Potential scam alert: one guy stains you with ketchup, another sells you a tide pen

I was on the train this morning heading to a job interview when a guy spilled a bit of ketchup on me from a packet he was opening. He didn’t even really apologize which was infuriating and I tried my best to get the stain out with the water in my Dasani and the microfiber cloth I carry with my spectacles. After a lot of effort, there was still a very visible stain on my white shirt, right in the middle of my chest.

As I stepped off the train, there was miraculously a guy who was selling tide pens on the platform. He was charging $30 for one pen which was ridiculous, but seeing as I was heading to my first interview after 6 months of unemployment, I bought it. Thankfully it did the trick and I did not need to ditch the tuxedo and go to Macys for a replacement.

I suspected something fishy right when I saw the tide pen salesmen, but I haven’t really had time to think about the whole thing til right now as I just got back home and the interview did not go well. I’m sure those two guys, the guy who stained my shirt and the guy selling tide pens, were working together. The set up, create demand for a product and then sell it at a premium, is pretty classic, but I’ve never seen this specific rendition of it. Has anyone also fallen victim to this or at the very least seen a guy selling tide pens? My encounter was at Queensboro plaza—I’m wondering if they have a bunch of people doing the staining and a tide pen guy at multiple stop.

BTW, I did not get the job. Apparently I was too overqualified to be a librarian.