wemct
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2019
- Threads
- 20
- Messages
- 732
- Reaction score
- 1,259
- Location
- Georgia, USA
- Vehicles
- '23 Cayenne S Coupe; '22 AMG SL55; Taycan 4S(sold)
- Thread starter
- #1
I recently completed a long distance road trip. I planned the trip with a layover to avoid using the Electrify America chargers in the middle of the night in a deserted Walmart parking lot. We had some friendly banter on the forum about stopping at Walmarts during off hours. I am glad that I did not charge in the middle of the night.
While most of my stops at chargers have been friendly with people loving the Mamba Green or taking pictures of the car, I have also had some uncomfortable encounters at the Chargers. During my road trip I stopped at a charger in Charlotte, North Carolina. I connected to the charger and then went to Walmart to use the facilities and then grabbed some food at McDonalds. When I walked back to the car, I noticed a group of 10 kids (ages 8-12) on bicycles next to the car taking selfies with the car. Some were sitting on the hood of the car. I recently had the hood repaired so the thought of another trip to the bodyshop did not make me too happy. As I approached they asked if it was my car. Then they started up with asking for a donation for their bicycle club. I was friendly but firm that no donation was forthcoming. At the same time I was trying to watch to make sure no one was getting too close to the car with their bikes or planning a grab and dash on their bikes since the comfort access unlocked all the doors when I approached the car. The leader of the pack kept pressing for some money and suggested that I must live in a mansion since I had a Porsche. I pointed to the McDonalds bag and replied that was certainly not the case if I was eating the value meal from Mickey Ds. Right after the words left my mouth, one of the kids who was about 8 years old looked down and then up and said "Mister I like your Gucci loafers". Uggh I was called out by an 8 year old. They circled around for another minute or so and then left.
Tonight I was fortunate enough to get my second shot of the Moderna vaccine. I had to travel quite a bit to the vaccination clinic so on the way back I decided to stop at an EA charger to top off the battery. I had no problem connecting to the charger and was about to get back in my car when someone approached to tell me how he had an orange car and that he liked my green Taycan. He then tried to hit me up for some money mentioning that surely someone with a Porsche could help him out. Once again I was friendly and pointed out that with COVID no one carried cash anymore. He acknowledged that was true but then pressed to ask if I had some loose change in the car. I told him no and thanked him for the conversation. He left to catch his bus. A few minutes later when I got out of my car he walked back towards the car and said that he missed his bus because he was too busy with our earlier conversation. I didn't reply because I wasn't sure why his problem was now somehow my problem. I cut the charging session short and headed back home.
I am sympathetic to peoples' situations but it does not sit well with me that just because I have a Taycan that somehow I am viewed as an easy target. I used to live in New York City so I am fairly street smart so I can usually handle myself during these encounters. I also payback for my good fortune by giving back financially and through my volunteer activities (I worked on my ambulance shift last Saturday night 11 pm - 7 am). It is unfortunate that the world is the way it is, but after these most recent encounters, I would never want to be alone in the Taycan at 2 am at an EA charger in a deserted parking lot. It is too easy to be the victim of a car jacking (or worse). I wasn't planning to post anything about the incident in Charlotte, but after tonight's incident I had say something to remind others to use common sense and to be prepared for the positive and negative encounters.
While most of my stops at chargers have been friendly with people loving the Mamba Green or taking pictures of the car, I have also had some uncomfortable encounters at the Chargers. During my road trip I stopped at a charger in Charlotte, North Carolina. I connected to the charger and then went to Walmart to use the facilities and then grabbed some food at McDonalds. When I walked back to the car, I noticed a group of 10 kids (ages 8-12) on bicycles next to the car taking selfies with the car. Some were sitting on the hood of the car. I recently had the hood repaired so the thought of another trip to the bodyshop did not make me too happy. As I approached they asked if it was my car. Then they started up with asking for a donation for their bicycle club. I was friendly but firm that no donation was forthcoming. At the same time I was trying to watch to make sure no one was getting too close to the car with their bikes or planning a grab and dash on their bikes since the comfort access unlocked all the doors when I approached the car. The leader of the pack kept pressing for some money and suggested that I must live in a mansion since I had a Porsche. I pointed to the McDonalds bag and replied that was certainly not the case if I was eating the value meal from Mickey Ds. Right after the words left my mouth, one of the kids who was about 8 years old looked down and then up and said "Mister I like your Gucci loafers". Uggh I was called out by an 8 year old. They circled around for another minute or so and then left.
Tonight I was fortunate enough to get my second shot of the Moderna vaccine. I had to travel quite a bit to the vaccination clinic so on the way back I decided to stop at an EA charger to top off the battery. I had no problem connecting to the charger and was about to get back in my car when someone approached to tell me how he had an orange car and that he liked my green Taycan. He then tried to hit me up for some money mentioning that surely someone with a Porsche could help him out. Once again I was friendly and pointed out that with COVID no one carried cash anymore. He acknowledged that was true but then pressed to ask if I had some loose change in the car. I told him no and thanked him for the conversation. He left to catch his bus. A few minutes later when I got out of my car he walked back towards the car and said that he missed his bus because he was too busy with our earlier conversation. I didn't reply because I wasn't sure why his problem was now somehow my problem. I cut the charging session short and headed back home.
I am sympathetic to peoples' situations but it does not sit well with me that just because I have a Taycan that somehow I am viewed as an easy target. I used to live in New York City so I am fairly street smart so I can usually handle myself during these encounters. I also payback for my good fortune by giving back financially and through my volunteer activities (I worked on my ambulance shift last Saturday night 11 pm - 7 am). It is unfortunate that the world is the way it is, but after these most recent encounters, I would never want to be alone in the Taycan at 2 am at an EA charger in a deserted parking lot. It is too easy to be the victim of a car jacking (or worse). I wasn't planning to post anything about the incident in Charlotte, but after tonight's incident I had say something to remind others to use common sense and to be prepared for the positive and negative encounters.
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