how important are "street smarts"?

[Disir]

I haven't seen any hysteria regarding "street smarts". Street smarts are how one negotiates relationships on the street or in specific geographical locations. It extends beyond a drug culture. There are kids that may live in a gangbanging area, have great parent/s, and be provided with great clothes. They will leave for school and then change into a completely different set of clothes so that they can make it to the bus stop without getting beat.

The gangbanging at the top looks exactly like the gangbanging at the bottom. Better clothes, better cologne, better teeth at the top.

Is it important for my kid to know something about it? Yep. I put up with the crap that I do and bust my ass so that he doesn't have to live it. You don't have to get hit by a Mack truck to know it hurts.

 

[strollingbones]

street smarts are all relative to the street you are on..simple as that....street smarts will many times save you when nothing else will...some times it is simply knowing when to be the sweet innocent white girl....or going crazy white lady on them....you got to know when to use the tools you have...i will say this...no one really wants to fool with the crazy white lady...

 

[sameech]

Not sure what "street smarts" are. Is it common sense; situational awareness, or something else like knowing why people throw their old sneakers on the telephone lines?

 

[whitehall]

Funny, when the owner of the NBA basketball team, Mark Cuban, expressed his "street smarts" with the statement "I would cross the street if I saw a guy with tattoos on his face or somebody wearing a hoodie" he was hammered for his insensitivity. Do "street smarts" only pertain to a certain race and certain culture?

 

[strollingbones]

Funny, when the owner of the NBA basketball team, Mark Cuban, expressed his "street smarts" with the statement "I would cross the street if I saw a guy with tattoos on his face or somebody wearing a hoodie" he was hammered for his insensitivity. Do "street smarts" only pertain to a certain race and certain culture?

oddly enough cuban only said what safety experts tell you to do..avoid trouble at all costs....

 

[shart_attack]

street smarts are all relative to the street you are on..simple as that....street smarts will many times save you when nothing else will...some times it is simply knowing when to be the sweet innocent white girl....or going crazy white lady on them....you got to know when to use the tools you have...i will say this...no one really wants to fool with the crazy white lady...

Thanks, up-repped and QFMFT, mane.

 

[oldfart]

Not sure what "street smarts" are. Is it common sense; situational awareness, or something else like knowing why people throw their old sneakers on the telephone lines?

A related question: how much do you expect a person you hire for certain expertise to know and how much can they really tell you?

Can an ex-cop/"security consultant" help you in insuring that your "friendly" poker game does not get raided?

Can your accountant show you how to skim money from your business in a manner the IRS will not detect?

Can your real estate agent coach you on how to hide structural defects in the building you want to sell?

There are lots of others, but you get the drift. Would this be part of "street smarts"?

 

[Picaro]

"street smarts" are just something stupid people made up so they can claim to be smart.

Yes, it's just an oxymoron.

 

[shart_attack]

Not sure what "street smarts" are. Is it common sense; situational awareness, or something else like knowing why people throw their old sneakers on the telephone lines?

A related question: how much do you expect a person you hire for certain expertise to know and how much can they really tell you?

Can an ex-cop/"security consultant" help you in insuring that your "friendly" poker game does not get raided?

Can your accountant show you how to skim money from your business in a manner the IRS will not detect?

Can your real estate agent coach you on how to hide structural defects in the building you want to sell?

There are lots of others, but you get the drift. Would this be part of "street smarts"?

Very good questions. An outstanding post.

I would myself say that yeah, the "ex-cop/ security consultant" and the "accountant" questions do in their own special ways incorporate the idea of "street smarts".

The "real estate agent coach"? I'm not sure. Maybe, yeah.

As we both know, there are many strata in say, an organized crime family: both "blue-collar" crimes, like loan-sharking, murder-for-hire and drug trafficking; and "white-collar" crimes, like pyramid schemes and securities and investment frauds.

If I am going to try to find a way to make a lot of money in the tough economic climate of America today, I like the idea of talking to someone who knows the legalities involved in my attempts to make it before I try.

 

[oldfart]

Not sure what "street smarts" are. Is it common sense; situational awareness, or something else like knowing why people throw their old sneakers on the telephone lines?

A related question: how much do you expect a person you hire for certain expertise to know and how much can they really tell you?

Can an ex-cop/"security consultant" help you in insuring that your "friendly" poker game does not get raided?

Can your accountant show you how to skim money from your business in a manner the IRS will not detect?

Can your real estate agent coach you on how to hide structural defects in the building you want to sell?

There are lots of others, but you get the drift. Would this be part of "street smarts"?

Very good questions. An outstanding post.

I would myself say that yeah, the "ex-cop/ security consultant" and the "accountant" questions do in their own special ways incorporate the idea of "street smarts".

The "real estate agent coach"? I'm not sure. Maybe, yeah.

As we both know, there are many strata in say, an organized crime family: both "blue-collar" crimes, like loan-sharking, murder-for-hire and drug trafficking; and "white-collar" crimes, like pyramid schemes and securities and investment frauds.

If I am going to try to find a way to make a lot of money in the tough economic climate of America today, I like the idea of talking to someone who knows the legalities involved in my attempts to make it before I try.

In business situations, I usually have two attorneys, one to advise me and draft documents, and a separate attorney for litigation. I advise clients to do the same. Three examples:

1. Under the most current bankruptcy rules, an attorney can be disbarred for advising a client in "bankruptcy planning". Rather than put an attorney in a bad situation, I advise clients to get general information from a non-attorney source and consider options and probable results (look-back periods, when taxes are dischargeable, etc.) before hiring an attorney.

2. If I determine a client has a criminal tax exposure, I don't take a retainer or charge a fee, I return all records, shred all notes, recommend a good criminal tax attorney, wish them well, and tell them I intend to drink enough to impair my memory that night. There is no privilege for tax practitioners (including lawyers functioning under Circular 230 rather than as criminal defense attorneys) but attorney-client privilege attaches in criminal matters to defense attorneys, and also covers my work product when I am hired by the attorney (but not when hired by the client!).

3. If you hire a professional and believe they have botched the job, you need separate representation. For example, if XYZ CPA's butchered your tax return, and you get audited, they are going to protect their malpractice insurer, not you.

In dealing with these kind of issues, if you want justice, go to a whorehouse; if you want to get screwed, go to court. And read the engagement letter before you sign it.

 

[shart_attack]

A related question: how much do you expect a person you hire for certain expertise to know and how much can they really tell you?

Can an ex-cop/"security consultant" help you in insuring that your "friendly" poker game does not get raided?

Can your accountant show you how to skim money from your business in a manner the IRS will not detect?

Can your real estate agent coach you on how to hide structural defects in the building you want to sell?

There are lots of others, but you get the drift. Would this be part of "street smarts"?

Very good questions. An outstanding post.

I would myself say that yeah, the "ex-cop/ security consultant" and the "accountant" questions do in their own special ways incorporate the idea of "street smarts".

The "real estate agent coach"? I'm not sure. Maybe, yeah.

As we both know, there are many strata in say, an organized crime family: both "blue-collar" crimes, like loan-sharking, murder-for-hire and drug trafficking; and "white-collar" crimes, like pyramid schemes and securities and investment frauds.

If I am going to try to find a way to make a lot of money in the tough economic climate of America today, I like the idea of talking to someone who knows the legalities involved in my attempts to make it before I try.

In business situations, I usually have two attorneys, one to advise me and draft documents, and a separate attorney for litigation. I advise clients to do the same. Three examples:

1. Under the most current bankruptcy rules, an attorney can be disbarred for advising a client in "bankruptcy planning". Rather than put an attorney in a bad situation, I advise clients to get general information from a non-attorney source and consider options and probable results (look-back periods, when taxes are dischargeable, etc.) before hiring an attorney.

2. If I determine a client has a criminal tax exposure, I don't take a retainer or charge a fee, I return all records, shred all notes, recommend a good criminal tax attorney, wish them well, and tell them I intend to drink enough to impair my memory that night. There is no privilege for tax practitioners (including lawyers functioning under Circular 230 rather than as criminal defense attorneys) but attorney-client privilege attaches in criminal matters to defense attorneys, and also covers my work product when I am hired by the attorney (but not when hired by the client!).

3. If you hire a professional and believe they have botched the job, you need separate representation. For example, if XYZ CPA's butchered your tax return, and you get audited, they are going to protect their malpractice insurer, not you.

In dealing with these kind of issues, if you want justice, go to a whorehouse; if you want to get screwed, go to court. And read the engagement letter before you sign it.

I have been thinking about going to law school for awhile now. That, or the seminary. (They're a lot alike, yes? )

If I do go back to law school, my goal will be to be a trial lawyer.

I realize that all the big money is in corporate and environmental law, but I would love to help America's ever-growing population of "little men."

My dream would be to be the next Jose Baez: some little-known guy with the weight of the world—thanks to the multinational corporate media, the enemy of the common American citizen—on his shoulders who rises from anonymity and above media ridicule to save someone's life.

Baez is a bigtime hero of mine, that's for sure. America needs a lot more guys like him, IMHO.

 

[oldfart]

I have been thinking about going to law school for awhile now. That, or the seminary. (They're a lot alike, yes? )

If I do go back to law school, my goal will be to be a trial lawyer.

I realize that all the big money is in corporate and environmental law, but I would love to help America's ever-growing population of "little men."

My dream would be to be the next Jose Baez: some little-known guy with the weight of the world—thanks to the multinational corporate media, the enemy of the common American citizen—on his shoulders who rises from anonymity and above media ridicule to save someone's life.

Baez is a bigtime hero of mine, that's for sure. America needs a lot more guys like him, IMHO.

i have a little more modest goal. The world in general and the tax system in particular is going to screw over the little guy. My job is to make sure it is not the little guy I represent. I do more than my fair share of pro bono work for the good of the order, but I don't lose sleep over the fact that most taxpayers are getting screwed. The world got saved when I was 17. I'm just keeping my dues current.

 

[Asclepias]

Street smarts are just that.....street smarts. It can literally save your ass in certain situations. I was once hunting for some rental property to buy and turned down the wrong street. I knew it immediately but what i didnt know was the street was a dead end. I turned the car around to go back out the way I came and saw that a crowd of people had blocked the street. I did the pretend to have a gun in the glove box move and rolled down my window and asked angrily and loudly if anyone knew "Willy". Everyone started backing off and shaking their heads indicating no and I drove away. No one was hurt. My wife who grew up wealthy and sheltered was frozen in fear. She likes to call me ghetto but she was happy about my ghettoness that day.

 

[shart_attack]

Street smarts are just that.....street smarts. It can literally save your ass in certain situations. I was once hunting for some rental property to buy and turned down the wrong street. I knew it immediately but what i didnt know was the street was a dead end. I turned the car around to go back out the way I came and saw that a crowd of people had blocked the street. I did the pretend to have a gun in the glove box move and rolled down my window and asked angrily and loudly if anyone knew "Willy". Everyone started backing off and shaking their heads indicating no and I drove away. No one was hurt. My wife who grew up wealthy and sheltered was frozen in fear. She likes to call me ghetto but she was happy about my ghettoness that day.

 

[Mathbud1]

Street smarts are just that.....street smarts. It can literally save your ass in certain situations. I was once hunting for some rental property to buy and turned down the wrong street. I knew it immediately but what i didnt know was the street was a dead end. I turned the car around to go back out the way I came and saw that a crowd of people had blocked the street. I did the pretend to have a gun in the glove box move and rolled down my window and asked angrily and loudly if anyone knew "Willy". Everyone started backing off and shaking their heads indicating no and I drove away. No one was hurt. My wife who grew up wealthy and sheltered was frozen in fear. She likes to call me ghetto but she was happy about my ghettoness that day.

See I could see something like that being called "street smarts." I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. It probably wouldn't have ended well for me if the crowd of people had bad intentions. When I was very little we lived in an area that I've heard described since as the ghetto of our state. But really it is about as ghetto as anywhere else in the state. That is to say not at all. I also spent two years in the Philippines walking through some of the poorest neighborhoods you can imagine. It is a different culture there though. People there were more likely to offer me a snack than try and threaten me. "Hey Joe!" was the most threatening thing I ever heard directed at me there. (Joe is a generic term for white guys from all the GI's stationed there after WWII.)

Other than surviving the streets though what does that knowledge get you?

 

[Asclepias]

Street smarts are just that.....street smarts. It can literally save your ass in certain situations. I was once hunting for some rental property to buy and turned down the wrong street. I knew it immediately but what i didnt know was the street was a dead end. I turned the car around to go back out the way I came and saw that a crowd of people had blocked the street. I did the pretend to have a gun in the glove box move and rolled down my window and asked angrily and loudly if anyone knew "Willy". Everyone started backing off and shaking their heads indicating no and I drove away. No one was hurt. My wife who grew up wealthy and sheltered was frozen in fear. She likes to call me ghetto but she was happy about my ghettoness that day.

See I could see something like that being called "street smarts." I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. It probably wouldn't have ended well for me if the crowd of people had bad intentions. When I was very little we lived in an area that I've heard described since as the ghetto of our state. But really it is about as ghetto as anywhere else in the state. That is to say not at all. I also spent two years in the Philippines walking through some of the poorest neighborhoods you can imagine. It is a different culture there though. People there were more likely to offer me a snack than try and threaten me. "Hey Joe!" was the most threatening thing I ever heard directed at me there. (Joe is a generic term for white guys from all the GI's stationed there after WWII.)

Other than surviving the streets though what does that knowledge get you?

Like anything else you learn it is applicable everywhere in life. Its not confined to the just the streets. I've used it to get raises and close business deals as well. There are things I learned in the streets that I can point to directly for my personal success and achievements today.

 

[Mathbud1]

Street smarts are just that.....street smarts. It can literally save your ass in certain situations. I was once hunting for some rental property to buy and turned down the wrong street. I knew it immediately but what i didnt know was the street was a dead end. I turned the car around to go back out the way I came and saw that a crowd of people had blocked the street. I did the pretend to have a gun in the glove box move and rolled down my window and asked angrily and loudly if anyone knew "Willy". Everyone started backing off and shaking their heads indicating no and I drove away. No one was hurt. My wife who grew up wealthy and sheltered was frozen in fear. She likes to call me ghetto but she was happy about my ghettoness that day.

See I could see something like that being called "street smarts." I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. It probably wouldn't have ended well for me if the crowd of people had bad intentions. When I was very little we lived in an area that I've heard described since as the ghetto of our state. But really it is about as ghetto as anywhere else in the state. That is to say not at all. I also spent two years in the Philippines walking through some of the poorest neighborhoods you can imagine. It is a different culture there though. People there were more likely to offer me a snack than try and threaten me. "Hey Joe!" was the most threatening thing I ever heard directed at me there. (Joe is a generic term for white guys from all the GI's stationed there after WWII.)

Other than surviving the streets though what does that knowledge get you?

Like anything else you learn it is applicable everywhere in life. Its not confined to the just the streets. I've used it to get raises and close business deals as well. There are things I learned in the streets that I can point to directly for my personal success and achievements today.

Can you give an example?

(Please understand, I'm not saying I doubt you. I just can't think of one myself and could use the help.)

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[katsteve2012]

I remember when I was growing up, and there were some corporations like JCPenny and Sears which would make prospective employees take tests loaded with tricky questions designed to expose those prospective employees' knowledge of things those corporations considered to have been in some way fundamentally subversive and/ or not consistent with what those employers saw as positive employee traits — in short, "street smarts."

I've little to no doubt most of us are familiar with these sorts of test questions, which typically went something like:

• True or false: Billy just sold drugs to an undercover cop, and didn't go to jail. Billy is most likely a snitch.
• Sharon does not have a job or a significant other, but she leaves the house every night at 10 p.m., more often than not doesn't return until 7 a.m., and never seems to have any problems paying her bills. She is likely a prostitute.
• Tom has been unemployed for years, yet he somehow manages to drive two BMWs and feed his housewife and three children in a suburban three-story home. He can often be seen hanging out downtown with gentlemen dressed in three-piece suits. Tom is probably in the Mob.

Why all the negative hysteria with regard to "street smarts" from some employers in bygone years?

Isn't it good to know some things about the way truth, justice and the so-called "American way" really work — particularly in a down economy?

Are "street smarts" important to you with regard to your children?

Might they save your daughter from being raped, or your son from joining a gang?

Street smarts ARE important. True story, some years back my wife and I were visiting some friends in San Francisco, while we were out, I wanted to get our car washed.

As we were waiting I saw several cars pull up at the same time, and the cars as well as the way the drivers were dressed, just made me feel uneasy. By now our car was being dried but was still not done. I grabbed my wife's hand and told her "we need to leave" I tipped the attendant told him "never mind finishing", and we got out of there. That evening we heard on the news that there was a gang related shooting at the same car wash.

 

[Asclepias]

See I could see something like that being called "street smarts." I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. It probably wouldn't have ended well for me if the crowd of people had bad intentions. When I was very little we lived in an area that I've heard described since as the ghetto of our state. But really it is about as ghetto as anywhere else in the state. That is to say not at all. I also spent two years in the Philippines walking through some of the poorest neighborhoods you can imagine. It is a different culture there though. People there were more likely to offer me a snack than try and threaten me. "Hey Joe!" was the most threatening thing I ever heard directed at me there. (Joe is a generic term for white guys from all the GI's stationed there after WWII.)

Other than surviving the streets though what does that knowledge get you?

Like anything else you learn it is applicable everywhere in life. Its not confined to the just the streets. I've used it to get raises and close business deals as well. There are things I learned in the streets that I can point to directly for my personal success and achievements today.

Can you give an example?

(Please understand, I'm not saying I doubt you. I just can't think of one myself and could use the help.)

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On the streets you have to learn to read people. I was working at a company that was secretly planning to outsource my departments duties to IBM. I was asked to show some guys from IBM our procedures as a "information sharing" assignment. Something about how they asked me set off alarms. I answered some head hunters trying to recruit me and lined up a new job. The day I was going to put in a 2 week notice they announced IBM was going to be taking over and we all had to interview for our positions. Turned out to be the best move I ever made in my working career. 6 months later all the people that actually made it through the interview process were fired and the jobs moved to Brazil.

 

[Mathbud1]

Like anything else you learn it is applicable everywhere in life. Its not confined to the just the streets. I've used it to get raises and close business deals as well. There are things I learned in the streets that I can point to directly for my personal success and achievements today.

Can you give an example?

(Please understand, I'm not saying I doubt you. I just can't think of one myself and could use the help.)

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

On the streets you have to learn to read people. I was working at a company that was secretly planning to outsource my departments duties to IBM. I was asked to show some guys from IBM our procedures as a "information sharing" assignment. Something about how they asked me set off alarms. I answered some head hunters trying to recruit me and lined up a new job. The day I was going to put in a 2 week notice they announced IBM was going to be taking over and we all had to interview for our positions. Turned out to be the best move I ever made in my working career. 6 months later all the people that actually made it through the interview process were fired and the jobs moved to Brazil.

I can see where you are coming from there, but that's another one I don't know if I could call street smarts. Maybe you learned to read people on the street, but the ability or need to read people is not a street specific thing. Maybe being on the streets makes it more important to develop a skill like that for your own safety, but that isn't the only way or reason to learn it.

If you are going to call something "street smarts" it feels like it should be more closely tied to street scenarios and behaviors. Otherwise what is really "street" about it?

Actions, knowledge, or behaviors that wouldn't just be common sense or something that you can commonly learn elsewhere. Those are the kinds of things that I could get behind calling "street smarts"

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