Skippy SH13
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- Primary Interest:
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The last few weeks, I’ve had some oddball experiences with kids following me in the parks, I figured I’d share… some of them have morals to the stories, some of them are just funny. Working backwards
#1 Please… Go Away!
A couple of days ago, I was hitting a park I regularly detect (lots of parents are starting to recognize me). As a result, the typical “wariness” of folks around the “Creeper Beeper” just isn’t there. Lots of them will wave, nod, and whatnot. As a result, I try to be a little more congenial to the kids when they surround me, and if there’s pennies to be had, I’m happy to let them take them. I’m not there for pennies anyway.
This particular day, the # of kids there was pretty light, but I seemed to catch them all like they were flies on a flystrip. A few of the young boys were very patient, and didn’t get in my way (they were up on a rock fixture, just watching, not saying anything or being otherwise annoying). So… When I pulled up a couple of pennies from the bark beneath their feet (sequentially, not at the same time), I reached up and handed them each a penny. They were thrilled, polite, and said, “Thanks!” They were probably 6-7 years old.
That’s the kind of attitude I like. Stay out of my way, be polite, don’t pester… fantastic.
A few minutes later, I had a gaggle of girls surrounding me… nothing to do with the boys (or so I thought), and every time I stooped to check out something, they were RIGHT THERE in my face. I repeatedly asked them to stay back, I didn’t want to accidentally nick one of them with the Lesche digger tool (Oh, man.. can you imagine the flack from that? “HE STABBED MY DAUGHTER WITH A DAGGER!” That’s all I could think about… it was so bad, that I had to put the digger tool in my pouch and dig with my hands).
I eventually got tired of it, and walked off the bark into the grass. I lost only about ½ the kids by doing this. When I noted the girls were still following, I turned, looked at them, and politely said, “OK, you kids need to go back and play now!” Then kept swinging. I lost another half of them… down to three… I finally gave up at that spot and walked up a hill near the park area, and surprisingly, the girls STILL followed. Now I’m thinking, “oh great… now I REALLY will catch flack from parents.” So, I simply turned around and said, you need to go back to the park, where your parents won’t worry about you.” I lost 2 more of them. I kept walking up and the first signal, the little girl was right in my face again… I finally just looked at her and said, “you need to go now, please.” She looked at me, and left. About 2 minutes later, I’m thinking I’m alone, and I’m working a coin spill (72 cents!) and all of a sudden in my left ear, I hear…
“I think you should give me that.”
WHA
It’s the little girl!
I said, “Excuse me?” and scowled (Which usually does it).
She said, “You gave the other boys something, and I think you should give that to me.”
MAN… the moxie on 5 year olds! It made me laugh, but at that point, I couldn’t break… and I simply asked her to leave, please. She finally got the hint.
TOO funny!
#2 Giraffes belong to everyone
I was hunting a favorite park, and had some kids come up to me while I was hunting the bark. It started with a single little girl (probably 10 years old), who was alone (and that always freaks me out), so I told her to stay way back while I was detecting. She chattered away, and was generally pleasant, congratulating me on my finds and such. Never encroached on my space, and was always careful to stay out of my swing. No problems. Her brothers showed up about 2 minutes later, and they all basically got into what I was finding… all being polite.
After about 15 minutes of this, and having searched the area the kids play, I took off toward the ball field, and yelled back, “See you guys later!” They all took the point, and stayed put. No problems! I like kids like that.
I ended up finding a nice Tungsten Carbide men’s ring with Celtic scrolling that day (in fact, it’s my new favorite, and I wear it all the time), and was headed to my car at the curb, and stopped under a tree for a quick swing. Big loud tone.
I reached down and pulled out a 4 inch long broach of two Giraffes. One Gold, one Silver. The pin had bent (probably caught on something and fallen off a sweater). It was a bit under the mat, but showed no corrosion. I thought OOH… probably Gold! But alas, no. Too light, no hallmark.
I was just about done inspecting it and I was about to put it in my pocket, and I heard “Hey, what’d you find?” The same little girl had walked up in front of me (from all the way across the park) while the bill of my hat covered my eyes while looking down. I showed it to her, and she said, “oh, that’s NICE!” I was just about to give it to her when she got a funny look on her face, and looked like she wanted to say something, so I waited, figuring she was going to ask for it… I was thinking this would be a nice end to a day, and I was going to give it to her. Instead... what came out of her mouth was this.
“I’m pretty sure that’s my brother’s.”
I said, “Excuse me, young lady, do you want to try that again?” Giving her a chance to backtrack. Instead, she decided to full-on go with it!
“Yes, that’s my brother’s for sure.”
“Your brother’s, huh? Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“He loves Giraffe’s” and after looking at my face, she followed with, “Well… it COULD be his…” and looked down.
I said, “Young lady, I’m disappointed that you would stand here and lie to me like that. Both you and I know this is not your brother’s. I think you need to go now.”
She knew she’d blew it. I thought about telling her that I’d have given it to her if she’d asked, but I figured the lesson was good enough. No need to rub it in. She looked at the broach for a moment, shook her head ok, and walked off head hung.
What a knucklehead.
#3: Faster than a speeding bullet.
This one happened, a mere 2 weeks ago. I was digging in the park where I found that 81 diamond ring… and had JUST dug up a 14K gold band. I was working another signal, and found another ring about 4” down under some roots. I’d pulled it up, and was kneeling on both knees looking for a hallmark, and had noted some corrosion, and that the outer ring had some lettering. It couldn’t have been 2 seconds after I noted it was probably not valuable, when I heard “What’s that?” from a little girl off my right shoulder. When I’d stooped the closest person was probably 10 yards away. I figured it was just a little girl, so I held it up and said, “a ring.”
Like a little lightening ninja, she snatched the ring out of my fingers, and ran off shouting at the top of her lungs, “HE GAVE IT TO ME! HE GAVE IT TO ME!” I was absolutely SHOCKED, to say the least!
By the time I’d gotten up off of the knees and turned around full to see where she’d gone, she’d literally DISAPPEARED into the crowd. Not only did I not know WHICH little girl had taken the ring, the way she reacted, I’d have had a heck of a time getting it back if it had been real!
LESSON HERE… DON’T SHOW LITTLE KIDS YOUR STUFF.
#4 But…I asked nicely, though!
A few months ago, while detecting the same park as #2, I was working the main area where kids play soccer… I’d just pulled up a quarter, and put it in my bag, when one of the soccer kids walked away from practice, and came up to me.
I looked up and said, “Hello.”
He kind of hesitated for a second (like a kid who is building courage), and then beamed a big smile and answered, “Hello, are you finding money?”
I said, “Yep! I find change and stuff in the parks.”
“You should give me the money, because I don’t have any.”
I literally just belly laughed… and replied, “no, I’m NOT going to give you the money I found!”
He then gave me a look of complete SHOCK. (This was the funniest part… I really think he though he was going to get the money!), and answered, “But… But… But I asked NICELY!”
I laughed and told him to go back to practice, that my money is my money, and while I appreciated the fact he asked nicely, I was going to keep it.
He literally just stood there in shock, and even mumbled again, “But I asked NICELY…” I swung away around him and kept going. It made me laugh all day long.
#1 Please… Go Away!
A couple of days ago, I was hitting a park I regularly detect (lots of parents are starting to recognize me). As a result, the typical “wariness” of folks around the “Creeper Beeper” just isn’t there. Lots of them will wave, nod, and whatnot. As a result, I try to be a little more congenial to the kids when they surround me, and if there’s pennies to be had, I’m happy to let them take them. I’m not there for pennies anyway.
This particular day, the # of kids there was pretty light, but I seemed to catch them all like they were flies on a flystrip. A few of the young boys were very patient, and didn’t get in my way (they were up on a rock fixture, just watching, not saying anything or being otherwise annoying). So… When I pulled up a couple of pennies from the bark beneath their feet (sequentially, not at the same time), I reached up and handed them each a penny. They were thrilled, polite, and said, “Thanks!” They were probably 6-7 years old.
That’s the kind of attitude I like. Stay out of my way, be polite, don’t pester… fantastic.
A few minutes later, I had a gaggle of girls surrounding me… nothing to do with the boys (or so I thought), and every time I stooped to check out something, they were RIGHT THERE in my face. I repeatedly asked them to stay back, I didn’t want to accidentally nick one of them with the Lesche digger tool (Oh, man.. can you imagine the flack from that? “HE STABBED MY DAUGHTER WITH A DAGGER!” That’s all I could think about… it was so bad, that I had to put the digger tool in my pouch and dig with my hands).
I eventually got tired of it, and walked off the bark into the grass. I lost only about ½ the kids by doing this. When I noted the girls were still following, I turned, looked at them, and politely said, “OK, you kids need to go back and play now!” Then kept swinging. I lost another half of them… down to three… I finally gave up at that spot and walked up a hill near the park area, and surprisingly, the girls STILL followed. Now I’m thinking, “oh great… now I REALLY will catch flack from parents.” So, I simply turned around and said, you need to go back to the park, where your parents won’t worry about you.” I lost 2 more of them. I kept walking up and the first signal, the little girl was right in my face again… I finally just looked at her and said, “you need to go now, please.” She looked at me, and left. About 2 minutes later, I’m thinking I’m alone, and I’m working a coin spill (72 cents!) and all of a sudden in my left ear, I hear…
“I think you should give me that.”
WHA
It’s the little girl! I said, “Excuse me?” and scowled (Which usually does it).
She said, “You gave the other boys something, and I think you should give that to me.”
MAN… the moxie on 5 year olds! It made me laugh, but at that point, I couldn’t break… and I simply asked her to leave, please. She finally got the hint.
TOO funny!
#2 Giraffes belong to everyone
I was hunting a favorite park, and had some kids come up to me while I was hunting the bark. It started with a single little girl (probably 10 years old), who was alone (and that always freaks me out), so I told her to stay way back while I was detecting. She chattered away, and was generally pleasant, congratulating me on my finds and such. Never encroached on my space, and was always careful to stay out of my swing. No problems. Her brothers showed up about 2 minutes later, and they all basically got into what I was finding… all being polite.
After about 15 minutes of this, and having searched the area the kids play, I took off toward the ball field, and yelled back, “See you guys later!” They all took the point, and stayed put. No problems! I like kids like that.
I ended up finding a nice Tungsten Carbide men’s ring with Celtic scrolling that day (in fact, it’s my new favorite, and I wear it all the time), and was headed to my car at the curb, and stopped under a tree for a quick swing. Big loud tone.
I reached down and pulled out a 4 inch long broach of two Giraffes. One Gold, one Silver. The pin had bent (probably caught on something and fallen off a sweater). It was a bit under the mat, but showed no corrosion. I thought OOH… probably Gold! But alas, no. Too light, no hallmark.
I was just about done inspecting it and I was about to put it in my pocket, and I heard “Hey, what’d you find?” The same little girl had walked up in front of me (from all the way across the park) while the bill of my hat covered my eyes while looking down. I showed it to her, and she said, “oh, that’s NICE!” I was just about to give it to her when she got a funny look on her face, and looked like she wanted to say something, so I waited, figuring she was going to ask for it… I was thinking this would be a nice end to a day, and I was going to give it to her. Instead... what came out of her mouth was this.
“I’m pretty sure that’s my brother’s.”
I said, “Excuse me, young lady, do you want to try that again?” Giving her a chance to backtrack. Instead, she decided to full-on go with it!
“Yes, that’s my brother’s for sure.”
“Your brother’s, huh? Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“He loves Giraffe’s” and after looking at my face, she followed with, “Well… it COULD be his…” and looked down.
I said, “Young lady, I’m disappointed that you would stand here and lie to me like that. Both you and I know this is not your brother’s. I think you need to go now.”
She knew she’d blew it. I thought about telling her that I’d have given it to her if she’d asked, but I figured the lesson was good enough. No need to rub it in. She looked at the broach for a moment, shook her head ok, and walked off head hung.
What a knucklehead.
#3: Faster than a speeding bullet.
This one happened, a mere 2 weeks ago. I was digging in the park where I found that 81 diamond ring… and had JUST dug up a 14K gold band. I was working another signal, and found another ring about 4” down under some roots. I’d pulled it up, and was kneeling on both knees looking for a hallmark, and had noted some corrosion, and that the outer ring had some lettering. It couldn’t have been 2 seconds after I noted it was probably not valuable, when I heard “What’s that?” from a little girl off my right shoulder. When I’d stooped the closest person was probably 10 yards away. I figured it was just a little girl, so I held it up and said, “a ring.”
Like a little lightening ninja, she snatched the ring out of my fingers, and ran off shouting at the top of her lungs, “HE GAVE IT TO ME! HE GAVE IT TO ME!” I was absolutely SHOCKED, to say the least!
By the time I’d gotten up off of the knees and turned around full to see where she’d gone, she’d literally DISAPPEARED into the crowd. Not only did I not know WHICH little girl had taken the ring, the way she reacted, I’d have had a heck of a time getting it back if it had been real!
LESSON HERE… DON’T SHOW LITTLE KIDS YOUR STUFF.
#4 But…I asked nicely, though!
A few months ago, while detecting the same park as #2, I was working the main area where kids play soccer… I’d just pulled up a quarter, and put it in my bag, when one of the soccer kids walked away from practice, and came up to me.
I looked up and said, “Hello.”
He kind of hesitated for a second (like a kid who is building courage), and then beamed a big smile and answered, “Hello, are you finding money?”
I said, “Yep! I find change and stuff in the parks.”
“You should give me the money, because I don’t have any.”
I literally just belly laughed… and replied, “no, I’m NOT going to give you the money I found!”
He then gave me a look of complete SHOCK. (This was the funniest part… I really think he though he was going to get the money!), and answered, “But… But… But I asked NICELY!”
I laughed and told him to go back to practice, that my money is my money, and while I appreciated the fact he asked nicely, I was going to keep it.
He literally just stood there in shock, and even mumbled again, “But I asked NICELY…” I swung away around him and kept going. It made me laugh all day long.
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