So I'm standing there at Macarthur & Athol, waiting for the NL transbay bus. 10:10 AM, nice spring day, and it's a quiet residential neighborhood, though -- like most of Oakland -- it's just a few miles from some crummier parts of town.

A guy walks up to the bus stop, and I can see right away that he's in a bad mood. (He's also black, early twenties, maybe 5'6", wearing a black hoodie and black pants.) After a few minutes he asks if I've got change for a five -- I don't, I only had enough $1 bills for my own bus fare.

A few minutes later, he walks over and pulls a big boxy-looking black gun partway out of the back of his pants, and says something like "give me everything you've got."

I had to laugh and ask if he was serious -- I wasn't feeling any real threat from this guy, but maybe he was scared enough to shoot anyway, so I offered him the $3.50 in my hand. We conversed a bit more, and I stayed with the attitude that I didn't think he could possibly be for real. Finally he insisted on taking my phone (but not before I removed the SIM -- "I'll give you the phone, but I'm keeping the data") and walked away without the cash as a bus was pulling up. I couldn't resist yelling after him: "It's gonna come back on you. You know it is." Maybe it was my imagination, but I think his gait changed -- I think he looked kinda sheepish.

This idiot didn't ask for my wallet (which has money in it, but I wasn't going to offer it), or my backpack (which contains my laptop and my iPod and other goodies, but I wasn't going to offer that either.)

I got on the bus (wrong route, but that's okay), told my story to the driver and the primarily elderly riders, and got off a couple blocks later to call 911 on a pay phone.

The police responded quickly -- there was an officer there to take my statement within a few minutes. I got to my meeting only 45 minutes late.

I've been paying T-Mobile for loss & damage coverage, so they'll ship me a new phone (which is silly 'cause I've already decided to drop 'em when my contract runs out in June), and I even have an unlocked phone at home for emergencies & international travel. So, my loss is minimal, and the criminal will be lucky to get $50. It's just annoying.