I had been living in Atlanta for exactly 30 minutes before I was accosted by my first homeless man. The first 20 minutes I sat on my couch and stared at my walls while thinking how much my legs hurt from moving everything. Then I got up and drove to McDonald's for dinner. I was at the second drive-thru window waiting to pick up my Big Mac when a homeless man walked in between my truck and the drive-thru window.
He leaned in, "You have any money so I can get a burger?"
I stared incredulously at him, he had an iPod dangling from his ears.
I don't have an iPod.
None of my friends have iPods.
Pictures from the newspapers flood my mind. Images of homeless men talking on cell phones, posing with their PO boxes. And now listening to their iPods. I already have sensitivity issues regarding the homeless as seen here and here, but this is too much.
"No I don't have any money," I said.
"But you're getting yourself a burger," he protested.
"I don't have any cash, I charged mine."
"Well could you get me one too?"
And this is what I wanted to say, but didn't: "Sure, for your iPod."
5 comments:
You totally should have! I would've in a second had I'd seen that!
And yeah, you are in Atlanta!
Where does he download songs? This makes no sense!!
homeless people gotta have tunes too...
you know how it is.
"i went bankrupt, lost my job, wife, children, dog, house, and car... i haven't got a penny to my name... but i'll be damned if they take away my iPod... my $300 tune machine that could really feed me for a month if i sold it..."
with that kind of logic he should be working in the white house
*ba-zing*
Why do these things happen to you when I'm not around. I would have had so much fun with him. Surprisingly enough, he can just go to the library and download songs if he earns enough begging. If he is part of some government program they may have given it to him. My wife's foster kid that she takes out on the weekend got a mountain bike, a Gameboy Advance SP, a MP3 player and a couple of other things for Christmas. It is amazing what our tax dollars pay for. :-)
Um, I own none of those things.
Post a Comment