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<em>Frozen</em> Snowman Allegedly Bullied Times Square Tourist For $20 Tip
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 18, 2015
Modified Aug 18, 2015
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 18, 2015
Modified Aug 18, 2015
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Olaf the Snowman might be Disney's most adorable new animated character, but he's also a shifty grifter—or so says one tourist woman, who claims an angry costumed Olaf in Times Square berated her for only giving him a $1 tip for a photo. At least he didn't punch her?
The Snowman's victim, identified by the Daily News as 32 year-old Silvana, says she was visiting Times Square with her 10-year-old daughter, an eight-year-old cousin and an aunt from out of town this weekend. They decided to take a photo with a Luigi character, but Olaf stepped into the photo.
Silvana says she gave Olaf, real name Ronald Mestanza, a dollar, but it just wasn't enough to keep him from melting. According to a criminal complaint, "[s]he offered to pay the defendant $1, but the defendant repeated, multiple times, that the victim owed him $20." Mestanza was apparently so pushy Silvana ended up pulling a cop over, and he was arrested.
Note that you are not required by law to tip Times Square's creepy costumed characters, but they will be quite angry if you do not. A better solution is to avoid photos with them altogether, or to save the photography for when they start fighting one another on the sidewalk. The best solution, as always, is to avoid Times Square altogether.
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Costumed Characters
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Times Square
tourists
Rebecca Fishbein
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