I went to my corner 7-11 and a guy who looked to be about 20 asked me if I’d buy him a 40-ouncer of beer.

“I’ll let you keep the change,” was his big selling point.

For a split second I considered it, but declined. I don’t know if my refusal was due to the suspicious way he mentioned he was underage (duh, why else would he need me to buy him beer?) or if it was because he was hustling in full view of the cashier which made me think he was too stupid to deserve a nice cold libation. In any event, being underage wasn’t the issue for me. What’s the harm in a young guy having a beer?

Several minutes later, I’m standing in line and notice a commotion outside. Yep, a bunch of cops jumped two guys who did what some cool cat probably did for them when they were teenagers. My heart pounded for a few seconds thinking that if certain circumstances had been different, maybe that would have been me up against the wall.

The whole situation pissed me off. Here were a handful of undercover cops assigned to trap suckers at 7-11. Is the LAPD under the impression they’ve got the rest of the crime in Los Angeles so well under control they have to set people up to commit victimless crimes? Or has the new subway system cut into the lucrative business of parking violations so now they have to resort to even seedier methods of collecting fines?

I couldn’t help but sneer at the cops as I left, partly because they were wasting taxpayer dollars and partly because none of them had the balls to tell their boss to shove it when he assigned the ridiculous task. Then I told the kid,”I knew you looked like a little weasel.”

I’m hoping I’ll see him again because next time, I’m taking the cash and buying myself a beer.