'It might have saved me from a robbery'
Come April 2000, another report of an incident taking place in a Wal-Mart parking lot is appended to the foregoing version of the message. Note that the two males described in this message are neither selling perfume nor asking anyone to sniff a sample. They merely inquire as to the kind of perfume the narrator is wearing:
'I was not in the market for any perfume'
I don't know these women of even if this is legitimate, but if it helps one woman, it will be worth the few minutes I've spent.
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Some of you got this email (see below) some weeks ago like me. I just wanted to pass along that I was approached yesterday afternoon at around 3:30 p.m. in the Walmart parking lot at Forest Drive by 2 males asking what kind of perfume I was wearing. I didn't stop to answer them and kept walking toward the store. At the same time I remembered this email. The men continued to stand between parked cars -- I guess to wait on someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going toward them, pointed at them, and told her what they might ask and NOT to let them get near her. When that happened, the men and a lady (I don't know where she came from!) started walking the other way toward their car parked in far corner of the parking lot. I thank Jane Shirey for passing this along -- it might have saved me from a robbery. I'm passing this along to you'all so you can warn the women in your life to watch out for this... CathyI WAS SENT AN E-MAIL AT WORK ABOUT SOMEONE WALKING UP TO YOU AT MALLS OR PARKING LOTS AND ASKING YOU TO SNIFF PERFUME THEY ARE SELLING AT A CHEAP PRICE. THIS ISN'T REALLY PERFUME BUT ETHER, AND YOU WILL PASS OUT AND THEY TAKE YOUR WALLET AND ALL YOUR VALUABLES. THIS IS NOT A PRANK E-MAIL, THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE I WAS STOPPED IN GOVERNORS SQUARE PARKING LOT TODAY. A MAROON CAR PULLED UP TO ME WITH TWO FEMALES. THE FEMALE ON THE PASSENGER SIDE ROLLED DOWN THE WINDOW AND ASKED ME IF I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN "SNIFFING" SOME PERFUME THEY WERE SELLING. I REMEMBERED THE E-MAIL I JUST RECEIVED YESTERDAY, AND SAID NO. SHE ASKED ME A SECOND TIME, I KEPT ON WALKING SAID NO ONCE AGAIN AND THEY PULLED OFF. IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE E-MAIL, I VERY WELL MAY HAVE DONE IT. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND TELL THEM TO BEWARE. THIS IS TRUE!! IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE E-MAIL I GOT YESTERDAY, I COULD VERY WELL MAY HAVE BEEN A VICTIM. (AIN'T GOD GOOD?) REMEMBER TO PASS THIS ON!
By the end of April 2000 the following variant, set at a shopping mall in Houston, Texas, was circulating as well:
WHEN I WAS IN HOUSTON IN FEBRUARY I GOT MY NAILS DONE AT A SHOP NEXT TO THE BAYBROOK MALL. IT WAS A LATE (AROUND 6:30PM) WEEKNIGHT EVENING AND THERE WAS ONLY MYSELF AND TWO TECHNICIANS IN THE SHOP. A MAN AND WOMAN CAME IN TOGETHER CARRYING A BOX OF PERFUMES THEY WERE SELLING. THEY TOLD US THEY WERE "KNOCK-OFFS" AND WERE QUITE INSISTENT ABOUT US SMELLING THE PRODUCT. I WAS NOT IN THE MARKET FOR ANY PERFUME AND APPARENTLY NEITHER WERE THE NAIL TECHS BECAUSE WE ALL DECLINED. WHILE I THOUGHT IT RATHER ODD AT THE TIME I THOUGHT NO MORE ABOUT IT.I'M NOT SAYING THEY WERE DOING WHAT THIS EMAIL IS ABOUT, BUT. . . . . . . YOU CAN ONLY WONDER!
CAMILLE
Some of you got this email (see below) some weeks ago like me. I just wanted to pass along that I was approached yesterday afternoon at around 3:30 p.m. in the Walmart parking lot at Forest Drive by 2 males asking what kind of perfume I was wearing.
(Continues as in previous variant...)
'Don't stop for a stranger...'
This wordy variant, which also appeared in late April 2000, describes another close call, though this time the information given is completely secondhand. It's set in Kansas City:
Have you ladies seen the e-mail going around that talks about someone approaching you in a store parking lot asking if you'd like to smell a perfume? I hadn't gotten this e-mail as of yet.Two weekends ago, Mom, Melody and I were shopping at The Home Place at about 95th & Metcalf and while I was driving around the parking lot looking for the closest parking spot, we saw a man individually approach two single women and speak to them. They both just kept walking and wouldn't have anything to do with him.
When we got into the store we saw one of the women that he spoke with and so curiosity getting the best of us we went up to her and explained that we'd seen the man approach her in the parking lot and we were wondering what he wanted. She then told us she was so scared that she had to sit down so we found the section with lawn furniture and we all sat down.
She explained that just a few days prior she had received and e-mail about a man approaching you in a store parking lot asking if you'd like to smell a perfume, explaining that he's got all of the latest fragrances at drastically reduced prices and that he's sure you'll like this one (as he hands you the bottle) you take it and smell it and pass out because it's ether, not perfume. She said that was this man's exact line and that when she saw him pull a bottle out from his jacket, she said don't open that bottle or I'll scream and call the police on my cell phone. Well, we walked her to her car when we were all done shopping so she didn't have to go back out there by herself and we talked about it for a few minutes and then I got busy with something else and I forgot about it.
So last night after running errands Brian gets on-line and says hey, have you seen this e-mail about men asking you to smell perfume? All of the sudden the red lights were flashing in my brain. So I sat down and told him my story from two weekends ago that I had casually brushed off.
I'm writing to tell all of you what is happening right here in KC. Be aware of what is going on around you and don't stop for a stranger not even for a second.
