Isn't it funny that I'm always compassionate about homeless people when I don't have one standing next to me? I see a huddled up figure on the ground in a TV PSA and I feel like I need to help, but I come face to face with a homeless person, my compassion is no where to be found.
I had an incident on Friday that did little to endear me to my local homeless sect. My friend and I were walking down a little hill to get to parking lot in the middle of the day. A scruffy guy behind us told us to watch our step. That seemed nice enough, but then he started saying things about stupid fucking women wearing those damn shoes and started following us to our car. It was about the time that he muttered something about not being able to run very well in "those damn shoes" that my friend and I started scurrying quickly to the car. I got it unlocked,I got in and dropped my newspaper while closing the door. He picked up the newspaper just as I locked the doors. He was that close behind me. He started yelling that I left my newspaper and cursing and we were just freaked out.
What pissed me off most was that there was a group of five guys sitting 10 feet away watching the whole thing. However, I got the last laugh on them because the scruffy guy started chasing them next. Chef asked the obvious question: Why didn't you call the police? Well, my heart was beating too damn fast to think of anything but getting the hell out of there.
However, as I was getting away, I thought of how many times I'd had a run-in with a homeless person. Granted, it'd been a while, but I wonder if I'm some sort of easy target.
- In college, a crazy man took to telling me about how all the cool people died when they were 2-7. It was a long story that involved, Mae West, Jim Morrison, some Nazis and a Valentine's tryst with his boyfriend that went wrong. He told me this while I was working and came back two days later to run around the store chanting "I'm the whore of Babylon."
- One traveling man, who we called "crazy old homeless guy" was well known around Bloomington for his Members Only jacket and nomadic nature. He came into a store that I was working at alone, looked at some decorative oil lanterns we sold and asked how long it would take to burn the place down.
- One morning I was exceptionally hungry on my way to work and stopped by Burger King for a nice Croissanwich. With a car in front of me, a car behind me and my window rolled down from ordering, a homeless man came up and demanded money from me.
These are just the run-ins that have scared the bejeezus out of me. There are certain criteria that I use in order to give a panhandler money. It's very strict and it serves me well. I know it sounds harsh, but despite my bitterness, I do have a heart. I mean, I'm sure with the onset of debit cards, it's got to be HARD to ask for money. On about 9 out of 10 days, I wouldn't have any cash on me.
Anyway, if you feel like you're a homeless person magnet too, let me know. I'd like to think that I wasn't the only one out there.
1 comment:
For some reason, EVERY TIME that I go to the Community Kitchen for a bowl of soup, those crazy bastards start bugging me. Never mind the fact that Abraham Lincoln and Jesus are already talking to me through my magic Batman button, but it's incredibly rude that they want to quantify my reeferpile. Don't look at my shoes, God Dammit! I eat bread like you for appetizers!
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