People with ‘street smarts’, what is your best street tip
[0:00:00] Street tip number one,
if you feel you’re in an unsafe area, keep your head up, look angry, and look like you
know where you’re going, even when you don’t. You’re much more likely to be a target if you’re
looking around or showing signs that you’re lost. Now, I know for me when I’ve been in situations
like this, I don’t necessarily make the angry face, but I do walk in the direction
with confidence because I don’t want to look like a target, I don’t want to look
like somebody that is lost and could, yeah, easily be, you know, pulled into something.
That being said, there were a lot of people that jumped in and said, “You know what? I
do make brief eye contact. It kind of sends the message I know you’re there, but I keep going on.
You don’t keep up for like a quarter of a second.” In today’s video, gents, I’m sharing with you the
best street tips from Reddit. [Music]
Now, for those of you that have watched quite a few of my videos, you know I don’t have much when
it comes to street smarts. I mean, I grew up small town Midland, Texas, Greenwood to be specific.
Yes, I’ve lived in cities like Los Angeles, I’ve lived over in New York, in Washington DC.
But, when it comes down to it, I mean, you put me on the streets in Chicago, I don’t
probably have much when it comes to street tips. Therefore, I went over to Reddit and read through
this. I’m sure some of the advice in today’s video is wrong is horrible advice. So, let me know in
the comments below if you’ve got street tips. The next street tip, if you feel like it’s a
setup, it probably is. Another gentleman piped in and said, “If you’re talking to
a stranger and they start looking around as if checking for witnesses, you got to leave quick.”
Now, personally, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation like this, but all of my training with
situational awareness in the Marine Corps talked about not just listening to words,
but looking at the way people are behaving. If they are saying one thing, but their eyes
are doing another, they look at people’s feet and that gives you a good indication of about
what’s to happen and to watch out if something – and the thing is, we can oftentimes feel this. We
can’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong, but something feels wrong though. If something ever feels wrong,
then use that, trust your gut, and get out of that situation quick.
Now, there was a great story related to this one. A gentleman talked about how he met a girl
at a bar, brought her back. And she was staying in the car, she said she was texting a friend,
sending out all these messages. And he’s like, okay, wait in there for one minute,
two minutes. He asked, “Hey, is your friend okay?” He thought she was just checking on a friend. But
he got really suspicious. After a few minutes, he kept saying, “Hey, are you going to come up? Are
you going to come up?” And eventually he just left her down there, he didn’t actually specify if he
left her in the vehicle. I assume that they were out of the vehicle and he went ahead and went up.
He looked out of his window and within a few minutes, another car arrived and they talked
for a few minutes. She jumped in and they left. Now, was it a set up? Who knows? But, you know
it’s one of those things, again, you don’t feel it’s a good situation, get out of it.
Never count your cash in public, even if it’s singles. And if you’ve
got big bills, wrap them in those singles. Now, I don’t know when or where I pick this up,
but I do this. Actually, I take my smaller bills, I wrap them around bigger bills. But, in general,
I’ve never counted my money in public. I always keep things really discreet.
I do count change when I receive it, but after that, it goes in the pocket. It stays hidden.
If somebody randomly starts commenting about your shoes, get out of there. Seriously,
use those shoes to start running. So, I remember, okay, we were in New
Orleans. I was 22 years old, we went down there for spring break, a bunch of my college friends
and we had the classic, hey, I can tell you where you got those shoes.
And my friend, Jason, he is like, “Okay. Well, where did I get them?” “You got them on your
feet in New Orleans. Pay up.” The guy wanted $10 right there. We had just arrived in New
Orleans and already, he’s getting shaken down. Now, we’re a bunch of college kids from the
Midwest, we didn’t know what was going on. But, all of a sudden,
there were three guys in Jason’s face and I guess we probably could have kind of back him up. But,
he was over there, I didn’t even know what the guy was doing, we had kind of broken up as a group.
And next thing I know, he’s coming back really quick red face, gave him the 10 bucks
and he is like, “Let’s get out of here.” So, one guy wrote it like this, “If someone
is concerned about your belongings, get out of there as soon as possible. For example,
if you’re walking in public and someone says, ‘Hey, go around this way, so you don’t scuff up
the nice shoes,’ nine times out of ten, they’re sizing you up to see if they can con you outright
or take it from under the guise of being concerned about your stuff.”
I have to agree with this. As much as I like getting compliments on my shoes, it’s not at a
business event, if it’s randomly on the street, yeah, I’m going to just going to keep moving.
Say as little as possible. I have to agree with this one. I am so bad, once you get me talking
as you guys probably watch my videos, I have the gift of gab. I will just start talking,
I will reveal all these information. This is actually worked out really bad for me
in negotiations when I just reveal too much to someone that I’m going to be maybe negotiating
a deal with. You know, I go looking at a car, you just start talking. It feels good to talk.
People let you talk, but they can then use that information to better size you up, to better
actually throw out the first offer. Or in the case of the street, all of a sudden they can manipulate
you. They can guess information all of a sudden. [0:05:01]
Remember one time, I had a what I thought a nice young man showed up to my sister’s door
and he’s going around selling things and he got my name, he got a little bit more information
about me. And I turned it down, I wasn’t interested in buying his cleaning products.
I found out the next day, our neighbors bought the cleaning products because he said that I came
over as reference, that I had bought products from him and absolutely love them. He had all
these information about me and I willfully had given that up not even knowing he was going to
use it to manipulate my neighbor. So, you to be careful with information you give to strangers.
If you’re in a confrontation, if you’re in a heated discussion and all of a sudden the
person you’re speaking with turns to the side, all of a sudden their hand goes down.
You look down at their feet and they’re in a sense setting one foot back, you better be ready
for a punch because it’s about to come and that’s one of the ways that people telegraph.
Any of you guys, you know, unless they’re a trained fighter, they’re going to know, hey,
don’t telegraph that. Most people they’re just simply going to – they’re going to say one thing,
but yo better watch for that punch coming from the other side.
And tag with that, another gentleman says,
“Never stand your ground and fight. Strike first and then run. If it’s one-on-one,
there’s a good chance that you’re going to get the upper hand. But, most likely, they are not alone.”
And I agree with this, I mean, you may be a great fighter, you could take on two people,
but can you take on five? Can you take on seven armed people? This can get really ugly
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This street tip, I absolutely love and if you’re parking in an unfamiliar neighborhood,
always back in. If somebody tries to pull up on you, then you could easily
peel off. It’s harder to that though when you got to back up and then try to throw it into drive.
Now, personally, I’ve made a habit of always backing my vehicle in when I park. I know
this is pretty popular over in Japan, other parts of Asia, and even in parts of Europe.
But, for me, it’s just simply I’ll do the work upfront and it’s so easier to.
Actually, I’ve read somewhere statistically you’re going to have less accidents when you do this, so
I just started the habit. It didn’t take too long. But, guys, it just, yeah,
always -- people ask me why do you – why do you park like this? I’m always, quick escape.
And building off that last point, any time you get into a vehicle, lock
the doors immediately. Don’t give anyone time to all of a sudden open up that passenger door and
get inside and rob you. You don’t want anyone to pull you out of the vehicle, carjack it.
It’s something it’s so easy to lock that door. Yes, they can still get in by busting a window,
but that’s going to give you a few seconds for you to be able to hit the gas and get out of there.
The next street tip, we had a gentleman say, “Do not underestimate teenagers. Where I’m from,
by 14, a lot of kids have already held a gun and by 17, they either committed a murder or have
witnessed one on the streets. Don’t let their baby faces fool you. They’re young, reckless,
and eager to prove themselves in the streets. Don’t underestimate teenagers.”
So, I did this with my son, you know, he’s 13, let’s go for a run, I want to see how fast he was.
The kid tore me apart. But, seriously, there are 14-olds, 15-year olds, they’ve
held more guns than probably a lot of you guys. I mean, they – they’re street smart. These, yeah,
they may look young, they may look innocent, but you get up close, they can be ruthless. And it’s
something you just got to understand that you become a man much quicker I think on the streets
when you’re put into these situations. And by that, you know, you can take that
definition however you want. But, the point is you’ve got to be careful even if they look
like a kid, they may not end up treating you like a parent.
The next street tip, never yell back at a group of guys verbally harassing you, just
keep walking. Don’t make a face, don’t change your walking pace, keep going as if they’re not there.
And right with that, another gentleman jumped in and said, “Facts.
I was stupid and told the group of obnoxious men to go F themselves while I was walking in a
public place. I was swarmed and surrounded faster than I thought possible. A few cops broke it up,
but not until I had a black eye and a busted lip.” Now, when it comes to bags, a lot of people
said if you’re in a rough area, take your backpack, instead of wearing it on the back,
you wear it in the front. Other people talked about decoy bags and actually having their true,
you know, important things within a hidden pocket. To me, this sounds like a lot of work.
I understand if may be you’re in a high pickpocket area, if you are a tourist traveling,
that would maybe make sense. But, I don’t know, what are you guys’ thoughts on this?
For me, I always do try to keep things in my front pockets. I don’t really put anything
in my back pockets anymore. When it comes to backpacks though, I just keep moving quickly,
confidently. And I – the way I figured it is you don’t have to be, you know,
there’s – there is other easier targets around, so usually if I’m with my family though,
a little bit different story and I guess I could talk about that probably in a separate video.
But, yes, when you’re traveling with kids and a wife, it is I just pay for the Uber.
I pay for the secure transportation, so I don’t have to deal with that craziness.
[0:10:02] And, speaking of Ubers,
a lot of people pointed out which is right so, make sure that you get into the right
vehicle. Identify who the driver is, make sure it matches up. Make sure the full plates match up.
So many times and you’ve heard these horror stories about people getting in
and then getting locked in there or getting robbed or, you know, just cars floating around,
identifying someone that looks like they are waiting for a ride, pulling up and just letting
them get in and then robbing them, yeah. So, for me, it is something I always look
at the first couple letters, I look at the last couple letters and when I get in,
I always greet the driver by their name. I always think it’s a nice thing. And, I,
you know, they actually do a pretty job of asking who I am and, boom, we’re good to go.
Now, what about a street tip that has nothing to do with getting murdered? Well, how about
if you’re looking for a bathroom, who’s going to know where all the bathrooms?
Doormen, anyone that’s operating a street carts, security guards,
people you see just working and standing outside. These guys know where the closest public bathroom
is and they are great person to ask especially, again, if you’re with kids you’re traveling with
someone that has a small bladder, you’re going to need to find those bathrooms.
Now, this street tip was new to me and the guy said basically walk on the road
if you’re in a really shady neighborhood and it’s late at night. Not in traffic,
but away from alleyways and entrances. Another gentleman said, “Yeah,
rough neighborhoods usually are poorly maintained sidewalks that are uneven. You can trip and fall
and you just never know what’s in the shadows. So, by being in the road, you’re going to be
in a more lit way and it’s a straight line.” Next up, let’s talk about attractive women.
If random attractive woman come up and ask you for directions,
watch out for their partner behind you are going into your car to take what they can grab.
Another gentleman who had just returned from Vegas said, “Walking through the city, I had not one,
but two women approach me saying, ‘My car won’t start. Would you come into this alley and help me
fix it?’ I was like, ‘Nope’, and kept walking.” Now, this street tip I thought was pretty smart
and it said if you see somebody violating a social norm such as blasting music on the subway or
taking a phone call in a movie theater, understand that they have no problem violating social norms.
So, therefore, when it comes to violence, are they going to be fine with that? There’s an increased
likelihood that the answer is yes. And this one makes a lot of sense because you always hear these
stories about people confronting somebody because they didn’t like the way they were behaving.
You got to ask yourself before you do this, is it worth it? Are you ready
for the consequences for the stakes on this confrontation to go much higher?
My answer is simply ignore it, call the management. Let somebody else deal with this,
unless you are backed into a corner. Now, this next street tip went like this,
“If you’re in the hood and you see kids playing outside, you’re probably safe.
But if there is lots of people outside, no kids, be super cautious and walk with a purpose. If
it’s empty and if it’s only teenagers and young adults around, get out ASAP.”
Now, personally I’ve never experienced anything like this, but one guy jumped in and said, “I live
in South Central for awhile and, although, I’ve never personally experienced anything that bad,
this is exactly how I described it. The energy can just change at a moment’s notice. I remember one
day going out for groceries at the store around the corner, the parents walking around with their
kids, ice cream trucks are out, and then when I finished shopping, there was a noticeable shift
in energy, like something just felt darker. Everyone was gone and it just felt eerie.
I went home and then like 20 minutes later, heard a bunch of sirens and found out a dude
across the street got shot and died.’ Now, this next tip is just practical,
it applies to business, it applies to the street. And that is get the money upfront or at least have
them show you the product that you’re going to get for the money. Don’t take their word for it
and people that say they’re going to pay you later, they’re probably not going to.
Another gentleman jumped in, “And make sure to count it when you get the money. You want
to make sure that you were paid right upfront because if you weren’t, good luck getting that.”
And I have to agree. In business, I’ve had this happened multiple times.
Somebody promised they’ll pay me later, very unlikely ever get it. And once you gave up
the goods, yeah, you lose all the leverage. Anyone seen War Dogs? Jonah Hill that when he
goes in and he basically, yeah, asks, you know, he tries to get some marijuana and those guys, like,
yeah, take his money and then act like he’s not even there, kind of forget the whole transaction
happened, yeah, pretty funny scene. I love it when he goes back as well with the, yeah, with the gun.
All right, gents. So, what did I miss? What street tips would you add to this
video? Let me know in the comments below. Now, some of these street tips are really
simple. One guy said that, “Hey, if somebody approaches you and says,
‘Hey, man, I ain’t going to rob you.’ Then, understand they’re probably going to rob you.”
Anotehr gentleman said, “Similarly, if somebody asks you for help, but you need to follow them
around the corner to help them, don’t. Politely say you’re late for a meeting and keep walking.
Know where the exits are at all times.” Now, I actually talked about this in a video
not too long ago. This is a habit. I like to sit at the back of the restaurant with my back to the
wall. I don’t want anyone coming up to me that I can’t see them coming and I always look for the
exits – airplanes, buses, any type of, you know, it’s just I think important to be able to escape
if you need to. [0:14:56]
Apparently, stairways are some of the most dangerous places in the city. Tons of muggings,
tons of rapes happen right in stairways. And everyone is saying, you know, it’s because
there’s not a whole lot of cameras there, it’s an area in which there’s just less eyes,
less traffic, less people. So, again, be careful if you’re
going into a stairway, make sure it’s clear and probably make sure you’re with somebody.
And if you’re in there, get out quick. The next street tip, blend in everywhere,
even if you’re faking it. And if you’re faking it, get out as soon as you inconspicuously can.
And you have another gentleman jumped in, “My wife never understands why I say. Her natural
inclination when traveling is to unfurl a huge paper map and radically walk around a public
square with it in front of her looking very confused. I’m amazed she has any possessions.”
I have to admit, I feel this man’s pain when I’ve been out with people in my family as well, but
sometimes it just is what it is. That being said, I’m curious,
would you guys actually like to see make a video on the gray man. If you’re not familiar,
in the concealed carry, the whole preparation area, they talk about basically a man that isn’t
noticed. A man that’s inconspicuous, a man that can dress because a lot of people ask me, hey,
is that important, you should always look good? I think it is important, but there are times
when you want to downplay it, when you want to just blend in.
If somebody asks you for the time, don’t pull out your phone or check your watch. They’re
looking to catch you off guard and possibly rob you. Just keep walking. This one is actually
I know kind of tough for me. I like to think maybe they just really want the time.
If you’re buying something on Facebook marketplace or you’re selling something
and you’re going to be exchanging money, you’re going to be exchanging goods,
make sure that you meet this person in a public place, preferably with cameras, maybe a police
station parking lot, maybe a bank parking lot. Again, a place where it’s public where you, you
know, can see something coming. If it’s looking a little bit odd, if you feel uncomfortable,
of course, get out of there. But, when you get paid, count that money right there,
make sure it’s correct. If you’re going to be getting an item, make sure you can see
the item before you give them the money. Now, this street tip I thought was really
good and that is never commit a misdemeanor when you’re committing a felony. Example,
don’t be jaywalking when you are illegally carrying a gum. If you have a warrant out for your
arrest, it’s probably smart not to be speeding. Now, for any of you guys in law enforcement,
you know that this is one of the ways that officers catch so many people that, yes,
have committed bigger crimes don’t get caught for that. But, they catch them with the smaller crime,
they run the numbers, they do the background check, all of a sudden, the stuff pops up and,
boom, that person is going to jail for a while. The next street tip, if somebody goes to hand
you something, don’t just accept it by default. In fact, this is tough for a
lot of people. You see it because those guys out always handing off those flyers
that you don’t need, well, that’s best case. Worse case, you could be handed something
and that person demands money on the spot. You just accepted what I gave you, that’s 10 bucks,
that’s 25 bucks. Whatever it may be, all of a sudden they’re demanding money from you.
If this happens, drop it and get out of there. Now, what about street advice for carrying a
weapon? So, I didn’t see much in there, but there was one I absolutely love and that is
carrying a high powered flashlight. Lord_Skellig put it like this,
“The most practical self-defense item you can own is a very high-powered flashlight, especially one
with a strobe function. Drawing a weapon always escalates the situation and cannot be done legally
in a lot of situations. None of these applies to a flashlight. They can be carried legally,
inconspicuously, and they do a great job of blinding people whenever you shine it right
in their face. And as a bonus, flashlights are just really handy things to have on you.”
So, what video to watch next? How about the skills that every man needs to master? In this video,
guys, I lay it out for you. Find out what they are, boom, by clicking here. Yes, when you click
here, it will magically go to the next video. [0:18:42] End of audio