Ol' Homeless Bob

[acidtrunks]

Well first off let me say,I have no problem with homeless people,in fact,I have fed quite a few in my time,But I do have a problem with dishonest people.

Ol' homeless Bob just started showin up one day,anyone who works busy convience stores knows that homeless people come and go as they are kicked out of various establishments,or forced to move on by police,so no one really thought much when he became a rgular face in the morning,he would always chat us up,and be actually kinda decent.The only problem I had with this guy up to this point was he was constantly pan handling even when warned frequently not too,oh well hes a nice guy(or so I thought)not much harm.

Enter summer;summer is 7-11's busiest time of year,no school vacations,no one wants to drive far for little things,one espeacially busy saturday Ol' homeless Bob(OHB) wandered in and bought the cup of coffee my customers so graciously bought for him,then we got swamped,OHB disappears out of my mind for a moment but he quickly sets off my something is up alarm by wandering the 1500-2000 sq ft store for 15 min,doing nothing but intently staring at me,(anyone knwo what that means?)

Well I had a line of maybe 5 customers,OHB made his move,now most homeless people carry everything they own on their backs,and he was no exception,he had on at least 3 shirts and 2 jackets,(in summer mind you)so he goes to our meat cooler(bologna hotdogs ham and the like)and plain as day as if i couldnt be bothered to look 4 feet to the left of me to notice him sliding as much meat as possible into his jacket...Now I love catching shoplifters,one of the few joys in my work,so I call Mike the AM(awesome manager) and have him run the register,I meanwhile make my way to OHB and tell him to come to the back with me.

Well before I even said what i would like to discuss with him,he immediatley,before god and everyone starts to profess his innocence and how I'm so cruel because i hate homeless ppl,(um ok?)Well he trys to make it to the door,but you don't leave my store with stolen items,i grabbed his arm,and he slipt out of the coat only to have a pack of hotdogs and bolonga hit the floor with a meaty THWACK,at this point I blocked the door and had the AM call the cops,OHB was begging me to move,I said you havent taken anything remember(still holding his coat and the objects that had fallen out)so when the police get here and find nothing else you can go.(I meant it) But OHB would not stop kept sayin I had it all to let him go,I placed him in the backroom and stood guard at the door.

The police arrive,and it really gets good,they have Ohb rempve all excess clothing,(not strip just down to one layer) and as hes doing this,the contents of our meat cooler are spilling onto the floor everywhere,Well at ths point I told the cops hes been lying,take him to jail,which the kicker of the whole story was if he had asked me too buy him a sandwich,I would have bought him a meal,if they ask for food instead of money they are genuinley hungry,and deserve compassion,But out right thievery is untolerable,By the way OHB nearly emptied our cooler,he had no less than 15 packages of meat stashed away on his person,I have to wonder did he have a refrigerator somewhere to keep all that meat from spoiling?Did he even understand the concept of perishable food items,and that certain items must be maintained at a certain tempature otherwise they can be deadly?Does anyone think that I was cruel in this situation?Also forgot to mention that the meat cooler,is the closest cooler to the register,when i say 4 feet away from me i mean 4 feet away from me directly to my left fully visible in my periphial vision

[RecoveringKinkoid]

No, I don't think so. While his situation is grim, that does not obligate you to stand by and pretend you don't notice that you are being robbed. We had panhandlers and shoplifters in Kinko's, too (we sold candy...always getting stolen. ) but none of us felt like we owed it to he homeless people to let them just steal from us.

I'm the same way, if you are hungry, ask. I will feed you, and most people in the store would, too. But don't crap on us by robbing us.

[ToasterQueen]

It's so odd that it's so difficult for people to ask what they want. Humility, people...

I'm just really amused by the fact that he was just stealing coatloads of meat.

[acidtrunks]

Also forgot to mention that the meat cooler,is the closest cooler to the register,when i say 4 feet away from me i mean 4 feet away from me directly to my left fully visible in my periphial vision

[scary cary]

that really makes me angry! ugh, the other day i was hanging out at a coffee shop at like midnight and some guys are panhandling. so i offered one of them a sandwich and he's like "oh... no". so then i just got angry. if he needed the money for drugs he could at least have pretended, and taken the sandwich.

[ebonyknight]

I saw a panhandler once with a sign on the road. "I ain't gonna lie, I wanna buy alcohol". If I hadn't been moving, I would have given him some money.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I got that once, too. "Please support an alcoholic?"

That's the one guy I have always regretted not giving some money to.

I used to foist energy bars on the panhandlers behind Kinkos. Protein rich, good energy, low sugar and carb. Hey, if they really were hungry, these were perfect, stick to your ribs fare.

They pretty soon quit bothering me.

You could've knocked me over with a feather the time I handed a guy my lunch and he profusedly and sincerely thanked me. He said "I am hungry, can you give me some money to buy some food?" I happened to be holding a bag lunch, which I handed him. I was quite shocked when he thanked me and seemed sincere. That sort of thing usually gets you sneered at.

Heck, I will happily feed a hungry person. I don't care what his situation is. I just don't see foisting over money for booze and smokes because someone else is too damn lazy to work. If my money goes to booze, I'M going to be the one drinking it.

[IT Grunt]

You could've knocked me over with a feather the time I handed a guy my lunch and he profusedly and sincerely thanked me. He said "I am hungry, can you give me some money to buy some food?" I happened to be holding a bag lunch, which I handed him. I was quite shocked when he thanked me and seemed sincere. That sort of thing usually gets you sneered at.

I think part of the problem is that its getting hard to know the ones that are truly needy, like that guy was, and the ones that are there to play off of people's sympathies. There was a scam going on around here where people already with jobs would dress up like bums, and park themselves at intersections with cardboard signs. They were raking in thousands in handouts from people stopped at the lights. The traffic congestion they caused as people fumbled with wallets and purses to give them money was part of what got them busted.

[Noelegy]

I don't think I posted about this on here, but a couple of weekends ago my mom was robbed. My husband and I were up visiting for my nephew's birthday party, and we stopped by my parents' house. My mom wasn't home; my dad said she'd gone grocery shopping.

A little background here. My parents are both retired, and they are full-time caretakers for my grandmother, who's 95 and in the final stages of Alzheimer's. She lives with them, because her health is otherwise good and they promised they'd keep her at home as long as possible. She's pleasant and hasn't developed the hostility so many Alzheimer's patients have, but it's a full-time job just keeping an eye on her, and very draining. So my mom needs a day out now and then, an excuse to get out of the house.

My dad called to let her know we were at the house and would she be home anytime soon? She said she was on her way and would be there in about 20 minutes, don't go anywhere.

About 45 minutes later she came dragging in with a dazed look on her face, and she said, "I was robbed." She'd gone to Wal-Mart for her groceries, spent over $100, and then made a stop at Goodwill, one of her favorite haunts. My parents live in a small town where nobody locks their door, but unfortunately tend to forget that the rest of the world isn't that safe or trusting. While she was in Goodwill, someone broke into her car and stole her groceries. Nearly all of them. A guy standing outside saw the girls who did it, and said they were going from car to car with some kind of skeleton key. He got their license plate number and agreed to be an eyewitness so Mom could file a police report.

My dad got far angrier about this than my mom. My dad is the kind of guy who'd give you the last dollar in his wallet if you needed it, but theft really pisses him off. He ran a cabinet shop for many years, and finally closed it down, but rented out part of it to some guys who were running a cabinet door business of their own. Several tools and other items came up missing. So I think this theft kind of reminded him of how mad he was about that. He said if those girls had approached him and said they were hungry and needed food, he'd have given it to them, but to have it stolen really made him angry.

My mom said she had to tell herself that somewhere there were little kids getting to eat that night that wouldn't have otherwise. I said if that's what she needed to tell herself to feel better about it, that was fine.

People really suck sometimes. And my parents are such good people that they tend to forget that the world is filled with people who are looking for the next way to screw good people.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Wow.

Thanks for sharing that.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've posted about this guy in another thread somewhere, but there is a homeless guy who hangs out in my first store I worked in. He usually can be found in one particular area, either in the comfy chairs (often sleeping) or in a wooden chair by the windowsill, which he uses as a makeshift desk. He'll read the paper and then put it all back together the way he found it and put it away. Or he'll have several books and put them away when he's done. I don't know what he's writing but he usually has a notebook with him too. He'll stash his stuff (usually 2 or 3 plastic grocery bags with food and other stuff) behind the door in the vestibule and his bike behind the bushes in front of the store. He's even been seen straightening shelves, and often sings to himself and has a really nice voice. I've never talked to him but I know others have. I don't think anyone knows his story but he's a nice, intelligent guy. Mostly he just keeps to himself, though. One year they found out his birthday and several people chipped in and gave him a winter jacket and a gift card so he could actually buy some of the stuff he's always reading. Other than the occasional hygiene issue (which they had to say something to him at least once because you couldn't breathe near him) he's never been a problem (well, except for some people who were uncomfortable with his very presence, but they don't count). I see him walking down the road some mornings on my way to work; I wonder if he has a job somewhere. I find it telling that he treats the store and its employees with respect and cleans up after himself, and the people who have everything in the world just leave things lying wherever they please.

There's another pair from that store (I don't know if they still come around) that lived in their car and used to come into our bathrooms to clean up. I'm told they're brother and sister but that's all I know about them.

[morgana]

IMAP, I don't blame you for crying. I teared up just reading it. You rock.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The police arrive,and it really gets good,they have Ohb rempve all excess clothing,(not strip just down to one layer) and as hes doing this,the contents of our meat cooler are spilling onto the floor everywhere

"Hey buddy, is that a kielbasa in your pants or are you just happy to see me?"



And BTW, IMAPseudonym , thanks for the heartwarming story. Nice to know that selflessness and generosity aren't extinct.

[TruthHurts]

I was outside a Safeway once when a woman asked me if I could spare a dime or a quarter. She explained that the deli inside Safeway would give her some leftover things cheap but she still needed three bucks to afford it. I handed over the three dollars and her face brightened up. She told me that most everyone else had either ignored her or had been rude. One individual even cursed her out. It made me feel really good to have been able to help.

[acidtrunks]

I love that I'm not the only one who has no prob giving food,just a prob giving money for booze,or worse