If they're hangin out on the street near where you cop, they're probably trying to pick someone off and burn 'em.
the truth is though, if you're in a neighborhood know for dope, you can find someone who will hook you up with the dealer just for kickin em down something one time. Usually white people that do dope are really hesistant to give up a connect. A lot of the older junkies that live in the area can actually make a living hooking people up and they don't need you to go to them everyday.
I've had a couple great middlemen that always knew where to find good shit and always gave me the number. They knew I knew where to find 'em and that I'd track 'em down when I needed them.
There's a neighborhood where I'm from that pretty much every house someone's involved with dope. After using so many years around there, I knew exactly who was cool and who to avoid! I knew people that I could show up and knock on their door(or window) at 2AM with 200 dollars lookin to cop and they knew right where to go...good shit too! Unless you're rich or a thief, if you plan on having any longevity in the dope game, you gotta get more involved than just a phone number and pickin up dope.
I can pick out a beater from a mile away...You gotta always walk a path that keeps you around other people and watch for people trailing you....I've been ambushed and chased by dudes with guns who were watching me the whole time, tryin to catch me comin back with dope. One time I had a guy chase me 3 blocks through yards, over fences...I come back out on the road and he comes runnin after me again! I wasn't givin that shit up! I walked into a pizza place and ordered a soda and took a really weird route back to where I was parked...
Ramblin here, but yeah, for the most part, anybody being really aggressive about it is probably out to burn you. But if some old guy you walk by just casually says "Hey what's up, whatchyou lookin for?", you never know...The junkies that actually live in the dope 'hoods generally know where the best shit at the time is!