Drama Continued...

After Jared and I went to the restaurant in Camps Bay to pay the bill for the elaborate dinner we had with John he assured us he would pay us within a few days. The next morning he vanished. We tried contacting him several times during the week but didn't hear anything. We talked with the woman who runs the backpackers and it turns out we are not the only ones he owes money to. We are just a part of his elaborate network of lies.

When he moved into the backpackers last month, he wanted to pay by credit card. When his card was rejected, the manager said he needed to pay in cash. He gave her a small amount then strung her along for nearly a month until she finally said he needed to either pay or leave immediately. They got in a shouting match. Then he left without taking any of his stuff, or telling anyone he was leaving. All his fancy shoes and shirts, his dog bowls and leash, his glasses, all this he left. It was all strung about his room like someone who takes drugs. He had told Jared and I he had done the drug thing when he was younger but wasn't interested in that anymore. This it turns out is just another one of his lies, and he had been on drugs since he was 18.

Another one of his lies was that when he went partying on New Years Eve with some people, he said he had paid for their entire time, but it turns out they lent him money. And when the manager cleared out his room at the backpackers she found the bill from the restaurant we went to and he had written a nearly 30% tip for the bill! Jared hadn't seen this when he paid it...10% is standard here.

As the story continued to develop this morning we learned that he has been on drugs since he was 18, has mooched and scammed everyone around him, creating a trail of hurt and deceit where he goes. We are left wondering just what he told us is true? We all really liked him, he was such a nice guy and both Jared and I didn't pick up anything from him that would have suggested such a scam. But looking back some things seem out of place...

I don't think we will get any money back from him, and the manager of the backpackers probably won't either. She said there used to be a general rule that backpackers wouldn't allow South Africans to stay there because this was usually the sort of thing that happened, and maybe she needs to revisit this.

I don't think of him as being a bad person, and I still like him, but if he were to contact us again, I'd be very wary of any dealings with him.