shabalife

First impressions

On the way to my internship the last week, I was at a stop light where a man claiming to be supporting a family and was displaced because of Hurrican Katrina. His sign said he was trying to gather enough money to get back home to Louisiana.
Since I was a few cars back from the stop light, I didn't think I would have that uncomfortable situation of not rolling down my window all the way and opening my nearly empty wallet in an attempt to help him.

I thought wrong. This guy worked the crowd of cars, approaching each one with a greeting of "Hey brother, can you help me out?" or "How is your day so far?" When he rounded the car in front of me and made his way in my direction, he asked, "Hey sweetheart, are you going to help me out?" I shook my head no and said I couldn't and that I was sorry. "Fuck you, you uptight bitch," was his reply. Pretty offensive language for 9:30 in the morning, especially coming from a guy who was begging for money from strangers.

First impressions can bite you in the rear. Yes, it appeared that I had everything going for me. I was in a part of town where there are a lot of office buildings and people strolling from their cars on the way to a well-paid, professional job. I drive a decent car (no rust, no loud muffler) and was dressed in what you could consider classy, business-type clothes. My hair was neat and I was wearing make-up, an appearance I need to keep up in order for my internship to accept me back week after week. What he didn't know is that I am a college student who can barely afford the gas in my car, groceries on my table and that I am working for free every week at this internship. I am unemployed as well, only babysitting here and there for pocket change to help pay my bills.

My sympathy for his situation flew right out the window as soon as I heard his response to me not handing him the remaining $3 in my wallet (that I would later need for parking money on campus). There was no time to explain my situation to him and offer reasons to why I just couldn't help him out. And I'm not sure I wanted to hear his story either of why he chose to stand on a busy corner and harass people on their way to work, using offensive language with those he didn't know and will never see again.

When the light turned green, I passed him giving him a polite wave as if to say "I wasn't judging you. Have a good day," hoping that he would understand and possibly think twice about yelling at the people in the next round of cars stopped at the light that possibly couldn't help him out either.

posted by erin @ 3:20 PM