420's

420 is the number in Curry land penal code which con artists are given. So when people here talk about con artists and frauds they call them 420 men. In our first 6 months here we were very naive so we were approached by 420's on a regular basis, and because we were so naive we did not even know they were conning us. Now we can ask more questions and understand a little more what is going on so we are not so easy targets for the run of the mill 420's.
People in our neighborhood celebrate two major holidays. And on those holidays it is customary to give people who work for you on a regular basis a holiday bonus. So R gets a bonus, the neighborhood trash guy gets a bonus, and our neighborhood night watchman gets a bonus. On both holidays the watchman came to our gate told us who he was and asked for his bonus. We didn't question him, we simply gave him his bonus. Well three nights ago Z and I were up pretty late and we heard the watchmen outside our gate so Z went to talk to him. To our surprise he was not the same man we have been giving bonuses to the past two holidays. Instead we had given the bonuses to a 420 - dope!
A couple of days ago another 420 came by. He claimed to be the sewer cleaner and said we owed him for 6 months of work. Z responded by saying that we had never called for or hired a sewer cleaner, why was he cleaning our sewage without being asked to do so? Then he claimed it was a neighborhood service and that all our neighbors pay him. So Z did the next logical thing, he went and asked our neighbors if they pay this man to clean their sewage. As soon as Z started to talk to one of our neighbors the man quickly got on his motor bike and skirted off...our neighbors had no clue who he was nor did he ask them for money. Yes! One 420 who didn't get away with it.