- I was supposed to testify in an arbitration hearing today. I headed to D.C. through the usual awful traffic, finally arriving at my destination after a 45 minute trek, and was informed that my commentary had been postponed suddenly despite being scheduled months ago, and despite my arranging my schedule around it in what has been a very busy September. This occurred after I stayed up until 2 am prepping for my testimony. I could bill for the wasted 90 minutes this fool’s errand took me, but I won’t; ditto the 14 bucks for parking. There were some messed-up communications from the attorney who retained me, but I should have double-checked that all was still as scheduled, and I didn’t.
- Walking from the parking garage to where the hearing was scheduled, I counted the number of people or all ages walking along looking at their cell phones compared with those who were not: 28 with, only 6 without! This is a genuine social malady with, I suspect, long-term negative consequences that we haven’t begun to understand or prepare for. It reminded me of “Bowling Alone.”
- What the hell is a statue of Marion Barry doing on Pennsylvania Avenue? The same people who want to strip George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s names from the public square approved a statue honoring a convicted felon, a crack-using hypocrite, a corrupt politician, a cheating husband and horrible role model whose legacy of cronyism and graft still rots the District of Columbia government. Barry’s one immortal quote? “The bitch set me up!”
- On my way to my cancelled appearance, I had the usual check-in with security in the lobby of the building where it had been scheduled. The woman behind the desk had looked down without speaking processing the visitor in front of me, but when I stepped up with a hyper-cheerful “Hi!” and a smile, she looked me in the eye, smiled back, made several friendly comment, and, without my asking, actually led me to the room I was seeking. I’ve concluded that so many clerks and attendants seem rude and remote because they are constantly treated like non-persons by those who they encounter during the day.
- Walking back to the garage, I was approached by a sad and bedraggled looking woman who asked for some money “to buy a sandwich.” I had a twenty, two ones and a five in my wallet, and gave her seven dollars. Should I have given her the twenty? You can’t get a sandwich at McDonald’s for seven bucks. Or maybe I shouldn’t have given her anything. Decades of facing this dilemma, and I am no closer to knowing what to do.
Ethics Alarms 
> Decades of facing this dilemma, and I am no closer to knowing what to do.
My wife works at a church and the solution they have for people asking for money for food is having a pile of $10 gift cards to the local places (McD, Subway, a couple of local eateries). I’ve thought about carrying one in my wallet for those situations but have procrastinated on getting them.
Jack,
I’m very sorry your testimony was postponed. I hope that’s to a new fixed date in the near future, and not to be determined?
Regarding the secretary, that reminds of what my father did here in Ohio just a few days ago. While he and mother were visiting, he and I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few road supplies before we took the whole family over to Niagara Falls. As we were leaving the store, we walked by a dour-looking woman who was just entering, and he gave her a bright smile. She was almost shocked by that, but managed a smile in return. Dad said he found it amazing how just smiling at someone almost always elicits a smile back.
As for the woman begging, I would say you did the right thing. As you’ve pointed out before, giving a small amount to someone begging is not going to lift her out of poverty. But seven dollars can still buy something off the value menu, or something from the grocery store. It makes a difference for that little bit of time.
Several years ago I was approached by a woman with a young child. She was looking fir a handout for food. Across the street was a BK and I told her to go over there and I will get her anything she wants. Her response? “Fuck you” and she moved along to the next car. Using a child as a prop. I called child services later in the day and was told they would look into it.
“I’ve concluded that so many clerks and attendants seem rude and remote because they are constantly treated like non-persons by those who they encounter during the day.”
And cashiers and other service employees. You would not believe some of the insults people who work with the public have to endure.
Any amount of money you gave would be fine. $7 will be a small fast food sandwich. Or it will buy a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter for many sandwiches. You’re a kind person.
At least here, for $7 you could probably get a couple McChicken sandwiches, small fries, small drink and likely get change. Your McDonald’s may be more expensive, but I spent many years buying stuff off their dollar menu.
“What the hell is a statue of Marion Barry doing on Pennsylvania Avenue?”
Lefty LUVS their criminals, just like they do many other abhorrently anti-social (p!$$ing-n-$#!tting in public, grand theft anything, etc.) behaviors.
To wit: Can Madison Stop CELEBRATING CRIMINALS?
“Aside from having been convicted of felony armed robbery, high-as-a-kite substance abuser Tony Robinson HIGH AS A KITE SUBSTANCE ABUSER TONY ROBINSON ATTACKED A POLICE OFFICER RESPONDING TO A CALL–PLACED BY HIS FELLOW DOPERS that evening in 2015 — that the 19 year old man was assaulting citizens at random. In a narrow and dimly lit stairwell, Robinson fought the officer, who shot in self-defense rather than yield his service weapon to his assailant. “ (bolds/caps/italics mine)
Sensing a pattern?
I am.
It may simply because I’m cheap and a curmudgeon, but I never give panhandlers a cent. With the massive social safety net provided in this country, how can anyone ever find themselves on the street and without money? There’s something amiss in these situations and a few bucks isn’t going to help.
When I was delivering newspapers which I did for about 15 years, I would often go to a convenience store to fill up around 4 am.
I cannot count the number of times I was approached by a man who said something along the lines of “I’m trying to bring my wife to the hospital (or visiting her in the hospital or bringing her home from the hospital) and I have no gas to get home or get to the hospital.” The first time or two I was sympathetic and might have bought them a little gas — and those days I was barely scraping by, I really had nothing extra.
But in a relatively small town, how many people could there be in that situation at 4am? I can be sympathetic but am forced to the conclusion that this is just another scam. I see all the folks with handwritten signs who have set up shop at seemingly every traffic signal in the Triangle — I wonder do they pay rent for that corner? Do they have a lease? Why are there almost no women doing this, who might be more sympathetic figures? Do they report this on their tax returns?
So call me Scrooge these days.
DG, my favorite was a guy standing at the at the end of an exit off the Interstate. This was right around the time I was getting ready to attend my fiftieth boys high school reunion. There was a guy standing on the sidewalk where I’d stopped to await the light’s turning green so I could make a left onto the intersecting street. There was a guy standing there about my age (then sixty-eight) holding a handwritten cardboard sign that simply said, “Old Guy.” I still regret not having been able to snap a picture of him to take with me to show all the now old guys at the reunion. I have to say I had a great deal of respect for the guy’s sense of humor.
And I sure don’t remember pan handlers on street corners when I was a kid. Is this just because mentally ill people are no longer kept in institutions, for their benefit? Or for the benefit of professional advocates?
And how many panhandlers have we seen standing just outside businesses displaying “Now Hiring” signs?