My wife and I make it a point to try to do this kind of thing fairly frequently... it's just a good philosophy, I think. You know, buying lunch for guys holding signs on the street (homeless or advertisers), etc. I always give up parking spots, let people in traffic, those kinds of things. Open doors for people (not just little old ladies), tip waitstaff extra (I know what it's like to work in foodservice), blah blah blah.
I do remember specifically one thing a few weeks ago... this guy was at McDonald's while I was standing in line waiting to get my breakfast. He was a guy who looked kinda down on his luck, a little dirty, sorta poor-looking, etc. He had his daughter (I assumed) with him, she was maybe 3 or 4. He was trying to order them some breakfast and she wanted a couple things, whatever, I don't remember. Anyways, he was trying to use his debit card to pay for it, the machine wouldn't take it, it kept reading failure or something. He ran it through 3-4 times, and the cashier was getting kinda irritated with him. His daughter was very well-behaved, and looked well-dressed and clean... I figured she prolly lived with mom and was on her weekend visit with dad perhaps. He was kinda upset he couldn't get her breakfast, and embarrassed that he'd held up the line, and I know it's always embarrassing when your card gets declined.
So I paid for their breakfast. He was very grateful and said if I'd follow him to an ATM he'd get the money to pay me back, but I just told him not to worry about it. I was impressed with a father who appeared to be kinda down on his luck trying to make a nice weekend visit for his daughter by taking her to breakfast. Too many people these days don't put forth any effort with their kids, and I wanted to help him out. She was also just as cute as hell. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif My assumptions may have been way off, but that's what I told myself.
So that's it... no big deal, and not uncommon for me. I'm not rich by any means, but after living outside the US for several years and in some very economically-depressed areas, I try to see how I've got so very many blessings that I often take for granted, and how so many people even here have it much harder than I do.
I dunno, anyways...
I do remember specifically one thing a few weeks ago... this guy was at McDonald's while I was standing in line waiting to get my breakfast. He was a guy who looked kinda down on his luck, a little dirty, sorta poor-looking, etc. He had his daughter (I assumed) with him, she was maybe 3 or 4. He was trying to order them some breakfast and she wanted a couple things, whatever, I don't remember. Anyways, he was trying to use his debit card to pay for it, the machine wouldn't take it, it kept reading failure or something. He ran it through 3-4 times, and the cashier was getting kinda irritated with him. His daughter was very well-behaved, and looked well-dressed and clean... I figured she prolly lived with mom and was on her weekend visit with dad perhaps. He was kinda upset he couldn't get her breakfast, and embarrassed that he'd held up the line, and I know it's always embarrassing when your card gets declined.
So I paid for their breakfast. He was very grateful and said if I'd follow him to an ATM he'd get the money to pay me back, but I just told him not to worry about it. I was impressed with a father who appeared to be kinda down on his luck trying to make a nice weekend visit for his daughter by taking her to breakfast. Too many people these days don't put forth any effort with their kids, and I wanted to help him out. She was also just as cute as hell. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif My assumptions may have been way off, but that's what I told myself.
So that's it... no big deal, and not uncommon for me. I'm not rich by any means, but after living outside the US for several years and in some very economically-depressed areas, I try to see how I've got so very many blessings that I often take for granted, and how so many people even here have it much harder than I do.
I dunno, anyways...
