wasn't born yesterday...

alright, so at about 7:30 pm this evening i heard a knock at my door. i opened it to find two teenage boys, supposedly brothers, on my doorstep. they began to tell me that it was their mother's birthday today and they were trying to earn money to buy her a present---yes, i was skeptical. they wanted to know if there was anything they could do for me to earn a little money. they suggested washing a car, removing cobwebs from my porch, or mowing my lawn. since craig is out of town for the summer and i have never mowed a lawn in my life, i considered the lawn option. i asked how much they would charge to mow just the front lawn (our back yard is huge and i didn't want them hanging around that long). they looked around and said $40. and just as i am thinking in my mind, "these boys are insane", the ringleader says to me, "we are giving you a great deal, ma'am. we have this kind of grass at our house and do you know how much we have to pay to have it cut? $425.00." to which i say, "yeah, no. we have had a lot of people give us quotes for our lawn and they have all said they would do it for $20." so the quieter kid tells me they will cut the front yard for $15.00. so i am thinking what the hell. i will give these desperate kids some money and in return my yard won't look like a jungle. sounds good. so i take them to my garage to get my mower for them and casually mention that i don't have any cash so will it be ok if i write them a check. then they started talking back and forth to each other in spanish and even though i couldn't understand what they were saying it was obvious that my whole check idea had thrown a serious wrench in their plan. but i wasn't lying. i told them i had one dollar in my wallet and that was it. so the ringleader asks me if i have a credit card. seriously?? i refer you to the title of this post. so i tell them there is no way i am giving them one of my credit cards. ringleader then says, "well can you take your credit card over to 7 peaks (water park across the street from my neighborhood) and use it to get us in?" so now all the alarms in my brain that were not already sounding begin to blare. i said, "wait a minute. i thought you were doing all this to buy your mom a birthday present." ringleader, not missing a beat, tells me that is where their mom is...at 7 peaks. so after many more spanish exchanges and progressive shoulder slumping from these two boys, i laid it all out. i said if they wanted to mow my lawn i would be happy to write them a check. if they wanted to decide to walk away because i didn't have cash, that would be fine, too. i even offered to give them the one dollar i did have as a consolation prize---no mowing required. ringleader proceeded to very dramatically tell and show me that all they had made all day was $3. he even pulled out his pockets to show me all the sad, sad emptiness. then he suggested that maybe i could go look around my house and see if there is any cash laying around. i reiterated my previous offer and they chose to walk away empty handed. i wished them luck and tried not to let them see me shaking my head and smiling as i walked back in the house. awesome. i can't help but think that a family that can afford to pay $425 to have their lawn mowed could maybe give their kids a few bucks to buy their mom a birthday gift. maybe they were trying to pull a fast one??