Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Don't Come Begging



When I pull up at a gas station I quickly survey my surroundings. I see the man dog scoping out all the breasts in the area. I see the girl struggling to stretch the fuel hose to the opposite side of the car where the gas tank resides. I can barely see the gas station attendant behind the tinted glass trying really hard not to do any work. I try my hardest never to approach these attendants since they rarely speak any English.

The one person I pay the most attention to is the guy at the bus stop or the one pretending to be on the phone. As soon as I pull up in my shiny car I notice them notice me and they usually start making their way towards me. They spew their tragic tale of poverty and hunger which I can tell is an outright lie simply by the clean clothes they are wearing. I usually cut them off and say "sorry." If they persist I tell them I paid with a card, which I always do. I usually get the "Not even a couple of quarters?"

I hit the same gas stations on a regular basis so I have come to know them well. They too hit the same gas stations on a regular basis. It got to the point where I would reach into my pocket, pull out my wallet and hand them a business card to an employment agency.

If they can be out there in the sun all day, they can work. If my skinny butt can work in a warehouse when times were hard and survive, then they can too.

My ex coworker's father owns a bakery. My ex coworker knew that I absolutely love this cinnamon bundt cake that they use to make. For Christmas one year she brought one for me. I'm not kidding you the entire drive home I would look over at it sitting there decadently in the passenger seat waiting to be eaten.

As I exited the freeway there was a chunky homeless looking dusty blond smoker lady begging at the exit. So close to the holidays I felt terrible about her situation. She knocks on my window and I know I don't have change. I didn't make much back then. Then I glance over longingly at my delicious cinnamon bundt cake. Then back to her. Then the cake. Then to her.

*Sigh.

I lower my window. (It was a manual window in my little Honda Prelude.) I hand her the cake and drive away as the light turns green. I feel good about myself and look back through the rear view with smiling eyes. I see her rip off the top, stick her hands in it as if looking for something then throw the cake and the plastic covering into the street.

I don't remember getting mad. I just felt as if time stopped for me. I drove the rest of the way home in a daze.

my cake

Later I thought, "well, the good deed was done and that was what was more important." Whatever she did was her own doing. Whatever choices she made in life to make her that way were her own. It doesn't diminish the nice thing I did.

Of course that doesn't mean that I would do it again. I do try to help people but I am just very careful about what I do and how I do it. I follow a simple set of rules.

  1. If you come to my home, you're not getting a thing.
  2. If you can afford a commercial on television, you're not getting a thing.
  3. If you are begging across the street from somebody who is working for their money, you can be damn sure you are not getting a freakin' thing and should consider yourself lucky if I don't swerve to hit you with the car.
Where's my holiday spirit? Right here.

No, seriously. Right here.

What is Child's Play? Child's Play is a community based charity dedicated to fulfilling the wish lists of kids in Children's Hospitals around the world. Just click on the little game controller of your hospital of choice on the map displayed on their home page to check out their Amazon list. Be sure to select the shipping address of the hospital rather than your own. You can also buy a T-Shirt or Child's Play Greeting card of which 100% of the proceeds to direct to Child's Play.

Please, this is a genuine charity that I have researched thoroughly that couldn't serve a better cause this holiday season. They also accept PayPal or cash to;

Child's Play
12317 15th Ave NE #108
Seattle, Washington 98125

Please make a sick child smile this Christmas.

~HL

8 comments:

Sarah Jane said...

:D
Thank you so much! I would LOVE to do this! And I will.
By the way, I wasn't expecting the beggar to dump your cake. That is sickening. Heart-sickening.

Iris said...

Wow! It's good to read about how you see the world. I can see why you feel that way about beggars. What a terrible thing to do.

Thanks for passing on that place. It seems easy to donate to them.
Thanks again!

HektikLyfe said...

>Sarah: Thanks. I only wish they would send you a picture of the kid receiving the give you send, but I guess that would be asking to much. I didn't expect that lady to do that either. Stupid old cake hating hag! What did cake ever do to her! Oh wait, I did say she was chunky didn't I.

>Iris: Yes it is VERY easy to donate to them. I bought this little cradle gift thingy that rocks and plays music for babies. Hopefully a little one will get a good nights rest. I also got a shirt so I can tell people about it who ask me so I can direct them to it. You can't beat 100% proceeds!

HektikLyfe said...

Or 100% run-on sentences, sheesh! Incomplete sentences can't be beat either.

Iris said...

HektikLyfe-Awwww that was super nice of you! ^_________^

I fly with Crows... said...

Out here we have the same people who supposedly "lost their house in the fire". When we were evacuated we could tell which people were there because they couldn't go home and which were there because they wanted to get free stock for their shopping cart home.
You could hear them trying to make fake claims to the red cross and scoop up those hotel vouchers and free prepaid cell phones.
A year later...they are still at Target where they LIVE and have lived since way before the fire.

I will never forget this one lady. She had no shoes, ragged clothes ( I swear they try real hard to look as bad as possible) She wanted something, I said no. But then I see her dog. Which is sad because its their tool to lure the animal lovers. SO I said I have a bone for your dog. She takes it and gives it to her dog (telling the pup its from her.) lol
then she says do you want to see my fluffy? Im thinking Umm... no not in front of my kid! She shows me this bunny that is pretty young. Its brown and looks like one of the wild ones that are everywhere out here. She decides to tell me that they have been together for 2 weeks. She tries to work up some fake emotion to show how attached she is to this bunny in her dirty sleeve. Then tells me right in front of Dakota. Yeah if I don't get some money for food I'm gonna have to kill her and she will be dinner.

I was so mad I called the police on her. But the town I was in is unincorporated so I got the run around.

OOOH I could have strangled her. I feel so bad for their dogs though.

HektikLyfe said...

>Iris: Meh. If I was doing better financially I would be doing more.

>Kattzzmeow: That's just evil. How can people do that? Too bad you didn't have a potato peeler in the car to offer her in exchange to split the wabbit.

Sarah Jane said...

Geez, I wanna know what kattzzmeow's reaction was to that woman about the rabbit. What can you do in that situation?