it was commissary (Ramen soups, honey buns, etc) and in return they'd ask for things like food from staff dining, getting moved to other housing sections or other cells, or for me to bring in cigarettes for them. I had one guy offer to wire me a few thousand dollars if I would bring a message to his wife.
I had three stages of dealing with bribes:
- "Nah, man, I'm good." If they pressed the matter, it became
- "No, I never take things from inmates." if they insisted, it was then
- "Okay, I don't feel like writing a report tonight if I don't have to. So, we're both going to pretend you were just joking. Because if you try to bribe me one more time, I'm writing you up and throwing you in the hole, and you might even catch another case. So you might want to shut up and walk away."
- Never got past stage 3.
"I had one gal in my office..."
As a Loss Prevention Officer, I apprehend and prosecute shoplifters. I had one gal in my office handcuffed and yelling at me. She was very dirty, smelly, and what looked to be sticky. I ignored her and continued to type my report while waiting for the police to arrive. While typing my report, she stops yelling and without skipping a beat, says very sexually, "I'll blow you if you let me go." I said "Ewwww, sit back and shut up." I've been bribed many things, but that was nasty.
"I was once offered porn level sex..."
I was once offered porn level sex with one of the hottest women I have ever known. Arguably the hottest woman I have ever known. I knew who she was too since a couple of friends of mine had slept with her. She was drunk. I walked back to the car and called for a female patrol to handle the remainder of the traffic stop, FSTs etc. I was still pulled off the road for a couple weeks for an investigation but was commended for not giving in.
"Had a guy who stole a car..."
Had a guy who stole a car offer me a McDonald's monopoly free French fry if I would just let me him go. Also if I just called his father, Tony the Tiger, he would be able to clear everything up.
"I've been threatened at least three dozen times."
In my fourteen years of police work, no one has ever offered me a bribe. I've seen a DUI suspect offer to give oral sex to a coworker. The offer was politely refused.
I've been threatened at least three dozen times. I've received death threats, threats of non-fatal violence, threats to have me fired, threats to rape me, threats that someone's god would curse me, and threats of lawsuits. Unless this is a very strange afterlife, no one has ever followed through on any of them.
"5 years on."
Giphy5 years on. One lady in a very joking manner said, "Can't I just buy you lunch or something?". I politely refused. That was the only time I've ever been propositioned in any way on the job. I must be hideous.
A cop friend of mine and his partner pulled a guy over for DUI and the guy offered him 10 bucks to "forget the whole thing."
He said "I've already called it in, and besides, I'd have to split that ten with my partner. If you're going to try to bribe me, at least make it more than five dollars!"
He didn't charge him with attempted bribery, because it would be hard to prove that he wasn't joking.
"He wasn't charged."
My SO's grandfather had to have his license revoked recently. He tried bribing the lady at the DMV.
He slid a hundo across to her and said, "How much is this gonna cost to get it taken care of?"
He wasn't charged. Had no business driving. Does not have his license now.
"To this day..."
Not a cop, but my brother is a TSA agent who had this story to tell. He once had to screen Justin Bieber as the kid was going through LAX. The kid really wanted to bring his soda from In-N-Out through the checkpoint. Even though he was going on a private jet which had sodas already on the plane, he wanted to bring that specific soda with him. No fluids over 3.4 ounces.
"I'll sing you a song if you let me keep it."
To this day, we're still not sure if he was trying to bribe a federal employee, or if he was just threatening to subject everyone in the terminal to his "music."
"Back in the early 2000s..."
Not me but my dad's best friend was a cop for like 40 years. Back in the early 2000s he pulled over a car with 4 chicks where the driver was drunk and they offered him group sex if he didn't give the driver a DWI.
"When I was in college..."
When I was in college, and frankly much better looking, and still struggling with a lot of mental health issues, I got pulled over for speeding. I was broke and it was a hefty ticket. I was drunk and didn't want him checking so I offered the (MUCH OLDER) officer a handjob if he let me off. He looked around for cameras, pulled out his penis, and predictably asked me to use my mouth after barely the first tug. I swallowed and he left me his number and drove off.
Never called him. I tried flashing a different officer another time but he was super gay so I ended up looking like a fool that time.
"I work in corrections..."
I work in corrections at our local county jail in the booking/intake section. A female doctor whom was arrested for DWI and would not be seeing a magistrate until the following morning, she missed the days cut off time and would have to wait another 24 hrs, got on her knees and loudly yelled "Who's d**k do I have to suck to get out of jail!?!?!" Not mine that's for sure, lol.
We've all had a conversation with someone where they say something where they've said something incorrect or inaccurate.
Sometimes, our gut reaction is just to laugh, as it was an honest mistake, such as mixing up a pair of celebrities or misusing or mispronouncing a word.
Other times, we might feel the need to put them in their place and not only correct them but educate them.
Then there are the times when we have just heard something so shockingly inane that we are left completely and utterly speechless.
Redditor Moo1124 was eager to hear all the dumb things the Reddit community heard which left them dumbfounded, leading them to ask:
"What's the stupidest thing you've ever heard anyone say?"
Before You Denounce Something, Make Sure You Know What It Is
"'I don't believe in astronomy'."
"We asked her if she meant astrology, and she asked, 'which is the one where like, you can tell what stars are made of?''
"We confirmed that was astronomy'."
"'Yeah, I don't believe in that'."- octohog
That Explains All The Traffic Jams?
"That when you press on the horn of your car, it lowers the amount of air in your front right tire due to it helping make that horn sound."- Boomstick123456
Oh, Dear...
"I was walking around the ruins of the ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde just outside of Mancos, Colorado, (where the Ancient Puebloans lived from approximately 550 A.D. to 1300 A.D.) when a visitor asked the tour guide:"
"'Why did they build their homes so far from the highway?'"- badwolf1013
driving los angeles GIF by HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORYGiphyRibbet...
“'I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious'."- Master_Grape5931
Racist No Matter What...
"Apparently when my daughter was first born she looked vaguely East Asian."
"Enough, at least, for the nurses to ask if I was sure it was my baby."
"Now that was an incredibly weird thing to say to a new dad meeting his daughter for the first time, but it wasn't the stupidest thing someone said about this situation."
"That happened when I was retelling the above story to a client in a meeting."
"He asked to see a photo of my kid as a newborn, remarked how she really did 'look Asian', and then proceeded to ask if I thought my child might end up having an Asian accent when she got older."- JoeyCalamaro
Cbs No GIF by HULUWhen Life Gives You Lemons
"Asked someone if they drove a stick."
"They responded, 'no, I drive a car'."
"Now I have a dad joke I’ll remember forever."- 99problemsbut
ID Please...
"I once found a big bulldog in my back yard."
"I don't own a bulldog."
"He was a big friendly, but slow witted guy."
"He look healthy and had a collar but no tags so I knew he was a local."
"I made sure he had water and went to the front yard to start knocking on doors."
"As soon as I stepped outside I saw the family three houses down all gathered in their front yard."
"So another case closed for our young detective."
"I walked over to them and said, 'You guys missing a bulldog?'"
"The mother looked at me and said, 'Is his name Tyson?'"
"The question took me aback."
"I mean, he didn't have tags."
"They knew he didn't have tags."
"So all I could think to say was, 'He didn't say'."
"'But I'm pretty sure he's yours'."
"To this day I wonder if that woman knew how dumb that question was."- Spodson
looks stupid english bulldog GIFGiphyUnder The Influence
"Stoned friend ."
"What year is February in?'"- IHave47Teeth
Woof Woof...
"My teacher told a class of 16-17 year olds about that super loyal dog in Japan who walked to the train station daily for nine years to wait for his owner, who died at work."
"After hearing that story, a girl raised her hand and asked 'Why didn't somebody just tell the dog?'"- Senator_Ruth_Martin
That's Why The FDA Warns Against It...
"When I was 12 years old a friend told me 'smoking is good for you because the smoke makes a shield around your heart when you breathe it in'."
"He argued that the smoke could prevent you from being stabbed or shot."
"Even at 12 I knew he was a moron."- ipondy
There's Denying Global Warming, And Then...
"Solar panels will cause a global ice age, because the law of thermodynamics states energy cannot be created or destroyed, so obviously they must be removing heat from the air."
"With no sense of irony of the scale nor efficiency (or lack thereof) of solar panels and their capacity to cool."- peptobiscuit
In Debt, Maybe...
"I knew a Finance major in college who thought he was worth $20k because he had two credit cards with $10k limit each."- alano134
No one loves a know-it-all.
Especially when they don't actually know anything at all...
Shoplifting is a prevalent issue, but why do people do it?
Some reasons can be as banal as boredom, but other are far more intruiging.
Redditor WineOhCanada wanted to understand why people steal, so they asked:
"People who shoplift on the regular: why do you do it?"
I loved shoplifting.
Until I was caught, that is. I was a price tag switcher.
I apologize.
So Excited
Happy Thomas Lennon GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"It makes me feel alive. Jk I don't any more but as a kid, it was for sure a thrill thing."
silly-billy-goat
The Need
"I’m going to give an actual honest answer as someone who has not done this in many years… it becomes addicting."
anewchapteroflife
"Came here to say this. Back in my high school days, I would do it all the time. It's like a rush. Now my shoplifting days are when I forgot the can of soup on the bottom of the grocery cart and don't realize til I'm loading it in the car."
TheRumpleForesk1n
"I used to work in loss prevention. A lot of times we would let you go; especially teenagers. We knew you would be back and have pictures on the wall of you. We focused on shoplifting rings with a higher dollar amount and employees. Employees rob you blind."
taco_cop
The Hit
"I was greedy and had poor impulse control. While shoplifting was terrifying... having the shiny new thing after gave me a dopamine hit. I got caught three or four times and I thank Christ I was under 18 each and every time."
happyele
"It was less about greed for me I think, I've never been addicted to any drugs, whenever I got caught I would always test negative for anything, the custody sergeant who would take my fingerprints/DNA/drug swab would say 'Sean you're the only one that comes in regular that's not on any drugs, what's going on?' I explained that I was homeless, lost my job because the company I worked for folded, and life just kicked me in the butt."
"Flirty Chez I called her, and she would always give me extra food whenever I was brought in, I just thought that was how she was, then one day she said I need a girlfriend and I shot her down, no more flirty Chez. She was shooting her shot and I rejected her without even knowing it."
hardcoresean84
Exchanges
"Much to my mom’s embarrassment, I was a serial shoplifter as a baby. At least I had the presence of mind to take off my socks and shoes and leave them scattered around the store in exchange."
UsualFrogFriendship
"I was once on a camping trip with my parents. We left the campsite for a day and when we got back our soap had been stolen from the tent. Just our soap, nothing else was taken, but we did find the shoes of the perpetrator!"
"This kid left them right at the entrance of our tent, so it was not difficult to find out who did it. When we went to get the soap back and give him back his shoes, sadly the kid threw it over a fence, so we never got it back."
ptbroeke
Influences
Breaking Bad Crying GIFGiphy"My easily influenced mind was corrupted by TV. If it's good enough for Marie Schrader then it's good enough for me."
DavosLostFingers
TV rots your brains and decision making capabilities.
Do the opposite of your favorite characters.
End of Times
Nbc Shoplifting GIF by SuperstoreGiphy"When I was bedridden due to Covid, I had a friend who shoplifted a whole damn box worth of medicine from different drugstores."
"I was very impressed and confused, as I didn't ask for it. Great friend though!"
pepper-blu
Criminals
"As a former loss prevention officer, most of the people I stopped were stealing to resell the items. Many people were clearly drug addicts and many people I stopped had meth and other drugs on them. Not every shoplifter is stealing to buy drugs, but a ton of them are."
"A lot of other people just stole items they wanted, and some people just have a stealing problem and would take whatever random BS they came across and thought would be easy to steal. If I ever saw someone stealing food I'd usually look the other way, but that was pretty rare to see someone taking food, it was usually clothes, electronics, makeup, or tools."
BigBudZombie
The Rush
"Addiction. And that's addiction to shoplifting, not drugs. It's a rush. Confidence grows with each success. It becomes an obsession. It brings an amount of power when stealing from giant corporations. For me, this question is similar to asking an addict why they are addicted to drugs or alcohol."
"I haven't shoplifted in three years. I attended Shoplifters Anonymous and continue to go to therapy which are both very helpful. I'm very lucky I didn't lose everything."
tacoterrarium
Self-Control
"In high school, I dated this guy who would shoplift and I got influenced to start doing it. After we broke up I kept doing it all throughout college since I was a broke college student who had no self-control. I only shoplifted from big retail stores and told myself it was 'okay.' Post college I stopped because the possible consequences as an adult and to my career were not worth it."
isatacobelle
There was no good in it
"I used to do it as a means to support my drug habit. I wouldn't call what I was doing shoplifting though. I moved the volume and high-end merchandise. Honda generators from Home Depot or Lowe's. Shopping carts full of Tide pods, and Similac baby formula. I'd hit Nordstrom during the holidays for their perfumes and colognes. COACH, Burberry for purses."
"I made a good chunk of change from it, yet I was still homeless. Most of my money went to drugs, and hotel rooms at shi**y hotels. I'm no longer like this. I reached out and went to rehab this past July. I now have 132 days clean and sober, and work an honest job. My life's boring as hell now and I love it. Even though people on the street complimented and applauded my skills."
"I was never proud of myself for any of the stealing I was doing. There was no good in it. Now I feel good about myself and can be proud of what I do. It's a nice feeling to go into a store and not have to be aware of my surroundings and not tighten up when the greeters ask for a receipt. Because now, I can happily show them one. Lol."
Crotch-Monster
Think First
Steve Austin Wrestling GIF by WWEGiphy"I work for a 3-letter retail store in NV and we have a ton of theft. I see a lot of random products for sale on the FB marketplace. If it adds up to over $1,200 it’s grand larceny and you get arrested."
"Walmart also allows up to a certain amount to be returned with no receipt and you get cash back."
samisalwaysmad
What have we learned kids?
Theft never really pays.
Do you have any experiences? Let us know in the comments below.
