Danielle gets scammed out of $100 and feels like a fool

 I think one of the big misconceptions about me and Bubs when everything blew up on Reddit two years ago is that we are some sort of small-town Texas bumpkin couple who doesn't know our asses from a hole in the ground.

While the actual town we grew up in is pretty small, there are midsize cities less than 15 minutes from us, and we're also between San Antonio to the south and Austin to the north. And if you want to extend that, the entire I-35 corridor from San Antonio to Dallas is really kind of one big city—which probably even extends on up into Oklahoma City.

So I've been in and around decent-sized cities my entire life, and I never really thought I was all that much of a "country mouse."

Well, all it took was one walk in downtown Tucson to completely shatter the idea that I'm not just some wide-eyed plough girl with $100 bills hanging out of her pocket, ready for all comers to tell me a sob story and make off with my money.

Literally.

For the previous few weeks leading up to Monday, we had been having pretty extreme heat, reaching up to 107 degrees some days. Occasionally we'd get some nice monsoon storms in the afternoon to help cool things off, but not by much. I was delighted when my weather app and the local news said we were in for a major temperature drop on Monday—probably along with a full day of drizzly rain.

I've been through downtown Tucson several times, and Bubs and I have gone on a couple of date nights at some of the more classic restaurants, but I've never really spent much time there. So my plan was, if the weather held, I was going to take Ashley to the Children's Museum, then walk around a bit to enjoy the rain, meet Bubs for lunch, and be done in time to pick the older kids up from school.

We had an absolute blast at the Children's Museum. She is just old enough to be able to wander around and touch and grab everything, look at all the cool lights, listen to the sounds, and just enjoy being in a new place. Absolute kudos to the museum for making a place that is amazing for kids of all ages, literally.

The weather was perfect. About 80 degrees, very light misting rain—and especially with Ashley zonked out and covered up in her stroller from all the play time at the museum, and me in a hoodie, it was ideal weather for just walking around and taking in the sights.

As we walked north into the actual downtown area, I wouldn't say it was crowded, but because of the stroller there were enough people around that I couldn't really maneuver left or right. I thought it was a little odd to see a man coming toward me in a suit carrying a huge bottle of expensive-looking liquor, especially on a Monday morning.

As he passed, he kind of made a little move that made me shift to my right to avoid him, and I felt a light bump on the stroller.

Then suddenly, a massive crash as the bottle he was carrying smashed on the ground.

My biggest concern was that Ashley had gotten glass on her, but she seemed fine and slept through the whole thing. I don't want to say the guy was rude or aggressive...but he was very insistent, and he had a story.

The bottle was a gift for his dad, who was getting out of the hospital. He'd just gotten a new job, and it wasn't a big deal, but he felt bad that he wasn't going to be able to celebrate with his dad and their favorite vodka.

And again, it wasn't rude—but he said something like, "I just wish you would have been more careful because I can't afford another bottle."

Well, everything he put together was tailor-made for me, and he must have read me like a book from 200 paces away.

I insisted on giving him cash for the bottle. He said he was so appreciative and that it was about $50—and Danielle, the absolute idiot, was like, "Oh no, please let me give you $100 for your trouble!"

Which, of course, he gladly accepted.

I told him I really hoped his dad felt better, and we went on our opposite ways.

And then all of a sudden, the pieces just started to not quite fit like they had when I was standing in front of him.

His suit was a little worn. He didn't quite fit in with the rest of the hip urban professionals who were on the sidewalk with us. And his story just started to seem too perfect, if that makes any sense.

I couldn't put my finger exactly on what the feeling was, so I turned around—not to ask for my money back, because I realized that was long gone—but just to get a better look at him in the hopes that maybe his story would check out with a second glance.

The fact that he had disappeared like the wind was more than enough confirmation I needed to realize I had been scammed.

We walked to the restaurant where we were meeting Bubs, who was already waiting for us. He's better at reading my face than any street charlatan will ever be, so his first words were a very sympathetic, "What happened?"

Nonchalant and me will never be simpatico, and I just started bawling trying to explain to Bubs what had just happened less than a block away.

I must have been crying so hard that the server actually brought me a glass of water and a box of tissues. I think she thought Bubs had just told me he was leaving me for a younger woman.

Bubs is amazing in these situations and really helped me calm down. We googled it, and sure enough, the bump-into-a-broken-liquor-bottle-and-demand-cash scam is a very common one in bigger cities, though we couldn't find any word of it happening in Tucson.

I guess a big part of the skill of the con is determining how to approach the scam victim. Most of the time it's very aggressive and demanding money—which probably wouldn't have worked on me, because I would have gotten immediately defensive and wanted to get Ashley away as fast as I could.

But the "my dad is getting out of the hospital and I don't have enough money to replace it" story hit all the right buttons for me, and I ended up giving him $50 more than he was even asking for.

I mean, losing $100 sucks, but I guess I can chalk it up to an expensive lesson that I've got to become a little more street smart.

I hope he really does need that money more than me, and maybe it can even be a down payment on seeing the error of his ways and never doing it again.

But somehow I doubt it.

And I somehow doubt it's the last scam I'll fall for.