My OT Good Deed for the Day

I'm hot, sweaty, irritated with my family and a little weary. So rather
than go out and wash my car, and since I needed to fill up on gas for my
trip anyway, I drove it down to the gas station. Got a deluxe drive-thru
car-wash along with a fill-up. No biggie.

There's a homeless guy who panhandles by this gas station. I've seen him
many times before. I don't carry cash around with me and at any rate
wouldn't hand someone cash to begin with. He's never approached me before
but he did today. He said to me, "Ma'am, I have 15 cents in my pocket. Any
little change you could spare would be appreciated."

Here's the litmus test for someone who truly wants help rather than go blow
their money on Mad Dog 20-20. Offer to buy them a sandwich. If they only
want cash, guess what? They probably have more money than I do.

I said I didn't have any cash but I could use my credit card to buy him a
burger. There was a Wendy's next door and he was exceedingly grateful. He
said, "I've seen that picture of the bacon mushroom melt thing, could I have
one of those?" Sure you can. Do you want fries? "Oh, no, ma'am. Just the
sandwich. And some ice water. Water doesn't cost anything extra."

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his sandwich and
his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It was everything I
could do - and I probably should have - to not order two burgers, an extra
large order of fries, a salad and maybe a bowl of chili. But he seemed to
be a rather proud sort and I didn't figure he'd take kindly to my going the
extra mile. Sounds stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking lot as I
drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

Jill

You did the right thing I have a couple of homeless that stay near one of
my business. Everytime they see me come in the offer to do some work for
food. I give them little jobs like sweep the front or clean up the back
trash area they get food and something non alcoholic. These guys won't
except hand outs they want to work I offered them inside jobs they refused
I didn't ask why.

I feel the same way about handing money over I ask them what they want to
eat and get it for them I always get them a little extra in case they have a
friend that needs some food.

A few bucks never hurts to spend on anything as they call it God's work.
Specially this winter take those old blankets and clothing and donate it
this winter is supposed to be really bad .

By the way it felt good to do didn't it The movie pass it on had it right

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm hot, sweaty, irritated with my family and a little weary. So rather
than go out and wash my car, and since I needed to fill up on gas for my
trip anyway, I drove it down to the gas station. Got a deluxe drive-thru
car-wash along with a fill-up. No biggie.

There's a homeless guy who panhandles by this gas station. I've seen him
many times before. I don't carry cash around with me and at any rate
wouldn't hand someone cash to begin with. He's never approached me before
but he did today. He said to me, "Ma'am, I have 15 cents in my pocket.
Any
little change you could spare would be appreciated."

Here's the litmus test for someone who truly wants help rather than go
blow
their money on Mad Dog 20-20. Offer to buy them a sandwich. If they only
want cash, guess what? They probably have more money than I do.

I said I didn't have any cash but I could use my credit card to buy him a
burger. There was a Wendy's next door and he was exceedingly grateful.
He
said, "I've seen that picture of the bacon mushroom melt thing, could I
have
one of those?" Sure you can. Do you want fries? "Oh, no, ma'am. Just
the
sandwich. And some ice water. Water doesn't cost anything extra."

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his sandwich and
his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It was everything I
could do - and I probably should have - to not order two burgers, an extra
large order of fries, a salad and maybe a bowl of chili. But he seemed to
be a rather proud sort and I didn't figure he'd take kindly to my going
the
extra mile. Sounds stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking lot as
I
drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

When I lived in northern Arizona I would often get approached by ragged
people outside the supermarket. I never gave any of them cash when they said
they needed money to buy food, but I usually offered something from my
grocery bag(s). I quit doing it after so many times seeing my offerings
tossed to the ground the moment I left. I bet if I had handled them the way
you did, they would have told me to just forget about it, instead.

On 2005-11-08, jmcquown penned:

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his
sandwich and his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It
was everything I could do - and I probably should have - to not
order two burgers, an extra large order of fries, a salad and maybe
a bowl of chili. But he seemed to be a rather proud sort and I
didn't figure he'd take kindly to my going the extra mile. Sounds
stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking
lot as I drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

That's a good story.

I'm usually more strapped for time than money. For the longest time,
I uncomfortably ignored pan-handlers. In the last year or so, though,
I've started occasionally offering them a dollar or two. The worst
that happens: they spend it on an addiction. The best: they don't
starve to death. By my math, it's better to risk the former than the
latter.

There are a lot of people in Boulder with signs saying they are headed
elsewhere but need cash to get there. I don't know why.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On Tue 08 Nov 2005 06:42:50p, No More Retail wrote in
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
. com):

By the way it felt good to do didn't it The movie pass it on
had it right


/Pay it Forward/ was the movie, and I don't think anything has made
me cry so hysterically than that movie. The ending most of all, but
some of the feel-good scenes, too.

As for the pan-handlers, I have given cash. Recently there was a
youngish guy, probably early 20s, and he had a sign pinned to his
shirt that said simply "I'm hungry" and he was walking back and
forth at a busy intersection looking for handouts. A few others
come to mind that made me cry. (yes, I'm easily moved to tears).
The way I look at it is that in this way I know where the money is
going. If they choose to spend it on booze or drugs, I can't help
that. If I donate to one of the top charities, I never hear how the
money was spent, or if it even made it to the intended recipients.
The Hurricane Katrina donations is a good example. Did cash even
make it to real people? I hear about govmnt checks, but never any
checks from charities? Even donations of water, food and other
goods didn't seem to make it. I recently read a news story about
warehouses full of donations still sitting.


--
Cheryl

When ever I see someone that say they need money to get somewhere I give
them the name and number of daily work daily pay center

Pat wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm hot, sweaty, irritated with my family and a little weary. So
rather than go out and wash my car, and since I needed to fill up on
gas for my trip anyway, I drove it down to the gas station. Got a
deluxe drive-thru car-wash along with a fill-up. No biggie.

There's a homeless guy who panhandles by this gas station. I've
seen him many times before. I don't carry cash around with me and
at any rate wouldn't hand someone cash to begin with. He's never
approached me before but he did today. He said to me, "Ma'am, I
have 15 cents in my pocket. Any
little change you could spare would be appreciated."

Here's the litmus test for someone who truly wants help rather than
go blow
their money on Mad Dog 20-20. Offer to buy them a sandwich. If
they only want cash, guess what? They probably have more money than
I do.

I said I didn't have any cash but I could use my credit card to buy
him a burger. There was a Wendy's next door and he was exceedingly
grateful. He
said, "I've seen that picture of the bacon mushroom melt thing,
could I have
one of those?" Sure you can. Do you want fries? "Oh, no, ma'am.
Just the
sandwich. And some ice water. Water doesn't cost anything extra."

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his
sandwich and his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It
was everything I could do - and I probably should have - to not
order two burgers, an extra large order of fries, a salad and maybe
a bowl of chili. But he seemed to be a rather proud sort and I
didn't figure he'd take kindly to my going the
extra mile. Sounds stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking
lot as I
drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

When I lived in northern Arizona I would often get approached by
ragged people outside the supermarket. I never gave any of them cash
when they said they needed money to buy food, but I usually offered
something from my grocery bag(s). I quit doing it after so many times
seeing my offerings tossed to the ground the moment I left. I bet if
I had handled them the way you did, they would have told me to just
forget about it, instead.

All depends on the person, apparently. This guy ate his sandwich and
offered to wash my car for me. He wasn't in his 20's, more like in his 50's
but looked like he was in his 60's.

If he'd told me to forget about the offer of a sandwich or hadn't sat down
to eat it, he'd never have gotten a thing from me in the first place.
Certainly not cash, which I don't walk around with anyway.

Jill

Bless your heart.
Lily & her mama
Jazz, RB

--

Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm hot, sweaty, irritated with my family and a little weary. So rather
than go out and wash my car, and since I needed to fill up on gas for my
trip anyway, I drove it down to the gas station. Got a deluxe drive-thru
car-wash along with a fill-up. No biggie.

There's a homeless guy who panhandles by this gas station. I've seen him
many times before. I don't carry cash around with me and at any rate
wouldn't hand someone cash to begin with. He's never approached me before
but he did today. He said to me, "Ma'am, I have 15 cents in my pocket.
Any
little change you could spare would be appreciated."

Here's the litmus test for someone who truly wants help rather than go
blow
their money on Mad Dog 20-20. Offer to buy them a sandwich. If they only
want cash, guess what? They probably have more money than I do.

I said I didn't have any cash but I could use my credit card to buy him a
burger. There was a Wendy's next door and he was exceedingly grateful.
He
said, "I've seen that picture of the bacon mushroom melt thing, could I
have
one of those?" Sure you can. Do you want fries? "Oh, no, ma'am. Just
the
sandwich. And some ice water. Water doesn't cost anything extra."

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his sandwich and
his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It was everything I
could do - and I probably should have - to not order two burgers, an extra
large order of fries, a salad and maybe a bowl of chili. But he seemed to
be a rather proud sort and I didn't figure he'd take kindly to my going
the
extra mile. Sounds stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking lot as
I
drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

Jill

On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 17:43:00 -0600, Pat wrote:


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I'm hot, sweaty, irritated with my family and a little weary. So rather
than go out and wash my car, and since I needed to fill up on gas for my
trip anyway, I drove it down to the gas station. Got a deluxe
drive-thru car-wash along with a fill-up. No biggie.

There's a homeless guy who panhandles by this gas station. I've seen
him many times before. I don't carry cash around with me and at any
rate wouldn't hand someone cash to begin with. He's never approached me
before but he did today. He said to me, "Ma'am, I have 15 cents in my
pocket. Any
little change you could spare would be appreciated."

Here's the litmus test for someone who truly wants help rather than go
blow
their money on Mad Dog 20-20. Offer to buy them a sandwich. If they
only want cash, guess what? They probably have more money than I do.

I said I didn't have any cash but I could use my credit card to buy him
a burger. There was a Wendy's next door and he was exceedingly
grateful. He
said, "I've seen that picture of the bacon mushroom melt thing, could I
have
one of those?" Sure you can. Do you want fries? "Oh, no, ma'am. Just
the
sandwich. And some ice water. Water doesn't cost anything extra."

How pitiful is that?! Damn, I went in there and ordered his sandwich
and his ice water - cost me all of $4.29 including tax. It was
everything I could do - and I probably should have - to not order two
burgers, an extra large order of fries, a salad and maybe a bowl of
chili. But he seemed to be a rather proud sort and I didn't figure he'd
take kindly to my going the
extra mile. Sounds stupid, I know, but I didn't want to offend him.

He happily sat down on the grass median next to the Wendy's parking lot
as I
drove off, preparing to eat his dinner.

When I lived in northern Arizona I would often get approached by ragged
people outside the supermarket. I never gave any of them cash when they
said they needed money to buy food, but I usually offered something from
my grocery bag(s). I quit doing it after so many times seeing my offerings
tossed to the ground the moment I left. I bet if I had handled them the
way you did, they would have told me to just forget about it, instead.


The last time I gave cash, I was approached by a young man in a wheel
chair. When I came out of the store about an hour later, I saw him
standing down at the other end of the lot, kidding with some friends and
no wheelchair being used. I saw him using that approach several times
after that. MLB