"No good deed goes unpunished."
Today, I gave two dollars to a homeless man because he was yelling so loud that I couldn't just turn up the Fugazi on my iPod a little more and ignore him. Guess what he did to repay me for doing him the favor of giving him "however much the good Lord told me to to?" He tried to hug me. Luckily, I skillfully avoided the embrace with my cat-like reflexes.
When he saw that I didn't consider a hug a good return on my investment, he said, "What's wrong? Is it because I'm homeless?"
I almost told him it's because he smelt like he'd been pickled in alcohol and sadness but I chose to take the high road and tell him it was "me not him." (George Costanza would have been proud.) My exact words were, "I'm just not much of a hugger, man."
"That's all right. You're still a good guy," he assured me, and then as I was walking away he put his hand on my shoulder long enough to leave friendly patting territory and enter creepy caressing country.
Despite the less than stellar beginning, today is a very special day for me. Today, I mark one full year at the best job I've ever had even if it doesn't provide cold drinking water any more.
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"Smelled like he'd been pickled in alcohol and sadness?" That is so descriptive...I love it.
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