So, there’s a guy I’ve helped out a couple of times who knocked on the van at 3:30 a.m.

He asked if he could use my phone to make a call, and I stupidly agreed. I was concerned that this would be the outcome as he was on his bike. He makes his call, and then bikes off.

I have no way of contacting the police, but even if I did, they wouldn’t care.

I’m supposed to make it to an appointment tomorrow, but it required a Lyft. Which, without a phone, can’t be done.

I have no idea what to do. Even if I had Amazon Prime, I have no address.

ETA: So, there’s now a Pixel 10a headed to a burner friend who let me use his address, ordered by my mom (who, because she’s not in Austin herself, does not have the option of the locker nearby … I was going to show her a screenshot, but my Amazon account has been dormant, so now they want to do 2FA for me to order anything, which is difficult without my phone). The window is 5-10 p.m., which is cutting things really close if it shows up past his bedtime (he’s about as far from me as one can be while remaining in city limits).

I’d have preferred a straight 9a replacement, but Google is being Google, and the 10a is currently cheaper. I give zero shits about the supposed “AI” improvements, but I don’t have a shitton of price elasticity.

  • Powderhorn@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    What’s additionally fucked up is the state of our police department. There’s zero point in filing a report. They simply do not care about the livelihoods of residents; essentially, unless there’s a current risk of bodily harm, they just don’t respond.

    Just sitting in a parked car with another squad car (well, they’re usually SUVs at this point) is way easier than doing any policing.

    This is simply the reality we’ve come to accept. We nominally have a police force, but they’re still salty after an attempt to divert funds to things like social services and mental health that got the Legislature called into a special session a few years back to make it illegal to lower police budgets. (I shit you not, y’all; anytime Austin attempts anything progressive, Hot Wheels calls a special session to make the new ordinance/plans illegal at the state level.)

    They’ve now got a giant budget, but still do nothing, because that’s just easier. No matter how fucked you think Texas is, I guarantee it’s worse.