3:14 p.m. - 2003-11-09
More Beggars Who are Choosers
Sigh. Yesterday was the reprise of the "beggars who are choosers" theme.

And if you missed this the first time around, go to my older entries and scroll down to around February, and you'll find the entry of that name. It describes a creepy guy who came to my door and claimed to be looking for work because he had five kids in a hotel room, he was out of work, blah, blah, blah. When I said I didn't have any work for him but gave him some cans of food, he complained about said food and tried to get me to give him a ride to the Krispy Kreme.

Just a creepy, pushy, guy all around.

Well, guess who showed up yesterday while I was out doing yardwork? Yeah, you guessed it.

I was out raking leaves, when this beat up looking car pulled up. There were two guys in it, and one leaned out the passenger window. "Hey, Mam!!" he hollered. I ignored him. It felt like getting panhandled in Boston Common, and all my instincts told me that if I ignored them, they might go away.

No such luck.

The guy continued to holler as he started climbing out the passenger side window. It dawned on me that he looked familiar, and that anyone who was determined enough to climb out a car window to talk to me was not going to go away. I fixed a really nasty look on my face and asked "Can I help you?" in my nastiest, most "why don't you GO AWAY" voice. He shambled across the lawn.

"Ma'am, I just wanted to tell you, that you helped me once, and I wanted to thank you." He went on and on about how that was a blessing, blah, blah. I realised who he was. The same creepy guy! Just at that point, to my relief, Bruce came out of the house.

The guy took one look at six-foot-two Bruce and noticeably picked up the tempo on his whining, hangdog, I'm-down-but-not-out-if-you-would-only-help-me-routine. "Well, now, Ma'am, since I saw you I've have a stroke and I don't walk so good" (this after CLIMBING OUT OF A FREAKIN' CAR WINDOW!! MY ASS!!)"and I got a baby to feed an', an' you helped me a few months ago..."

I just lost it. I just felt used and abused, and taken for a sucker. When this guy came to my door last spring I was at a really vulnerable spot in my life. Within the space of a month I had had to deal with the loss of a beloved cat, my great aunt, and an old art buddy. This guy came to my door with an obvious scam story and I tried to help him, wanting to believe that he really was down on his luck, wanting to be a good and caring person to someone not as fortunate.

And now, here he was, wanting to take advantage of me again. Maybe even to rob me, or worse. All I could think of was Jack, my painting teacher who was recently shot and killed by people just like this guy. People who claimed to be needing some work and a little helping hand, but who really just wanted to see how far they could get.

"I seem to remember you weren't happy with the food I gave you." I said, steaming. "You need to leave RIGHT NOW!!"

Bruce took a step towards the guy, who turned and walked, suddenly quite easily, back to the car. He climbed back in through the passenger window and the car drove away. I tried to see the license plate, but predictably, it said "tag applied for".

A couple of minutes later we noticed a police car had pulled up across the street. I ran over and described the man to him.

"Yeah, we just got a call about that same guy." the officer said. "And they had a lawnmower in the trunk? You know, we've had a rash of lawnmower thefts. I bet anything those are the guys." He excitedly drove off to see if he could track them down.

Meanwhile, I'm thanking the good Lord that Bruce was with me. As much as I hate fanny packs, I've decided I'm going to get one to put the cell phone in when I'm gardening. I never take it out with me because I'm afraid it'll get soaked with the hose, but clearly I need to have it around.

And I'm just feeling so angry, that it comes to a point where I feel I can't trust anyone, or give anyone a handout who needs it. I guess the answer is to donate to homeless shelters, which I do, and try to support organisations that provide work to people in trouble. Blah.

And I'm also left with this slimey feeling, just creeped out that the guy remembered me and probably said to his buddy "Oh, let's stop here! I got some food out of that woman! Let's see what else we can get!" So now do I have to worry about him coming back again?

previous - next