Lotto & the Homeless Man

[MRG]

Two nights ago while on my way to work, my gas light came on. So I stopped at a local gas station to put $20 into my tank before continuing on to work. It was around 1:50am. As I walked out, with a soda in one hand & 2 lottery tickets in the other, a elderly homeless black man approached me & attempted to engage me in small talk. The man's clothes were filthy, as was the man himself. He had what looked like a tattered sleeping bag rolled up & tied to his back with string, as though it was a make-shift backpack. After a brief conversation, which pretty much amounted to him commenting on the cold weather we were having, he then asked the question I knew he would ask & that was if I had any spare change. After I told him no & sorry, that I didn't have any spare change, he then thanked me for my time & wished me a good night. He was very polite.

The town I live in, has a large homeless population, that seems to be growing by the week. For the most part, they are harmless. However, we have been having more & more problems reciently with the homeless community, as more & more transients have "migrated" toward the central valley from other parts. It's all too common to drive by some of the areas of town where the homeless seem to congregate & to see them either drinking booze or smoking or doing other types of activities that they do to pass the time. Depending on the man or woman that asks, I will not hesitate to dole out a couple bucks if asked, but it all depends on my gut feeling. Some are covered in obvious drug sores & so i'll not give them anything, as i'll not support their habbit, while others just seem to be down on their luck & so i'll hand out some cash if I have any to spare.

As I stood pumping my gas, I looked up & saw the homeless man that had asked me for some spare change a ways off, leaning against the wall facing the other way. I was in a position where I could see him, but he could not see me. The longer I watched him, the more it was obvious that he was cold. After the pump reached $18, I stopped pumping & hung everything back up. As I walked over & opened the door to go inside to get my change, he looked up, smiled, nodded his head & then resumed looking out into the night.

As I walked back out, I handed him my change & told him to have a good night as I walked back to my car. I must have been thanked a dozen times before I made it halfway to my car. Once back inside my car, checking to see if my insta-win lottery tickets held winning numbers, (they didn't) I looked up to see the homeless man walk out of the gas station. In his hands, held close to his chest, was a large cup of hot coffee. From where I sat, I could see it steaming. Instead of buying booze or cigs, as I had fully expected him to do, he had used the money I had just given him, to go buy a hot cup of coffee, with which to help hold the chill of the night at bay, if only for a little longer.

I drove away feeling very content. The more so as I passed the front of the gas station, only for the homeless man to wave at me as I passed by and to yell out "Thank You!" one more time.

-MRG

 

[xcellerate]

I thought you were going to tell me you gave him one of your lotto tickets and he won $100,000, so you killed him....or something.

 

[Vegeta897]

Good story.

 

[Hazard.Squared]

Brilliant, it's good to know thier are still kind people in the world.

 

[Disrupted_Hunter]

God bless you my good sir. This is exactly what the world needs

 

[Top Secret]

I was fully expecting for you to give him a lotto ticket, with which he won several thousand dollars with.


But then again, I'm a pessimistic asshole.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Yeah, really should have been called "Gas station and the Homeless Man," or like... "the Homeless Man."

Oh well, lotto winnings or no, good on you.

 

[MJ12]

<Insert Oscar Wilde quote about how you should not give money to the poor>


But really, that was very nice of you. Good on you

 

[Barnz]

You're a nice guy. In the country I live in, people who beg for money are rich. They do have cars, houses, and so on. It's like begging for stuff is their job. They go to their corner everyday, and wait for people to come.

 

[Minister]

Have you never seen South Park: Night Of The Living Homeless???

 

[Azner]

Thanks. The coffee was great. You know, us immigrant asians, got no homes and all.

 

[Ravioli]

Moral +1

had a similiar experiance when i was way younger. Me and my mom was at the pharmacy to buy something, i dont remember what. As we stood in line, there was a man infront of us with a very large jacket. I didnt see his face, but i felt it as if he was very rude and taking up much space, so i got quite annoyed. However, when it was his turn to pay for his medicine, i saw that he had a huge beard and it was obvious that he was homeless (not just because of the beard, but just his clothing and his hygene). He got several coins out of his pocket but it wasnt enough for the medicine. He becomes very sadden by this, realizing he wont get his medicine, and i felt extremely sorry for him. Just imagine a white clean pharmacy with perfect wealthy people with loads of money waiting behind a homless guy just scrambling coins to buy his medicine, and still cant pay for it. My mom was nice and payed for it, in which he became overwhealmingly glad. He thanked us nonstop till we left, as we were about 20 meters away from the pharmacy i looked back, he was still standing outside the entrance waving at us as a thanks.

My heart was touched.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

You gained Karma.

 

[nurizeko]

I once gave ?20 to a homeless guy because he looked like shit (not the drugged up way) just because I could.


Oddly I didn't feel good or bad or anything, but then I am weird, money is just a thing to be, not the end all be all of existence like to most folk and I don't begrudge it to anyone unless I doubt their intentions or I'm absolutely needing it.


Plus someone has to buy Kase a Subway now and then.

(Also, symbols seem broken, forum won't show the pound sign.)

 

[MRG]

To add another story, though much shorter this time I promise, took place several years back also while on the way to work, that as I was pulling off the highway & onto an overpass. While stopped at a red light, I saw a homeless man holding a sign that told some sad tidbit about himself that I don't recall. My wallet was on the seat next to me & so I reached in & grabbed a $1 and handed it to him as I passed. 30 seconds later he starts yelling "Thank you kind sir! Thank you!". I was pleased he was happy, but I remember thinking to myself, that it was only a dollar. Nothing to get so excited over. It wasn't until lunchtime that day that as I was at the cashier to pay for my lunch, that I realized I hadn't given him a $1 bill, I had infact given him a $10 bill. Not having fully looked at the bill I handed him, I mistook the $10 for the $1 I had.

I ended up having to call a friend over to pay for my lunch...

-MRG

 

[Naph]

Moral +1

Don't you mean Paragon?

Oh oh oh!

 

[Dog--]

I thought you were going to tell me you gave him one of your lotto tickets and he won $100,000, so you killed him....or something.

Yea, this is what I thought. Then I read near the end, and I thought he'd like steal your lotto tickets while you were paying.

This is not a good story. I am not pleased. The lotto tickets had nothing to do with anything.

 

[Laivasse]

All this reminded me of one time I was a ickle kid. It was near Christmas, freezing cold outside and very late in the evening since we'd just spent a rare night out at the Royal Festival Hall in London (saw the Viennese boys' choir). So we were about to cross the bridge that leads across the Thames back to Embankment station, when I saw a homeless guy sitting at the top of the stairs, up against the side of the bridge. Had his knees pulled up to his chest and one hand out palm upturned. Looked fairly young. It really was brass monkeys weather, breath misting in front of your face and all that, and I felt sorry for him so after asking my mum if it was all right to do so I took a pound coin out of my pocket and went over to put it in the poor bastard's hand.

I was confused momentarily because he didn't look appreciative or respond in any way. His hand didn't even close around the coin. Then all of a sudden I hear his intake of breath, his fingers curled up around it into his palm and I hear him make a noise like '...thgz...' He'd been asleep the whole time and I hadn't even realised For some reason that made me really sad and it stuck with me - possibly also because for a very short moment I'd been afraid he was actually dead. How long had he been sitting there in the freezing cold, and how long prior had he given up any expectation of change and just drifted off to sleep?

BTW this was many years ago; for anyone who knows the Embankment area it was before they stuck those two huge white Golden Jubilee footbridges on either side of the Hungerford Railway bridge. It was also very close to where the London Eye would later spring up.