Situation with delivery man

[Parrisk]

I live in a VERY rural setting, up a dirt driveway off a dirt road.. did I say it is rural? The only LEO response we have is PASP from a barracks a good 45 minutes away.
It is not uncommon to come home and find packages in front of the garage doors or, when bad weather on the front seat of our unlocked cars in

Yesterday evening around 18:30ish (6:30pm for civilians) it was VERY dark out with complete cloud cover and lightly snowing.
I was in the kitchen snacking (Yes of course I was snacking on stuff I can't when she is around LOL), waiting for my wife to get home from a late meeting. I had the outside floodlights on.
My dog started barking, with a stuffed toy still in her mouth. I figured my wife, or step sons, were driving up the driveway. Suddenly dog dropped her toy ran to the picture window and her bark got really deep and loud. Shit was getting real.
I jogged over and looked out the front window to see a white, unmarked van in the driveway and the dome light in my car was on.
I grabbed a pistol and went to the side door, looked out the windows and headed out then and around the house. I was observing the ground as I moved looking for footprints. I kept the pistol pointed down along my thigh with my booger hook along the frame, not on the trigger. My pistol and finger stayed in this position through the whole encounter.
When I cleared the side of the house I was maybe 10-15 feet from the drivers side of the van. I could see foot prints from the drivers door, around the front and over towards my car. I see the driver headed back towards the van and me.
He got startled when he saw me and his eyes locked on my pistol. He looked like a young skinny Stevie wonder with beads in his braided hair, yeah he was not from around these parts.
Me "Stop! What are you doing here?" I kept looking around and listening for any other movement
Guy "I am delivering an Amazon package for..(he looks at his scanner and says my wife's name) and put it in that car" points to my car with the dome light just now slowly going out
I kept my front to him and back to the wall and made my way over to my car where I could see an Amazon box on the front seat
Me "Sorry to scare you but for future reference when house lights are on around these parts, I strongly recommend you knock or ring the bell or even blow your horn, before opening car/garage doors. Also recommend you get some kind of company signage on that van."
He just gave me a nervous grin and motioned to the van..
Me "Yeah sure, be careful out there and have a Merry Christmas"

At no time did threaten or menace or point the pistol up away from the ground, and my booger hook never touched the boom boom switch.

Tactical thoughts ?

[danhr]

Sooooo you brandished a pistol on a seasonal delivery guy that was doing what is considered a common practice in your area?

I probably wouldn't order anything fragile until after the holiday season.......

[Emptymag]

(a) Thank you for deciphering the time. I hate doing math to figure out 24 hour times.

(b) Lock your fucking doors! (timely, considering the other thread about unlocked car doors)

(c) I HATE that they use unmarked vehicles. Completely unacceptable.



Glad the cops weren't dispatched to "deal" with you for scaring the guy. LOL

I saw the video of the female delivery driver pooping in the street - I wonder if this guy pooped in his pants???

[Tim Ault]

Have a question for ya , at no time did you announce your presence or yell " hey who are you what are you doing out there "? Till you were basicly face to face with the guy . Why? Did you want a close up interaction ? Hell let the barking dog out . If we're me and I lived quite a few years in a rural area with a 3/4 mile back driveway so I know the type of area you speak I would have anounced my presence before I got close rather than try to get the drop on a potential bad guy , and if it was a real bad guy I'd rather he run than me have him at gun point or even worse shoot .

[Emptymag]

If I'm all alone and unsure of who, what, or how many people are out there, I'd keep quiet for a while too.

[abner13]

(c) I HATE that they use unmarked vehicles. Completely unacceptable.

Independent contract drivers , probably personally owned vehicles. Might be an Amazon rule to prevent robbery. I'd bet 90% of independent painters/carpenters/tradesmen drive plain white vans. Even Comcast cable contractors use plain while vans/trucks. Plain white vans/trucks are the least expensive. Perhaps they should have magnetic signs for the side doors , or roof signs like pizza delivery?

[streaker69]

Total Tactical fail, you didn't make him do the hokey pokey.

[Tim Ault]

Total Tactical fail, you didn't make him do the hokey pokey.

is that the dance they do when one yells out at gunpoint "dance pilgrim"

[Emptymag]

Independent contract drivers , probably personally owned vehicles. Might be an Amazon rule to prevent robbery. I'd bet 90% of independent painters/carpenters/tradesmen drive plain white vans. Even Comcast cable contractors use plain while vans/trucks. Plain white vans/trucks are the least expensive. Perhaps they should have magnetic signs for the side doors , or roof signs like pizza delivery?

The topic of "unmarked" trucks is debated regularly on landscaping forums.
There are valid points either way, but there's no denying that a vehicle without a company logo/identification will always be seen as less professional and leaves people wondering if the business is legit - or worse.

Before I had my truck lettered, I was sitting at the curb writing up an estimate for someone who was not home.
I noticed a guy across the street standing in his driveway near his vehicle, arms crossed aver his chest, watching me closely.
I opened my door to go leave the estimate and waved hello. "I'm here to drop off a lawn care estimate for Susan", I said to him.
Hearing me use his neighbor's name provided some credibility to what I said and he walked over and introduced himself.
He said that they all watch out for each other and that he had no idea who I was or why I was sitting there for so long.
"I have little girls and it makes me nervous seeing strangers hanging around", he said.

Can't blame him at all.

[streaker69]

is that the dance they do when one yells out at gunpoint "dance pilgrim"

No, it's game where tacticool cops hopped up on goofballs play where they scream confusing commands and if you fail to comply they shoot you.