I knew he was lying by the way he said he wasn't!

Oh, I really don't like liars and cheaters! Well, who does? But this one guy was so transparent in his fibbing to me that he deserves to be written about here. It happened when my husband and I drove to Coney Island to check it out- I'd never been there.

We get there and look for a place to park. I see a big, abandoned lot that has cars in it, and drive in. There's a man there, directing people where to park. He motioned to us, and I lowered my window and asked how much it would be.

"$20." My reaction was pure New York indignation, I said "$20? That’s too much!”

And then I realized that he was profiling me and seems to have summed me up as an easy mark. I continued to look into his face, to gauge how convincing he thought he was being.

"It's the same price for everyone," he added. "Believe me." Well, that's precisely when I knew he was lying.  The added "believe me" made me certain; it was his “tell.” My trusting husband was meanwhile saying "Just park here Katie-it's fine!" 

But it wasn't fine, and so I gave the man a pained and disappointed look, and then slowly drove off the lot. Two blocks later, I parked on the street, for free. We had a blast just walking around and people-watching, looking at the guys fishing and staring at the ocean. 

The best part? We each had a Nathan’s hot dog and an ice cream, for under $20.

#catchthelie #honorInstinct #fuggedaboudit