Friday, April 11, 2008

Easy To Please

Unlike the Mister, I clearly give off sort of "I'll talk to anyone" vibe, because every crazy person within a hundred miles is drawn to me like a magnet. And they all seem to just know that I am a soft touch, and can't refuse a request for change, because they can barely wait for me to be withing shouting distance before they start asking. (All I can think of is "this is somebody's child. What would their mother think of me if I walked away???") But Himself emits no such aura, and so street-people generally ignore him.

So, imagine my surprise when I turned the corner to pick him up this evening, and saw him not only talking to an obvious pan-handler, but laughing and handing the guy something.
When he got in the car, (my husband, not the homeless guy), I asked him what that was all about.

The Mister says he was standing there, waiting for me, when this guy barrelled on over, clearly intent on talking to Himself, who was giving off his best "I've had a lousy week, do not mess with me" waves. The guy approaches the Mister and says, very politely, "excuse me, do you have any spare change to go towards buying a six-pack of beer?", which made Himself laugh out loud. Not only did he not expect such good manners, the guy's bare-faced honestly as to his intent with the money was very welcome, and he gave the guy a looney. ("If he comes up to me the next time and asks for money for a sandwich, I'll give it to him because I know he's going to actually buy a sandwich.") Also, he liked that the guy wasn't greedy; he'd be happy with just the six beers, no need to go all the way for a case.

It was the most I've seen the Mister smile this week, so it was totally worth a dollar.

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