if you're not streetwise (like me) face-to-face dealings can be pretty intimidating, unless you know some nice people I guess. Plus you have to find the connections in the first place. Online sounds a safer way to go
There's been a few times over the years where, for some reason (like my dealer ending up in jail for Culpable Homicide, no joke, and because I had been using him for ages I lost other connections), I've had to hit the streets and ask cunts to get sorted.
Living in a big city like Glasgow there's plenty of places to go and score off the street, but you never know what you're going to get, if the person is going to rip you off, or worse get a kicking or some shit, plus it's always the dodgiest places and dodgiest people that you deal with. Saying that, some of my best contacts have came from asking beggars on the streets of Glasgow. Usually, depending on what you're buying, you have to buy a bag or give something for the help to source.
I also get accused of being a cop all the fucking time. I had to go to an area in Glasgow recently called Possil Park (it's not a park, it's just the name of the area). It's got a reputation of being a dodgy neck of the woods, but you can score easily. I went there recently to get benzos, as my usual guy had none and then went off the radar, fuck knows why. I waited and waited for him to get back and after 48hrs I was in a bit of a nick. I felt and looked like a tramp, just shoved on a jacket and hat, still had PJ bottoms on which look a bit like trackies, nae socks, shoved on my trainers, beard untrimmed for days........ the first bunch of guys I approached, a lot younger than me, just looked me up and down and were like "Aye, right mate, you're CID... haw haw...", another wee guy pipes up "your teeth are too white, wearing fuckin' New Balances, haw haw... pure cop man".
I thought fuck this, I'm either not going to score, or I'm going to end up with my cheek ripped open, and I thought I looked horrendous enough not to be accused of being a cop. I get it all the time, guys on the street always think I'm a cop, even when I'm introduced to a new contact they always joke about it (but you can see the worry in their face). Just because I brush my fucking teeth and look 'normal', whatever that even means.
Luckily I asked another older guy who looked a bit wasted, he introduced me to his guy, I scored and didn't get ripped off - but, talk about 'intimidating'. Because the first young team thought I was a cop, they're on their phones, signalling up and down the street, shouting out. Even up until the moment I got sorted, we had to go into a tenement close... just me, the guy I had asked and the dealer. I could have been jumped at any point.
Scoring off the street is a scary experience... but as I said, it can lead to some of the best contacts if all goes well.