I Want Change
So this afternoon, I decided it would be a lovely day to go for a nice stroll.Okay, I'm lying. Susan took the car and I had to go somewhere. This required me to actually go outside.
I'm walking down the street, minding my own business, when this guy sitting on the sidewalk asks me for some change.
I hadn't really noticed him there.
That's not a comment on homeless people. That's a comment on people.
I try not to notice people unless I specifically have to. Unless you are between me and something I want, I probably don't know you exist.
Everyone else is just basically furniture to me.
You can, therefore, understand how disconcerting it would be when one of those pieces of furniture asks me for some pocket change.
At first, I just considered saying no or keeping on walking. Just ignore the guy.
I couldn't do that. Nobody wants to be that guy.
Sure, I could have said I didn't have any change, but then you have to walk really carefully so they don't hear you jingle.
So, with no other option available, I decided to give the guy some change. I reach in my pocket, pick out the last two quarters I had and went to drop them in his cup.
That's when I noticed the guy's cup was half full of change.
And I was giving him my last two quarters.
This was a dilemma for me.
I mean, obviously the guy was homeless. He's sitting on the street asking people for change with a little cup.
On the other hand, he's got more money than me.
Hell, I don't even have a cup.
I noticed a definite lack of cup.
Honestly, I had to stop for a minute and ask myself what the best course of action would be.
Do I give the guy the change?
Or do I keep it for myself?
Really, being a good person, there was only one thing I could do...
I asked him for some change.
Then he got up and walked away. He just ignored me.
I'm sure I heard him jingling as he walked away.
Motherf&%$er.
posted by Goblin Smithy @ 7:59 PM
12 Comments:
Yay first!
Too bad, you know...sometimes...
You know what, those homeless people all have better lives than us. Bah.
I know of some stories of where some very well-to-do people have spent a few hours a week asking for change and retired on it. Honestly, it's getting the point where you can't even trust the guy sitting on the street corner anymore.
Or he could have been like the guy in UHF and just wants change for a dollar.
Or it could be someone campaigning for some guy and just got pissed when Dave acted like a support of some other guy.
LOL wow. i could imagine that bum's face. but yea, i'll have to agree with GreatMno, heh.
You should've announced to the world at large that the bum was a cheap bastard. Just embarrass the hell out of him (and possibly yourself). It would've been worth it.
And here I thought you were going to talk about politic...
You know begging is a business in India...the whole maffia there has all the beggers in their pockets. I once saw a begger make more then 30 dollars in less then 30 minutes there. Thats more then a months pay for a lot of people there.
Keep up the blog Dave <3 i would say i want to have your baby, but as i have my own bf and you have Susan and your daughter i would say that option is pretty much out the window.
I briefly worked as a Social Worker in DC. All the homeless people there get Food Stamps (which aren't even stamps anymore ... it's a credit card that they put money on every month for you). One does not need even ID to get food stamps. You walk in and ask for them. If you're homeless, they can't mail to you so you have to pick it up in 3 days. Just 3 days. They just give you a card with 155 dollars on it and at the end of the month they put another 155 bucks and so forth ... for six months. Then you have to reapply.
And they still sit around all day long asking for change. What the hell. My food budget at the time was 200 bucks a month, but I could certainly knock it down some if I was really desperate.
Homeless guy.
Big-ass purple dragon.
...who's hungrier.>.>
Love the blog!
Ack. I remember once back when I was on unemployment benefits, I went out shopping with my Mum and my cousin. I had only enough money to feed myself that week. They bought up a storm in expensive stores and left me minding the shopping with all the designer brand names splashed over the bags whilst they went back for more. So I'm sitting on this bench in the city and a guy comes up begging for money. Still I delved into my purse, realised I had nothing and (in retrospect, with a distinct lack of tact) said, "Sorry I'm a bit poor this week." The guy, who'd been really nice up until that point, stormed off in a rage quipping, "I know the feeling." I was just trying to help and ended up feeling like a moron. /Yay.
i have come to my own way to deal with this dilema. i just gave change to one guy. theres this one guy and he is always in the same trafic light. so every time i give him money i feel that im giving money to some one i know. and when someone else ask me for change i honestly can say "i already give to someone else". if some day i learn he realy dint need that money i dont care because he is "my friend of the trafic ligth".
Post a Comment
<< Home