Being driven home by a co-worker last week, I noticed a brand new Range Rover in front of us, heading westbound on Florin Blvd.
These things are, what, $65,000? $75,000 out the door?
The combination of the tinted back window and my wandering, imaginative mind conjured up a host of possibilities of who, exactly, was driving this rig. A pro-golfer's wife? The owner of Folsom Ready-mix? Just a successful South Sacramentan? I didn't know if I would ever actually see who was deftly commanding all 375HP under the hood of that handsome vehicle. Impressive...in an unexpected way. The owner brought the autobahn to South Sacramento!
Just the presence of the rig on the road, of course, made me feel insecure. Shouldn't I be driving one of them? I suddenly felt embarrassed to be riding in a compact truck...indeed, it wasn't even my truck. I didn't even have my own vehicle. Boy, I felt so lonely and emasculated. Did I ever.
But alas! My chance had come! The new rig unexpectedly made a right hand turn just past the highway overpass. The driver didn't even signal, obviously knowing that everyone around would have eyes glued to their vehicle such that signaling wasn't required. My eyes were glued, too, wondering what demigod might show their profile as we drove by. Would it be one of the Tsakopoulos boys? Might it be the pastor of the Radiant Life Church?
The rig pulled into the choicest parking spot not 2.7 yards from the entrance to the Money Mart Payday Loan shop (you know, right next to the Stop & Save Liquor store) and out stepped a rather short, sandal wearing Filipino, and as I was being driven away I had just enough time to see him entering the storefront. Was he the owner? Was he perhaps the regional manager of the string of Money Mart's that have sprouted up and are flourishing in all the depressed neighborhoods of Stockton, Clovis, Merced, Whittier, Sacramento, and Visalia?
Was he?
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Musings of an Elk Grove, CA Social Critic
2 comments:
Regardless of his ethnicity, if he is the owner he is nothing more than a modern day Shylock.
Yep, he was most likely taking on a 435% two-week payday loan.
There are more of these outlets across California than there are Starbucks, and there isn't a day I bike down Franklin Blvd without someone at the window at the Cash One at the corner of Mack Rd...and indeed, usually more than one.
I highlight his ethnicity because, truthfully, I believe there are a disproportionate number of minority patrons at these payday loan shops; however, this was the first time I saw anyone enter driving a rig worth nearly as much as many of the homes in the area.
I don't find this at all odd, though...actually, I'm surprised I don't see it more often. There's an awful lot of this public display of bling around the most depressed neighborhoods here in SACTOWN. I cannot believe that anyone driving something like this, entering a Payday Loan shop, truly has control of his/her own finances. The rig is very likely mortgaged along with everything else, hence the need for a payday advance.
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