Has anyone else here been harassed by those [people]?
So about a month ago, I'm on my way to the dentist in the morning, and I stop on a red light on the corner of Oakland Park Blvd and MLK Jr. (31st Ave) in Ft. L. Windows rolled up. One of those guys walks up with a cup and points it at me (as in, "Hey put some change here"). I say and signal "NO" by turning my head. Now at this point most of those guys normally get lost. Not this guy. He repeats the gesture while saying something, I think he was saying "dollar? 50 cents?" or something like that. I say "NO" again. Guy doesn't give up! He gets more pushy. So this time I yell "NO!" right at him. Now I know it might be rude of me, but he was not getting it. Anyways, so I yell at the guy "NO!" and he makes the "[]what what?!?!?" face at me and starts yelling! Walks in front of my car, points at me, yells, whatever. I was getting really annoyed, but never rolled down my window or anything, and the guy never touched my car. So I let it slide while watching his every move. A minute later the light turns and I drive off. In the mean time for about a minute the guy was all up in arms.
Fast forward to yesterday. I'm in my wife's car driving to a mall. Wife in the back with our 8 month old baby boy. SAME INTERSECTION. SAME GUY. CRAP! I stop on red, I'm the first car in the left most line (left turn onto Oakland heading east). He walks up with the money cup, points it at me and I THINK he might have recognized me, OR the strategy worked and he was pushy from the get go. He repeats the routine of asking for 50 cents etc. I again signal "NO", this time trying to stay much calmer (wife and kid in the car, don't want to stress them out). He's standing literally 1 foot outside my window, saying something to me. I look at him and tell him "I can't hear you man." while pointing at my ear. He gets irritated. NO WAY I'M ROLLING DOWN MY WINDOW. Wife get's a bit scared at this moment. He starts to walk in front of my car, looking very aggressive and putting his head to the windows looking into the car and mumbling something. He finally gets to the wife's side of the car while looking at her and kid, picking inside the car while mumbling. I instruct my wife to not even look at him (she knows better not to open the windows). At this point I'm thinking to myself "Just TRY to grab the door handle a-hole!" All the while Ruger LCP in my front pocket.
Thank goodness he gives up and walks up to the people waiting on the light to run behind me. He repeats the routine and after about a minute the passenger in the car behind me (it was a couple, guy was driving) roles down the window and gives him some change (BAD IDEA, reinforces bad behavior )... Light changes, I drive off...
Now I'm really upset with this crap. This is outright harassment. My wife told me later, if she was in the car without me, just her and our baby, she would have her hand on her gun (not exposed of course, hand in purse) very quickly and would have been scared []. I guess I can handle it much better. But I worry, wife drives there once in a while with kid. Now I told her, that if that ever happens, and guy tries to get inside, and YOU CAN DRIVE OFF, do it. If you're blocked and no way out, and guy tries to get in the car, or the window is busted or something... she knows what to do...
Anyways, what would you guys do in my situation?!?!?